24
Yes, and there is also this fault which you have, not a slight one, but rather the greatest possible: you do not prepare your thoughts in advance of your words and subsequently dress them out in the parts of speech, but if you find anywhere an outlandish expression or make one up yourself and think it pretty, you endeavour to fit the thought to it and think yourself damaged if you cannot stuff it in somewhere, even if it is not essential to what you are saying. For example, the other day, without even knowing what “‘scintilla” meant, you tossed it off when it had no relation at all to the subject, and the vulgar to a man were dazed when its unfamiliarity struck their ears, but the well-informed laughed, not only at you but at your admirers.
