BELISE: Veux-tu toute la vie offenser la grammaire?
MARTINE: Qui parle d’offenser grand’mere ni grand-pere?’
The pun is delivered in all sincerity, from the mouth of a rustic.
ETEXT EDITOR’S BOOKMARKS FOR THE PG SHORT WORKS OF MEREDITH:
A wise man will not squander his laughter if he can help itA woman is hurt if you do not confide to her your plansA generous enemy is a friend on the wrong sideA very doubtful benefitA great oration may be a sedativeA male devotee is within an inch of a miracleAbove Nature, I tell him, or, we shall be very much belowAdversary at once offensive and helpless provokes brutalityAll are friends who sit at tableAll flattery is at somebody’s expenseAmericans forgivingly remember, without mentioningAs becomes them, they do not look aheadAs in all great oratory! The key of it is the pathosBack from the altar to discover that she has chained herselfBe what you seem, my little oneBe philosophical, but accept your personal duesBed was a rock of refuge and fortified defenceBut I leave it to youCan believe a woman to be any age when her cheeks are tintedCauses him to be popularly weighedCharges of cynicism are common against all satiristsCivil tongue and rosy smiles sweeten even sour wineCupid clipped of wing is a destructive parasiteDangerous things are uttered after the third glassDistinguished by his not allowing himself to be provokedDistrust us, and it is a declaration of warEccentric behaviour in triflesEverywhere the badge of subjection is a poor stomachExcess of a merit is a capital offence in moralityExcited, glad of catastrophe if it but killed monotonyFace betokening the perpetual smack of lemonFourth of the GeorgesGenerally he noticed nothingGentleman in a good state of preservationGood jokes are not always good policyGratitude never was a woman’s giftHappiness in love is a match between ecstasy and complianceHere and there a plain good soul to whom he was affectionateHis idea of marriage is, the taking of the woman into custodyHoly images, and other miraculous objects are soldI who respect the state of marriage by refusingI make a point of never recommending my own houseI like him, I like him, of course, but I want to breatheI am a discordant instrument I do not readily vibrateIf I do not speak of paymentImparting the usual chorus of yesses to his own mindIn every difficulty, patience is a life-beltIndulged in their privilege of thinking what they likedInfants are said to have their ideas, and why not young ladies?Intellectual contempt of easy dupesInvite indecision to exhaust their scruplesIs not one month of brightness as much as we can ask for?It was harder to be near and not closeIt is well to learn manners without having them imposed on usKnew my friend to be one of the most absent-minded of menLend him your own generosityLove and war have been compared—Both require strategyLoving in this land: they all go mad, straight offMen love to boast of things nobody else has seenMen overweeningly in love with their creationsModest are the most easily intoxicated when they sip at vanityMust be the moralist in the satirist if satire is to strikeNature is not of necessity always roaringNaughtily Australian and kangaroolyNever reckon on womankind for a wise actNo flattery for me at the expense of my sistersNot a page of his books reveals malevolence or a sneerNot in love—She was only not unwilling to be in loveNothing desirable will you have which is not covetedOnly to be described in the tongue of auctioneersPeace, I do pray, for the husband-haunted wifePeriod of his life a man becomes too voraciously constantPetty concessions are signs of weakness to the unsatisfiedPitiful conceit in menPrimitive appetite for noiseRapture of obliviousnessRejoicing they have in their common agreementRespected the vegetable yet more than he esteemed the flowerRich and poor ‘s all right, if I’m rich and you’re poorSelf-incenseSelf-worship, which is often self-distrustShe seems honest, and that is the most we can hope of girlsShe sought, by looking hard, to understand it betterShe might turn out good, if well guarded for a timeShe began to feel that this was life in earnestShe dealt in the flashes which connect ideasSign that the evil had reached from pricks to pokesSo are great deeds judged when the danger’s past (as easy)Soft slumber of a strength never yet called forthSpare me that word “female” as long as you liveStatesman who stooped to conquer fact through fictionSunning itself in the glass of EnvySuspects all young men and most young womenSuspicion was her best witnessSweet treasure before which lies a dragon sleepingTelling her anything, she makes half a face in anticipationThat which fine cookery does for the cementing of couplesThe intricate, which she takes for the infiniteThe social world he looked at did not show him heroesThe alternative is, a garter and the bedpostThe exhaustion ensuing we named tranquillityThe mildness of assured dictatorshipTheir idol pitched before them on the floorThey miss their pleasure in pursuing itThis mania of young people for pleasure, eternal pleasureTossed him from repulsion to incredulity, and so backTwo principal roads by which poor sinners come to a conscienceUtterance of generous and patriotic cries is not sufficientWe grew accustomed to periods of Irish feverWe like well whatso we have done good work forWe trust them or we crush themWeak reeds who are easily vanquished and never overcomeWeak stomach is certainly more carnally virtuous than a full oneWere I chained, For liberty I would sell libertyWhen we see our veterans tottering to their fallWhen you have done laughing with her, you can laugh at herWins everywhere back a reflection of its own kindlinessWits, which are ordinarily less productive than landWoman descending from her ideal to the gross reality of manYour devotion craves an enormous exchange
A lecture delivered at the London Institution, February 1st, 1877. ↩
Realism in the writing is carried to such a pitch in THE OLD BACHELOR, that husband and wife use imbecile connubial epithets to one another. ↩
Tallemant des Reaux, in his rough portrait of the Duke, shows the foundation of the character of Alceste. ↩
See Tom Jones, book viii. chapter I, for Fielding’s opinion of our Comedy. But he puts it simply; not as an exercise in the quasi-philosophical bathetic. ↩
Maskwell seems to have been carved on the model of Iago, as by the hand of an enterprising urchin. He apostrophizes his ‘invention’ repeatedly. ‘Thanks, my invention.’ He hits on an invention, to say: ‘Was it my brain or Providence? no matter which.’ It is no matter which, but it was not his brain. ↩
Imaginary Conversations: Alfieri and the Jew Salomon. ↩
Terence did not please the rough old conservative Romans; they liked Plautus better, and the recurring mention of the vetus poeta in his prologues, who plagued him with the crusty critical view of his productions, has in the end a comic effect on the reader. ↩
The exclamation of Lady Booby, when Joseph defends himself: ‘YOUR VIRTUE! I shall never survive it!’ etc., is another instance.—Joseph Andrews. Also that of Miss Mathews in her narrative to Booth: ‘But such are the friendships of women.’—Amelia. ↩
Keyboard: ← → chapters · t contents · s settings · b bookmark · / search · f fullscreen