The merest smattering of knowledge
The meticulous preciosity of the lawyer and the logician [preciosity = extreme overrefinement]
The most absurd elementary questions
The most amazing impudence
The most exacting and exciting business
The most fallacious of all fallacies
The most implacable logic
The most preposterous pride
The multitudinous tongue of the people
The outcome of unerring observation