"Why, it makes me mad," replied he, "to hear men who make the loudest outcry about the dangers of the state, cramming their houses with French governesses, French cooks, and French valets; is not this adding flame to the fire? Then I have no patience to see people who pretend great zeal for the church, delighted that an Italian singer should have a larger revenue than the highest of our own bishops. Such patriots might have done well enough for Athenians," added he, looking exultingly at Miss Sparkes, "but they make miserable Englishmen. Then I hate to see fellows who pay least taxes, complaining most of the burden--those who most lament the hardness of the times, spending money in needless extravagance, and luxury increasing in exact proportion as means diminish. "Then I am sick of the conceit of the boys and girls. Do but observe how their vanity imposes on their understanding, and how names disguise things. My son would start, if I were to desire him to go to London in the _stage coach_, but he _puts himself into the mail_ with great coolness. If I were to talk to Fan about living in a _small house_, she would not give me the hearing, whereas she is quite wild to live in a _cottage_." "I do not quite agree with you, Mr. Flam," said Sir John, smiling, "as to the inconsistency of the world, I rather lament its dull uniformity. If we may rely on those living chronicles, the newspapers, all is one faultless scene of monotonous perfection. Were it otherwise, I presume those frugal philologers would not keep a set of phrases ready cut and dried, in order to apply them universally in all cases. For instance, is not every public place from St. James's to Otaheite, or the Cape, invariably _crowded with beauty and fashion_? Is not every public sermon pronounced to be _excellent_? Is not every civic speech, every provincial harangue, _neat and appropriate_? And is not every military corps, from the veteran regiment of regulars, to the volunteer company of a month's standing, always declared to be _in the highest state of discipline_?"