Moore eyed the speaker's wig with tolerant eye.
"Faith, Sherry," said he, "brains such as yours are an excuse for anything."
"Perhaps," said Sheridan. "But it is a poor rule that does n't work both ways, and surely you will not have the temerity to assert that 'Anything is an excuse for brains.'"
"In society who can doubt the truth of the statement?"
"It takes a sinner to be cynical," said Sheridan, having recourse to his snuff-box.
"Then," said Moore, "what a doubter our greatest dramatist must be."
"I have been described as a doubtful character more than once," returned the old gentleman. "Your Highness, when you arrived we were discussing matrimony."
"An amatory eccentricity," drawled Brummell, who had joined the little group now surrounding the Prince.
"The connecting link between bankruptcy and the Bank of England," declared Sir Percival.
"The straight-jacket in which are confined couples suffering from sentimental insanity pronounced incurable by the church," said Moore.