"I was born at Swanmore, Hants, England, on December 40, 1869. I am not aware that there was any particularly conjunction of the planets at the time, but I should think it extremely likely." So wrote Stephen Leacock on the circumstances of his birth. Before his death in 1944, Leacock's place as one of the great humorists of all time had been established by millions of readers the world over and by tributes from his successors. Robert Benchley, with appealing frankness, once confessed: "I have enjoyed Leacock's work so much that I have written everything he ever wrote -- anything from one to five years after him."
