THE HONOURABLE MR LISTLESS

But I should think, with submission--


MR FLOSKY (_joining them from another part of the room_)

Did I not hear Mr Listless observe that Dante is becoming fashionable?


THE HONOURABLE MR LISTLESS

I did hazard a remark to that effect, Mr Flosky, though I speak on
such subjects with a consciousness of my own nothingness, in the
presence of so great a man as Mr Flosky. I know not what is the colour
of Dante's devils, but as he is certainly becoming fashionable I
conclude they are blue; for the blue devils, as it seems to me, Mr
Flosky, constitute the fundamental feature of fashionable literature.


MR FLOSKY

The blue are, indeed, the staple commodity; but as they will not
always be commanded, the black, red, and grey may be admitted as
substitutes. Tea, late dinners, and the French Revolution, have played
the devil, Mr Listless, and brought the devil into play.