Hints Toward an Essay on Conversation (c. 1713) [ Practices ]
… men of the court, or the army, may be as guilty of pedantry, as a philosopher or a divine; and it is the same vice in women, when they are overcopious upon the subject of their petticoats, or their fans, or their china. For which … to support which, they never fail of encouraging a number of followers and admirers, who list themselves in their service, wherein they lind their accounts on both sides by pleasing their mutual vanity. This has given the former such an …
Conversation | Audience
Anthology