"She had a balance at the banker's which would have made her beloved anywhere. * * * What a dignity it gives an old lady, that balance at the banker's!"
Such also is this demolishing assault upon worldliness:[1]
"I, for my part, have known a five pound note to interpose
and knock up a half century's attachment between two brethren;
and can't but admire, as I think what a fine and durable
thing Love is among worldly people."
And this upon a shoddy noblesse oblige:[2]
"I admire that admiration which the genteel world sometimes
extends to the commonalty. There is no more agreeable object
in life than to see May Fair folks condescending."
When he gravely admonishes, it is as follows:[3]
"Praise everybody, I say to such; never be squeamish, but
speak out your compliment both point blank to a man's face,
and behind his back, when you know there is a reasonable
chance of his hearing it again."
The direct satire on Pitt Crawley as an undergraduate
is given an ironic fillip by another sting in the tail:[4]
"But though he had a fine flux of words, and delivered his
little voice with great pomposity and pleasure to himself, and
never advanced any sentiment or opinion which was not perfectly
trite and stale, and supported by a Latin quotation;
yet he failed somehow, in spite of a mediocrity which ought
to have insured any man a success."
Another successful bit,—this time the device of catching
an unwary character in an ironic trap,—is the account of
Penn's linguistic proficiency. His friend Strong compliments
him on speaking French like Chateaubriand,—[5]
