RABBLE, n. In a republic, those who exercise a supreme authority tempered by fraudulent elections. The rabble is like the sacred Simurgh, of Arabian fable - omnipotent on condition that it do nothing.

Backbite: To ''speak of a man as you find him'' when he can't find you.

History is an account, mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools.

Quill: An instrument of torture yielded by a goose and commonly weilded by as ass.

Fidelity - a virtue peculiar to those who are about to be betrayed.

TRUTHFUL, adj. Dumb and illiterate.

Curiosity, n. An objectionable quality of the female mind. The desire to know whether or not a woman is cursed with curiosity is one of the most active and insatiable passions of the masculine soul.