They were more talked about than any current literary matter; never a club gathering or dinner party at which they were not discussed.

There did seem something both audacious and grotesque in this ruthless Yankee poking in among the revered antiquities of Britain, so that the beef-eating British themselves could not restrain their laughter.

They took his jokes in excellent part.
The letters on the Tower and Chawsir were palpable hits, and it was generally agreed that Punch had contained nothing better since the days of Yellow-plush.

This opinion was not confined to the man in the street.
It was shared by the high-brows of the reviews and the appreciative of society, and gained Artemus the entree wherever he cared to go.
Invitations pursued him and he was even elected to two or three fashionable clubs.

But he had a preference for those which were less conventional.