“Praise or blame?”
“Oh, foolish adulation for the great part; but not without a reasonable word here and there.”
“The reasonable part you are sure must be the censorious? That is not fair to the poor author.”
“Poor author? Yes, they are all poor authors nowadays. What’s the name of this particular item of poverty?”
“There is no name on the title page; but I hear that the writer was Mr. Anstey himself.”
“What! another ‘Bath Guide’!”
“Sir Joshua Reynolds told mamma that he had remained up all night reading it.”
“Poor Sir Joshua! His eyes are none too good at the best! And does Susy believe that the book which kept Sir Joshua awake is the best one to send you asleep? You came to Chessington, you know, to get as much as possible; ‘Tired Nature’s sweet restorer, balmy sleep!’ the truest words that Shakespeare ever writ.”
“What I propose to do is to try it upon you, my dear sir. I mean to give you a dose of it this evening, instead of gruel, and if it makes you sleep I will know that I may continue it for myself—it will be more wholesome than poppy or mandragora.”