People of wealth and rank never use ugly names for ugly
things. Apoplexy is an affection of the head; paralysis is nervousness;
gangrene is pain and inconvenience in the extremities. All that I heard from
D——, who falls into this kind of
subterfutive language, was that Miss ——
was indisposed, and it was only after your letter that I got anything like the
518 | MEMOIR OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. |