.. such
people there are living in the world, faithless, hopeless,
charityless; let us have at them, dear friends, with might and
main. Some there are, and very successful too, mere quacks and
fools; and it was to combat and expose such as those no doubt, that
laughter was made."
But he does not always seem to attribute merriment to this humble and
unpleasant origin; he produces some passages really meant for enjoyment,
and doing justice to his gift, attacks frivolities and failings, which
are not of an important kind. Thus, he speaks in a jocund strain of the
vanity of "fashionable fiddle-daddle and feeble court slip-slop," and
exclaims, "Ah, ladies! Ask the Reverend Mr. Thurifer if Belgravia is not
a sounding brass, and Tyburnia a tinkling cymbal!"
He tells us that "The affection of young ladies is of as rapid a growth
as Jack's beanstalk, and reaches up to the sky in a night," and in the
following passage he exhibits the conduct of an amiable and estimable
girl, when under this fascinating spell--
"Were Miss Sedley's letters to Mr. Osborn to be published, we
should have to extend this novel to such a multiplicity of volumes,
as not the most sentimental reader could support; she not only
filled large sheets of paper, but crossed them with the most
astonishing perverseness, she wrote whole pages out of poetry books
without the least pity, the underlined words and passages with
quite a frantic emphasis; and in fine gave the usual tokens of her
condition.
Pages:
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260