'To teach the minuter decencies and inferiour duties, to regulate the practice of daily conversation, to correct those depravities which are rather ridiculous than criminal, and remove those grievances which, if they produce no lasting calamities, impress hourly vexation, was first attempted by Casa in his book of Manners, and Castiglione in his Courtier; two books yet celebrated in Italy for purity and elegance.

A melancholy instance of the depravity of human nature; as it shews, that neither the laws nor religion of any country, however excellent the forms of each, are sufficient to bind the consciences of some; but that there are always men, of every age, country, and persuasion, who are ready to sacrifice their dearest principles at the shrine of gain.

That instrument is to me the last expression of musical depravity.

ill-treatment, annoyance, molestation, abuse, oppression, persecution, outrage; misusage &c 679; injury &c (damage) 659; knockout drops [U.S.]. badness &c adj.; peccancy^, abomination; painfulness &c 830; pestilence &c (disease) 655; guilt &c 947; depravity &c 945.

Deterioration N. deterioration, debasement; wane, ebb; recession &c 287; retrogradation &c 283 [Obs.]; decrease &c 36. degeneracy, degeneration, degenerateness; degradation; depravation, depravement; devolution; depravity &c 945; demoralization, retrogression; masochism.

In his notes of Virginia, speaking of slaves, he says, "That disposition to theft with which they (the slaves) have been branded, must be ascribed to their situation, and not to any special depravity of the moral sense.

The second and third volumes of these extraordinary adventures have just appeared, and contain higher-coloured depravities than their predecessors.

Such, however, was her care, that I escaped all these depravities; and when I was only twelve years old, had rid myself of every appearance of childish diffidence.

There is scarce any failing of mind or body, any errour of opinion, or depravity of practice, which instead of producing shame and discontent, its natural effects, has not at one time or other gladdened vanity with the hopes of praise, and been displayed with ostentatious industry by those who sought kindred minds among the wits or heroes, and could prove their relation only by similitude of deformity.

" The depravity of mankind is so easily discoverable, that nothing but the desert or the cell can exclude it from notice.

To avoid depravity like this, it is not necessary that any one should aspire to heroism or sanctity, but only that he should resolve not to quit the rank which nature assigns him, and wish to maintain the dignity of a human being.

" "Of what do you suspect her?" The look of deep, engrossing, maternal anxiety, that the lovely interrogator received in reply to this question, might have startled one whose mind had been more accustomed to muse on the depravity of human nature than the spotless being who received it; but to Gertrude it conveyed no more than a general and vague sensation of alarm.

Little else was wanting to assure his former friends of the nature of his pursuits; for even Mrs Wyllys admitted to her charge, that he acted like one in whom depravity had not yet made such progress as to have destroyed that consciousness which is ever the surest test of innocence.

"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh;" and a more polluted mouth than Dryden's never uttered its depravities on the stage.

But she took them to be fruits of a natural depravity that good women must fight.

Contrast the depravity of the wretched Cleopatra with the virtue of Lucretia, wife of Collatinus, a distinguished Roman.

This announces feminine depravities in my affections.

But with all this vulgarity of taste certain appreciations, certain ebullitions of sentiment, within the radius of sentiment certain elevations and depravities,depravities in the legitimate sense of the word, that is to say, a revolt against the commonplace....

But with all this vulgarity of taste certain appreciations, certain ebullitions of sentiment, within the radius of sentiment certain elevations and depravities,depravities in the legitimate sense of the word, that is to say, a revolt against the commonplace....

This is a short view of the general depravities among us, without entering into particulars, which would be an endless labour.

This announces feminine depravities in my affections.

But with all this vulgarity of taste certain appreciations, certain ebullitions of sentiment, within the radius of sentiment certain elevations and depravities,depravities in the legitimate sense of the word, that is to say, a revolt against the commonplace.... Ha, ha, ha!

But with all this vulgarity of taste certain appreciations, certain ebullitions of sentiment, within the radius of sentiment certain elevations and depravities,depravities in the legitimate sense of the word, that is to say, a revolt against the commonplace.... Ha, ha, ha!

But neither Saint Matthew, nor Saint Mark, nor Saint Luke, nor the other Evangelists had emphasized the maddening charms and depravities of the dancer.

In his opinion, it was in their turbulent sketches that one perceived the exaltations of the most excitable sensibilities, the caprices of the most morbid psychological states, the most extravagant depravities of language charged, in spite of its rebelliousness, with the difficult task of containing the effervescent salts of sensations and ideas.