More generally, one's wits are one's intellectual powers of all types. Native wit -- meaning the wits with which one is born -- is closely synonymous with common sense. To live by one's wits is to be an opportunist, but not always of the scrupulous kind. To have one's wits about one is to be alert and capable of quick reasoning.
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Toby Tolliver is a rube in the grand tradition. His hair is bright as a fire truck, and he usually wears overalls that are likely as not held up by one strap. He speaks a low brand of English, and many cultivated customs of society are beyond him. Underneath Toby's country appearance and unsophisticated manner, there runs deep currents of native wit, of cunning and resourcefulness.
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Most of the Robin Hood ballads have the same characteristics, except that the sheriff is in place of the king. King John is closely associated with Robin Hood, so perhaps this is not a coincidence. There is also the suggestion that the educated bishop (or abbot) is not as wise as the uneducated brother (or shepherd) - implying there is a "native wit" that is more valuable than school-book wisdom. The song has been found in England, Scotland, and the United States.
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In Congress, Mullins served on the Committee on Territories and the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions. He was described as a "remarkably ready debater" who gave speeches "characterized by much native wit as well as rugged common sense." He voted to impeach Andrew Johnson in February 1868,Edmund Gibson Ross, History of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson (New Mexican Printing Company, 1896), p. 76. and voted in favor of the Fifteenth Amendment (which extended voting rights to minorities) in February 1869.
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Tartakower is regarded as one of the most notable chess personalities of his time. Harry Golombek translated Tartakower's book of his best games, and in the foreword wrote: > Dr. Tartakower is far and away the most cultured and the wittiest of all the > chess masters I have ever met. His extremely well stored mind and ever- > flowing native wit make conversation with him a perpetual delight. So much > so that I count it as one of the brightest attractions an international > tournament can hold out for me that Dr. Tartakower should also be one of the > participants.
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Dingle, T. "Necessity the Mother of Invention" in Troy, pp. 61–63 Freeland observes: > 'With a saw, an axe, a hammer and a spade on his cart and possibly one of > the useful little books on construction written especially for him ... he > had to do the best he could with the materials that were to hand wherever he > stopped. Helped a little by his book, a fair amount by advice and precedent > and a great deal by ingenuity and native wit, the settlers developed a > surprising number of variations on standard constructional materials and > techniques.'Freeland, pp. 102–3.
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The central theme of the plays are the contrasting interaction between the two main characters. They are perfect foils of each other: in the Turkish version Karagöz represents the illiterate but straightforward public, whereas Hacivat belongs to the educated class, speaking Ottoman Turkish and using a poetical and literary language. Although Karagöz has definitely been intended to be the more popular character with the Turkish peasantry, Hacivat is always the one with a level head. Though Karagöz always outdoes Hacivat's superior education with his "native wit," he is also very impulsive and his never-ending deluge of get-rich-quick schemes always results in failure.
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Nell Gywnn House, Chelsea Though Nell Gwyn was often caricatured as an empty-headed woman, John Dryden said that her greatest attribute was her native wit, and she certainly became a hostess who was able to keep the friendship of Dryden, the playwright Aphra Behn, William Ley, 4th Earl of Marlborough (another lover), John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, and the king's other mistresses. She is especially remembered for one particularly apt witticism, which was recounted in the memoirs of the Comte de Gramont, remembering the events of 1681: > Nell Gwynn was one day passing through the streets of Oxford, in her coach, > when the mob mistaking her for her rival, the Duchess of Portsmouth, > commenced hooting and loading her with every opprobrious epithet. Putting > her head out of the coach window, "Good people", she said, smiling, "you are > mistaken; I am the Protestant whore."Beauclerk, p.
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To this prince Ormisda, who was standing near him, and whose departure from Persia I have described above, replied with native wit: "First, Sire," said he, "command a like stable to be built, if you can; let the steed which you propose to create range as widely as this which we see." When Ormisda was asked directly what he thought of Rome, he said that he took comfort in this fact alone, that he had learned that even there men were mortal. So then, when the emperor had viewed many objects with awe and amazement, he complained of Fame as either incapable or spiteful, because while always exaggerating everything, in describing what there is in Rome, she becomes shabby. And after long deliberation what he should do there, he determined to add to the adornments of the city by erecting in the Circus Maximus an obelisk, the provenance and figure of which I shall describe in the proper place.
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He and his supporters arrive near Hoshruba and solicit the aid of the Emperor of Sorcerers. Before long, Amir Hamza’s armies pursuing Laqa find themselves at war with Afrasiyab and his army of sorcerers. When hostilities break out Amir Hamza’s grandson, Prince Asad, is the designated conqueror of the tilism of Hoshruba. Prince Asad sets out at the head of a magnificent army to conquer Hoshruba. With him are five matchless tricksters headed by the prince of tricksters, the incomparable Amar Ayyar, whose native wit, and wondrous talents are a match for the most powerful sorcerer’s spells. Upon learning of Prince Asad’s entry into the tilism with his army, Afrasiyab dispatches a number of sorcerers and five beautiful trickster girls to foil his mission. When the trickster girls kidnap the prince, Amar Ayyar and his band of misfits continue the mission of the conqueror of the tilism with the help of Heyrat’s sister, Bahar Jadu, a powerful sorceress of the tilism, who has been banished from his court by Afrasiyab in order to please his wife.
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