The Humourous Poetry of the English Language

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ROGERS, SAMUEL--The English poet and banker, recently deceased. Author
of a "pretty poem," entitled, "The Pleasures of Memory." In his old
age, he was noted for the bitter wit of his conversation.
SAXE, JOHN G--Editor of the "Burlington Gazette," and "Wandering
Minstrel." The witty poems of Mr. Saxe are somewhat in the manner of
Hood. To be fully appreciated they must be heard, as they roll in
sonorous volumes, from his own lips. His collected poems were published
a few years ago by Ticknor & Fields, and have already reached a ninth
edition.
SCOTT, SIR WALTER--Born 1771; died, 1832. Sir Walter Scott, though he
excelled all his cotemporaries in the humorous delineation of
character, wrote little humorous verse. The two pieces published in
this volume are so excellent that one is surprised to find no more of
the same description in his writings.
SHERIDAN, DR. THOMAS--Noted for being an intimate friend of Dean Swift,
and the grandfather of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Born in 1684; died in
1738. He was an eccentric, witty, somewhatlearned, Dublin
schoolmaster. He published some sermons and a translation of Persius;
acquired great celebrity as a teacher; but through the imprudence that
distinguished the family, closed his life in poverty. We may infer from
the few specimens of his facetious writings that have been preserved
that he was one of the wittiest of a nation of wits. One or two of his
epigrams are exquisitely fine.
SHERIDAN, RICHARD BRINSLEY--Author of the "Rivals," and the "School for
Scandal." Born at Dublin in 1751; died, 1816. Sheridan must have
written more humorous poetry than we have been able to discover. It is
probable that most of his epigrams and verified repartees have either
not been preserved, or have escaped our search. Moore, in his "Life of
Sheridan," gives specimens of his satirical verses, but only a few, and
but one of striking excellence.
SMITH, HORACE--See "Rejected Addresses."
SMITH, JAMES--See "Rejected Addresses."
SMITH, REV. SYDNEY--The jovial prebendary of St. Paul's, the wittiest
Englishman that ever lived; died in 1845. Except the "Recipe for