27/31 "It is not very gay, but it is better than nothing. It suggests cold meat served up after the dessert; but when people are hungry, the order of their food is not of much importance." "Is there any news, Prince? The world is at peace, and consequently given over to sin, as it mostly is when it is resting from a fit of violence." "You seem to be inclined to moralities this evening," said Donna Tullia, smiling, and gently swaying the red fan she always carried. It is the privilege of old age to censure in others what it is no longer young enough to praise in itself. It is a bad thing to grow old, but it makes people good, or makes them think they are, which in their own eyes is precisely the same thing." "How delightfully cynical!" "Doggish ?" inquired the Prince, with a laugh. |