On Conversation (1756) [ Concepts ]
… in vain, indeed, to look for conversation, where we might expect to find it in the greatest perfection, among persons of fashion: there it is almost annihilated by universal card-playing: insomuch that I have heard it given as a reason, why … Tatlers, whose pliable pipes are admirably adapted to the ‘soft parts of conversation,’ and sweetly ‘prattling out of fashion,’ make very pretty music from a beautiful face and a female tongue; but from a rough manly voice and coarse …
Conversation | Animals | Theatre
Anthology