"'You were rude to her!'—'Oh, no, upon my soul, I made love to her directly.'
"An old man, who affects intrigue, and writes his own reproaches in the Morning Post, trying to scandalize himself into the reputation of being young, as if he could obscure his age by blotting his character—though never so little candid as when he's abusing himself.
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"'Shall you be at Lady ——'s? I'm told the Bramin is to be there, and the new French philosopher.'—'No—it will be pleasanter at Lady ——'s conversazione—the cow with two heads will be there.'
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"'I shall order my valet to shoot me the very first thing he does in the morning.'
"'You are yourself affected and don't know it—you would pass for morose.'
"He merely wanted to be singular, and happened to find the character of moroseness unoccupied in the society he lived with.
"He certainly has a great deal of fancy and a very good memory; but with a perverse ingenuity he employs these qualities as no other person does —for he employs his fancy in his narratives, and keeps his recollections for his wit—when he makes his jokes you applaud the accuracy of his memory, and 'tis only when he states his facts that you admire the flights of his imagination. [Footnote: The reader will find how much this thought was improved upon afterwards.]
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