“Beauty without smiles is like heaven without the sun.”
Memorandum This has been said twice to Emily Echowell who is too silly to understand it; but it will do for Saccharissa.
“Speak of yourself; for those who speak well should always speak on the best subject.” A mighty pretty saying from many occasions.
Mem. Must not use it too often to Lady Belle or Mrs Nettletop, for fear they should think me in earnest.
This will do for Miss Croaker who has bleared eyes, and looks as if she expected me to say something.
N:B: I wonder who wrote these lines under St Agnes’s portrait? — but they may pass for mine.
“Presents gracefully given are the most persuasive ways of courtship” says Ovid.
N:B: My grandmother’s watch-case will be a pretty cheap gift to Miss Squib as a porringer for her lap-dog.
“Bo, bo, bo!” is the chorus of Greek lovesong. It may be dangerous therefore, to say BO to a goose.
“The company of men wants a certain softness — the company of women, without you, wants everything!” A pretty sentence, but rather too particular: it might raise unwarranted expectations.
A good retort-courteous for Miss B.
N:B: I owe her a quip, for while I was merry last night, she said Lucian must have been wrong when he supposed apes could not laugh.
Mem. May serve for the 1st stanza of my descriptive sonnet on Dovedale.