"Let the evil-speaker against Alexander bear all this in mind, and then let him reflect on his own insignificance, the pettiness of his own circumstances and affairs, and the blunders that he makes about these, paltry and trifling as they are.

For the rest, no puerilities or pettinesses in the practice of devotion; government is learned better from studying men than from studying books.

"But Mr. Maynard was too well-bred a man for any such pettiness as that.