38 Our Inquiring Correspondents. [Jan. 
perpetual ‘ Oui—mon cher—et bien,’ and others equally remote from 
untravelled capacities, give the idea that the writer is either a titled 
tabby, just arrived ‘from a continental tour!’ or an old governess, 
daubed with rouge and sentiment, or a bedlamite, or the whole three in 
one ?—‘ A-propos de moutons,’ as her ladyship says so charmingly, what is 
become of poor, dear old Lady Morgan ?—TIs not the word ‘ breakfast’ 
quite as capable of communicating its glad tidings to a hungry traveller, 
or even to a romance-reading angel of seventeen, as the pretty word 
« déjetiné ?’—Is not ‘ the view of Miss Bronze’s shoulder-blades,’ to the 
full as expressive of that charming display, as any information that can be 
given by that very crooked, though travelled word, ‘ coup d’cil ?’—Is 
not the word ‘ mutual, in such phrases as, ‘ Sir Vincent Valancour, 
and the lovely Armida St.Osmond flirted the whole evening of the St. 
Leger ball, to the mutual satisfaction of each other,’ rather superfluous ? 
—Does not the use of past and future touch on tautology, in such phrases 
as, ‘ Mr. Brummagem Brushwood was horsewhipped yesterday, for the 
fourth time, in the vicinity of the House of Commons, when he declared 
that, if the like outrage took place again, he would complain to the 
Speaker ; it is to be presumed that his experience of the past will teach 
him what to hope from the future ?’—Is not the favourite phrase, ‘I am 
free to confess,—as, ‘ Mr. Speaker, I am free to confess that, in the 
whole course of my life, I never heard greater nonsense than fell from 
Mr. William Smith,-on the Catholic Question,—vulgar, tautologous, 
un-English, and parliamentary ?—Is not the equally favourite phrase, 
* Now, Mr. Speaker, that I am upon my legs,’ in precisely the same con- 
dition ?—Is not the ‘ subject-matter’ equally tautologous. silly, and: 
official? —Does not the use of the ‘sum and substance,’ merit to be reserved 
for a Methodist oration and the Marquis of Anglesey’s despatches ?—Is 
not the favourite habit of putting the adverb before the verb,—as, ‘ the 
reverend prebendary only ate a turbot, a haunch of Southdown mutton, 
a venison pasty, and a Christmas pie,—liable to mislead us as to the 
nature of this epulatory feat, and seemingly expressive of the historian’s 
regret that the reverend person did not drink them also, or perhaps eat 
them over again; and is not the phrase a vulgarism for ‘ ate only ?’— 
And, lastly, is not the booby who advertizes daily in the morning papers 
that he is ‘ wishful to exchange his living of 1,200/. a year,’ very likely 
to be the individual who would perform the same feat, or at least not 
have the prowess of his stomach impeded by the activity of his brains?’ 
« Your’s, till next month, 
« Critro-MAximus.” 
On the subject of the following epistle, we shall give no more opinion 
than on that of the last. Let the ladies solve a riddle which we must 
acknowledge has always puzzled our penetration. 
i Sres ** Doctors’ Commons. 
“Have the kindness to assist my inquiries into a curious fact, which 
has perpetually presented itself in the course of practice here, and from 
which some very practical conclusions in our profession have frequently 
admitted of being drawn. 
“« My question is—‘ Why, when ladies take up the public pen, are 
they so fond of plunging it into such extremely ticklish subjects ?’ 
‘ 
