Minerva House was 'a finishing establishment for young ladies,' where some twenty girls of the ages from thirteen to nineteen inclusive, acquired a smattering of everything and a knowledge of nothing."

"What is the odds so long as the fire of soul is kindled at the taper of conwiviality, and the wing of friendship never moults a feather!"

"Mr. and Mrs. Veneering were bran-new people in a bran-new house in a bran-new quarter of London. Everything about the Veneerings was spick-and-span new. All their furniture was new, all their friends were new, all their servants were new. . ."

Great men are seldom over-scrupulous in the arrangement of their attire.

It is a melancholy truth that even great men have their poor relations.