On the other hand, expressions that once were not
considered inelegant are looked at askance in the period following. The
word "brass" was formerly an accepted synonym for money; but at present,
when it takes on that significance, it is not admitted into genteel
circles of language. It may be said to have seen better days, like
another word I have in mind--a word that has become slang, employed in
the sense which once did not exclude it from very good society. A
friend lately informed me that he had "fired" his housekeeper--that
is, dismissed her. He little dreamed that he was speaking excellent
Elizabethan.
THE "Journal des Goncourt" is crowded with beautiful and hideous things,
like a Japanese Museum.
"AND she shuddered as she sat, still silent, on her seat, and he saw
that she shuddered." This is from Anthony Trollope's novel, "Can You
Forgive Her?" Can you forgive him? is the next question.
A LITTLE thing may be perfect, but perfection is not a little thing.
Possessing this quality, a trifle "no bigger than an agate-stone on the
forefinger of an alderman" shall outlast the Pyramids.
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