On Conversation (1756) [ Concepts ]
… like fools, nor gabble like a brute. In the comedy of ‘The Frenchman in London,’ which we are told was acted at Paris with universal applause for several nights together, there is a character of a rough Englishman, who is represented as … . We may frequently see a couple of French barbers accosting each other in the street, and paying their compliments with the same volubility of speech, the same grimace and action, as two courtiers on the Thuilleries. I shall not attempt … ever meet but to game. All their discourse turns upon the odd trick and the four honours: and it is no less a maxim with the votaries of whist than with those of Bacchus, that talking spoils company. Every one endeavours to make himself …
Conversation | Animals | Theatre
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