This is a malignant species of jealousy, of which I
stand acquitted in my own conscience.
Whether it is a vice, or an infirmity, I leave you to inquire.
There is another point, which I would much rather see determined;
whether the world was always as contemptible, as it appears to me
at present? -- If the morals of mankind have not contracted an
extraordinary degree of depravity, within these thirty years,
then must I be infected with the common vice of old men,
difficilis, querulus, laudator temporis acti; or, which is more
probable, the impetuous pursuits and avocations of youth have
formerly hindered me from observing those rotten parts of human
nature, which now appear so offensively to my observation.
We have been at court, and 'change, and every where; and every
where we find food for spleen, and subject for ridicule -- My new
servant, Humphry Clinker, turns out a great original: and Tabby
is a changed creature -- She has parted with Chowder; and does
nothing but smile, like Malvolio in the play -- I'll be hanged if
she is not acting a part which is not natural to her disposition,
for some purpose which I have not yet discovered.
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