Je lis allongé ce soir sous la fenêtre ouverte ; et, si je lève les yeux, je vois dehors un carré du ciel tranquille. L'été y vogue lentement avec quelques nuages bleus, presque arrêtés. M'interrompant décidément, je pourrais méditer sur ces trois chambres emboîtées : la chambre de l’œil, la chambre réelle qu'est la pièce où je suis et, au-delà, la chambre du monde ; et je ne sais quelle preuve, quelle conclusion de commensurabilité ou d'incongruité, sortira de la considération de ces espaces gigognes. Si je rêvasse assez longtemps le crépuscule tournera au noir et les constellations apparaissant offriront une vision négative, illisible et cosmique de la page que je tiens debout sur mon ventre. Non — à Paris, on ne voit guère les étoiles.
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"One of those deep observations"
With reflections of this nature [Miss Bridget] usually, as has been hinted, accompanied every act of compliance with her brother's inclinations; and surely nothing could more contribute to heighten the merit of this compliance than a declaration that she knew, at the same time, the folly and unreasonableness of those inclinations to which she submitted. Tacit obedience implies no force upon the will, and consequently may be easily, and without any pains, preserved; but when a wife, a child, a relation, or a friend, performs what we desire, with grumbling and reluctance, with expressions of dislike and dissatisfaction, the manifest difficulty which they undergo must greatly enhance the obligation.
As this is one of those deep observations which very few readers can be supposed capable of making themselves, I have thought proper to lend them my assistance; but this is a favour rarely to be expected in the course of my work. Indeed, I shall seldom or never so indulge him, unless in such instances as this, where nothing but the inspiration with which we writers are gifted, can possibly enable any one to make
the discovery.(Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, I v)