When, in the former chapter, I wrote down his Lordship's pithy sayings, I found that some came into my own head, which might be serviceable for the Intercalary Day. I have never made one observation alone, but always twenty, thirty, in succession, and this very first one is a proof of it!
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When any one remains modest, not after praise, but after censure, then he is really so.
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The talk of the people, and still more the letters of maidens, have a peculiar euphony, arising from a constant interchange of long and short syllables (Trochees or Iambuses).
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The two things which a maiden most easily forgets are, first, how she looks (hence mirrors were invented); and, secondly, wherein the pronoun that differs from the conjunction that. I fear, however, that they will from to-day forward observe the distinction, merely for the sake of upsetting my assertion. And then one of my two touchstones is lost[[156]] with which I have hitherto tested learned ladies; the second, which I retain, is the left thumb-nail, which the penknife has sometimes notched full of red marks, but seldom, however, because they drive the quill more easily than they make the pen.
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One who has received many benefits ceases to count, and begins to weigh them, as if they were votes.
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