He is on his guard then, and his natural reserve is to the fore.

This has given him the false reputation of being without humor and without the appreciation of humor.
Americans are not Englishmen, and American humor is not English humor; but both the American and his humor had their origin in England, and have merely undergone changes brought about by changed conditions and a new environment.

About the best humorous speeches I have yet heard were a couple that were made in Australia at club suppers--one of them by an Englishman, the other by an Australian..