| John Bartlett (18201905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919. |
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| NUMBER: | 4230 |
| AUTHOR: | Horace Walpole (17171797) |
| QUOTATION: | The whole [Scotch] nation hitherto has been void of wit and humour, and even incapable of relishing it. 1 |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1778. |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia. |
| | Note 1. It requires a surgical operation to get a joke well into a Scotch understanding.Sydney Smith: Lady Hollands Memoir, vol. i. p. 15. [back] |
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