The shadow of myself formed in her eye,
Which, being but the shadow of your son,
Becomes a sun, and makes your son a shadow.
King John, Act i. sc. 2.
To the third class belong such cases as:—
1. That of the lady who said that her doctor had put her on a new regiment, and allowed her to drink nothing but water. ‘Ah!’ replied some one present, ‘that must have been the coldstream.’
2. Under this head also come the sayings of Mrs. Malaprop in the ‘Rivals,’ who talks of the ‘contagious’ (for contiguous) countries; and who recommends a nice derangement (arrangement) of epitaphs (epithets), &c.
3. It is a positive vulgarism to confound ‘genus’ (a class, or sort) with ‘genius’ (a high intellectual power). This is exactly what Goldsmith meant, when he put into Tony Lumpkin’s mouth:—
Good liquor, I’ll stoutly maintain,