[Still living.]
Off the bench, better known under his assumed name of “Sam Slick.” He is
a judge of Nova Scotia. In 1835, first appeared in a Canada paper as the
author of a series of letters, illustrating the Yankee character. In
1842, was Attaché in England to the American Legation; one result of
this appointment was the publication of “Sam Slick in England.” Sam’s
pen continues from time to time to enliven and amuse the world, and to
set it broadly grinning. He has infinite humour, a rollicking, racy,
uncontrolled style, an exuberance of animal spirits, great acuteness,
much worldly sagacity, and marvellous good sense under all his fun. A
genial satirist, and one of those who have the best succeeded in making
the low, corrupted, half-provincial, and half-slang language of an
inferior social class serve literary use.
[By J. E. Jones.]