Any one, I venture to repeat, who realises the extent to which this had corroded the ruling powers in France, will perceive that the furious flood of social energy which the Jacobins poured over the country was not less indispensable to France than the flood of the barbarians was indispensable for the transformation of the Roman Empire.
Scattered among the more serious fragments of the dialogue is some excellent by-play of sarcasm upon Palissot, and one or two of the other assailants of the new liberal school.

Palissot is an old story.

The Palissots are an eternal species.

The family never dies out, and it thrives in every climate.

All societies know the literary dangler in great houses, and the purveyor to fashionable prejudices.