"At last an uncle died, by whom I inherited an estate of three
hundred pounds per annum, though, in his lifetime, he would not
have parted with a sixpence to save my soul and body from perdition.
"I now appear in the world, not as a member of any community,
or what is called a social creature, but merely as a spectator,
who entertains himself with the grimaces of a jack-pudding, and
banquets his spleen in beholding his enemies at loggerheads. That
I may enjoy this disposition, abstracted from all interruption,
danger, and participation, I feign myself deaf; an expedient by
which I not only avoid all disputes and their consequences, but
also become master of a thousand little secrets, which are every
day whispered in my presence, without any suspicion of their being
overheard. You saw how I handled that shallow politician at my
Lady Plausible's the other day. The same method I practise upon
the crazed Tory, the bigot Whig, the sour, supercilious pedant,
the petulant critic, the blustering coward, the fawning fool, the
pert imp, sly sharper, and every other species of knaves and fools,
with which this kingdom abounds.
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