CRYSTALLISED WISDOM.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9677, 29 December 1909, Page 7

CRYSTALLISED WISDOM.

"Marmaduke," of Truth, known in 1 the ordinary relations of life as Mr C. E. Jerningham, is the vivacious and rather cynical philosopher whose dainty little volume of <ollected aphorisms represents the gleanings of contributions to Mr Labouchere's well-known journal over a consider- j able period. Though it is not to be expected that each sii gle epigram in so large a collection should deserve immortality, a very fair proportion of Mr Jerningham's aphorisms bear I the stamp or. true wit. "Marmaduke" is reputed to direct the most envenomed of bis arrows of wit against society and the upper ten, but to most people he appeals more as the wise and witty philosopher, punetrtting with the shafts of his mildly tempered cynicism the vulnerable spots of human nature in general. With such a book illustration is the fairest form of criticism, and we quote a section of "Marmaduke's" characteristic epigrams herewith: — "Superior knowledge is a mistake; that which rules the world is superior ignorance. "The perfection of good manners is never to be intentionally;annoying. "There are two forces which cause modern England to move; a crisis and a craze, "Conversation is listening to yourself in the presence of others. "Genius is a combination of aspiration and inspiration. "The wisdom of youth lacks confidence in self; the wisdom of age lacks confidence in others. "No man is a hero to his valet, but many a man is a valet to his h.-ro. "Consideration for others is often a form of cowardice. "We hate less those we see through than those that see through us. "Originally an animaJ, man has been improved by circumstances, and