Among the Diaries beginning with the second quarter of our century, there is frequent mention of a lady then becoming famous for her beauty and her wit: "an unusual combination," in the deliberate syllables of one of the writers, who is, however, not disposed to personal irony when speaking of her.

Cynicism is intellectual dandyism.

God's rarest blessing is, after all, a good woman!

Not till the fire is dying in the grate, Look we for any kinship with the stars.

The most dire disaster in love is the death of imagination.

Memoirs are the backstairs of history.

Observation is the most enduring of the pleasures of life.