Humour, Wit and Satire of the Seventeenth Century

Our forefathers delighted to call their country "Merrie England;" and so, in very truth, it was. All sorts of sports and pastimes, such as no other nation can show, were then in use; and even the elders, in their hours of relaxation, were wont to exchange a merry jest with one another. Perhaps some of their jokes lacked the refinement of the present age, but they denoted a keen sense of humour. Ma...