To which Diana replied: 'If I am salt in the desert, you are the spring'; and the old lady protested she must put that down for her book.
The witty Mrs.Warwick, of whom wit was expected, had many incitements to be guilty of cheap wit; and the beautiful Mrs.Warwick, being able to pass anything she uttered, gave good and bad alike, under the impulsion to give out something, that the stripped and shivering Mrs.Warwick might find a cover in applause.

She discovered the social uses of cheap wit; she laid ambushes for anecdotes, a telling form of it among a people of no conversational interlocution, especially in the circles depending for dialogue upon perpetual fresh supplies of scandal; which have plentiful crops, yet not sufficient.

The old dinner and supper tables at The Crossways furnished her with an abundant store; and recollection failing, she invented.

Irish anecdotes are always popular in England, as promoting, besides the wholesome shake of the sides, a kindly sense of superiority.

Anecdotes also are portable, unlike the lightning flash, which will not go into the pocket; they can be carried home, they are disbursable at other tables.