"An oration which for a splendid combination of close reasoning and moving eloquence, is scarcely paralleled even among the many masterpieces of the illustrious speaker;" i.e., "An average speech from the point of view of the speaker's journalistic supporters."
"Its loose logic, ineffective rhetoric, and undignified petulance, furnishes a pitiful proof of the intellectual and moral decadence of a once great name;" i.e., The same oration seen from the other side.
Friendly Comments on Character and Accomplishments.
"His knowledge of music is something quite phenomenal;" i.e., "He knows, and can talk about, absolutely nothing else."
"Would be quite lovely, but for a certain je ne sais quoi which repels most people;" i.e., "Beautiful beyond all criticism that is not vaguely venomous."
"You dear thing!" i.e., "You inconsequent little noodle!"
Curiomania.
"How quite too weirdly quaint!" i.e., "What an uncanny horror of archaic ugliness!"
"How quite too awfully kind of you to take all this trouble!" i.e., "Foolish old faddist! What is bliss to him is boredom to me."
"How fearful you must be of fire!" i.e., "Oh, for a lucky conflagration!"