Nature (saith he) hath amply supplied me in vanity--a pleasure which neither the pertness of wit nor the gravity of wisdom will ever persuade me to part with.
The first came forwards:' this forwardness or pertness is the certain consequence, when the children of Dulness are spoiled by too great fondness of their parent.
Dulness with transport eyes the lively dunce, Remembering she herself was pertness once.
While, on top of it, David evinced an amazing pertness fit to have tried a better man than Adam M'Adam.
The pertness of tone and words, alike, fanned his father's resentment into a blaze.
Pertness is the mistaken affectation of grace, as pedantry produces erroneous dignity: the familiarity of the one, and the clumsiness of the other, distort or prevent grace.
Dulness, with transport eyes the lively dunce, Remembering she herself was pertness once.
She thought that if any proof were needed of the ill effects of their treasuring their secret from their parents, this cynical pertness of Lottie supplied it.
Their doing so suggests pertness when the elders are unmarried, but sheer insubordination when they are married; and Esther was by no means willing at any time to abrogate the privileges of her position as a married woman.
They are generally contented, almost always cheerful and good tempered, and have little of that irritating pertness and 'independence' so characteristic of the Irish domestic.
The very prevalent pertness and 'independence' of servants are due, primarily, unquestionably to the great demand for them, and the ease with which situations are procured.
Pope knew better-- "Dulness with transport eyes the lively Dunce, Remember she herself was Pertness once.
Dulness with transport eyes the lively Dunce, Remembering she herself was Pertness once.
If thou really thinkest thou dost not, thy ignorance is more to be pitied, than thy pertness resented.
I have mentioned several times the pertness of Mrs. Betty to me; and now, having a little time upon my hands, I will give you a short dialogue that passed just now between us.
Bentley, to mortify the pertnessof the bookseller, who would not send his publications to the Royal Library, had said that he ought to do so, were it but to make amends for the damage the MS.
He was also satirised in a poem termed "The Pasquinade," published in 1752, in which the goddesses of Pertness and Dulness join to praise him as their favourite reflex.
Her pertness especially is probably restrained in my presence.
The Muses, contrary to all other Ladies, pay no Distinction to Dress, and never partially mistake the Pertness of Embroidery for Wit, nor the Modesty of Want for Dulness.
The Pertness of the billing Dove, Like Tickling, is but teazing.
Oscar, with a pertnessfor which he was becoming a little too notorious.
His pertness is contrasted with the shy modesty of the Young Nymph, the companion figure at the foot of the opposite pylon.
The little girl, crowned with a wildflower, posed with the pertness of a wayside blossom, her hands extended like pointed leaves, has a roguishness and playful grace that charm.
It is not our custom in Spain to reward pertness in a messenger," Don Pedro answered, patting the head of his greyhound.
At times, too, when the wild fit was upon her, she would break into pertness and rebel openly against Alleyne's gentle firmness.
Nature fairy tales are more than apt to be failures, and often include a great deal of pertness and cheap talk, in their effort to teach by stealth.
These were new subjects for my love of instructing myself, and very welcome ones to my pertness and youthful conceit.
There soon arose between us a coterie-language, by which we could converse before all people without their understanding us; and she often used this gibberish with great pertness in the presence of our parents.
The poor young fellow, whose very pertness and braggadocio were simple and childlike, really felt towards the older man who had been his employer much as a faithful retainer towards a feudal baron.
Father always is fondling about me when nobody's lookin'," the child answers, with a pertness indicating a knowledge of his parentage rather in advance of his years.
He has lost that vivacity and pertness so characteristic on the plantation.
Our author exercises the utmost severity of his pertness on the female poets whom he selects from our “forests of versifiers;” but we are too gallant to quote his impertinences.
French dogmatism is pertness, and our lively Frenchman’s pertness almost amounts to genius.
Looking once or twice rather anxiously towards his wife, my lord tried to atone for her pertness towards his aunt by profuse civility on his own part; indeed, when he so wished, no man could be more courteous or pleasing.
She introduced Prussia and Persia into their conversation with abominable pertness and frequency.
