But what shall be his legacy, beyond the witticisms and all the doubting that befit the admirable liberalism of the position?
He is ' ' expected to be always ready with sharp witticisms, at a moment's notice,' ' and his reward is small : ' ' the crumbs that fell from the royal table ' ' (899).
It is not a boutade, a witticism.
By editing and publishing the book himself he has been able to retain a trickle of asides and witticisms that should have kept even our sceptical climatologist amused.
They variously express curiosity, horror, fear, admiration, imitation and indifference to achievements, and they sometimes diverge from the serious business with a witticism or an idiosyncratic reaction.
It is a witticism which, like all witticisms, contains a grain of truth.
It therefore follows that a serious point is involved which is not met by witticisms about holidays, and so on.
I thought that my little witticism would have passed unnoticed, even by his eagle eye.
