CHAPTER XVL 



HEARSAY. 



'EARSAY is a commodity of so little value 

 that men of the world (am I right in excluding 



^jt^Ss:adJi:^ the other sex?) accept it as so much loose 

 chaff, fit only to form a plaything for the winds, or to 

 accumulate in the stray corners of naturally empty 

 minds — seldom, if ever, to be gathered and stored for 

 the sake of any tangible worth it may possess. But 

 such a proper and well-earned estimate is, like all other 

 dogmatism, open to exception. Hearsay in the shape 

 of a mere ou dit — which, out of an indifferent acquaint- 

 ance with Gallic idioms, I take to infer tlie vapid ntter- 

 ance of nobody in particular, but ratlier the mere chance 

 gossip wdiich embraces every topic, affecting intimacy 

 with each, and proving no knowledge of any — is obvi- 

 ously worthless, but is rightly held liy the world at 

 large as being onl}^ a convenient medium through which 

 to discuss in safety, and with some additional piquancy, 

 the affairs of their neighbours. On J/^ship, indeed, is of 

 itself a branch of science, in which, of our frailty, we are 

 all too prone to dabble ; bnt the professors of which carry 

 with them a weight altogetlier out of proportion to the 



