John Oliver Hobbes

“ This young lady who was so far from philosophy that she tried nature, and so far from nature that she longed for philosophy, chuckled and picked up her flower basket.
"You Oxford men," she said, "are more proud of what you have not read than of what you have read. Come, we can walk to The Cloisters together. I hope you like Lady Hyde-Bassett as well as I do."
"I should like her better if I thought she hada heart: no woman with a heart could have married Sir Benjamin." ”

“ To such extent as man is and acts like a creature of nature to that extent his whole position and behaviour is wrong. Nature is for man only the starting point which he must transform to something better. ”

“ The commentator smiled, which the poet, could he have been present, would not have done.
"But," said Miss Bellarmine, who never left a subject unsifted, "you have not explained the relationship."
"Wrath adopted Sophia when she was only four days old: her father committed suicide, and her mother died when she was born. I blush for human nature when I hear a man so maligned for a kind action. ”

“ There was a note of haughtiness in her tone, and her large black eyes wandered, apparently by chance, to a large notice which faced them both—"Trespassers will be Prosecuted."
"I am a stranger here," said the youth, flushing; "they told me at the station that I could get to The Cloisters [2] by crossing these fields. I saw you were in danger, so I spoke."
He took off his hat and turned ever so slightly to go on. When a man is at most pains to conceal his admiration for a woman, he can be most sure that she appreciates his struggle to her finger-tips. ”

“ When pressed to give her reason for subscribing to the latter, she said that Sir Benjamin, to his sorrow, had belonged to one. "But," she added, "the rest is silence." With accomplishments which only wanted an occasion to reorganize Europe—or destroy it—she preferred to live in retirement and make matches, comparable only to Diocletian, who found (if we may believe him) greater happiness in planting cabbages than in ruling the Empire of Rome. ”

“ Then the next step is to gain some insight into infidelity. Unless a genius is extremely religious she is foredoomed to impropriety!"
"Eliza," said Lady Hyde-Bassett, "you have neither humour nor imagination." ”

“ In this instance, the cloisters referred to are more than likely attached to the church.↑ see Speculation. ↑ Thomas Hardy is an English novelist and poet. ↑ St. Augustine is a famous theologian, who wrote influential pieces on Western Christianity and Western philosophy. ↑ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel is a German theorist and philosopher who played a large role in German Idealism. ↑ A "billy-cock" is another name for a Bowler hat a popular hat worn in the 19th century. ↑ Aristotle is a famous Greek philosopher. ”