… that neither of them are well to be endured. I say nothing here of the itch of dispute and contradiction, telling of lies, or of those who are troubled with the disease called the wandering of the thoughts, so that they are never present … were altogether different from ours: several ladies, whom we find celebrated by the poets of that age, had assemblies at their houses, where persons of the best understanding, and of both sexes, met to pass the evenings in discoursing … by one among them, who can start new subjects, provided he does not dwell upon them, that leave room for answers and replies. … "This degeneracy of conversation, with the pernicious consequences thereof upon our humours and dispositions, has …