When is a man to be safe from such wit, if age and infirmity will not protect him?"
"Infirmity!" said Elinor, "do you call Colonel Brandon infirm?
However, having an infirmity - for I am hard of hearing, sir--"
" - Yes, hard of hearing; having that infirmity coming upon me, my son he went into the Law, and he took charge of me, and he by little and little made out this elegant and beautiful property.
All that need be remarked is, that a body which is to correct this
infirmity ought itself to be free from it, and consequently ought to be less numerous.
Love is never quite devoid of sentimentality, and Strickland was the least inclined to that
infirmity of any man I have known.
If she could afford to reside as a lodger in--vicarage, she would choose that house before all others as the place of her abode; but not being so circumstanced, she would never come under its roof, except as an occasional visitor: unless sickness or calamity should render her assistance really needful, or until age or
infirmity made her incapable of maintaining herself.
With the customary
infirmity of temper that characterizes this unhappy fowl, she appears by the fierceness of her beak and eye, and the general truculency of her attitude, to threaten mischief to the inoffensive community; and especially to warn all citizens careful of their safety against intruding on the premises which she overshadows with her wings.
As they drew near, the widow recognized in every face some trait of former friends, long forgotten, but now returning, as if from their old graves, to warn her to prepare a shroud; or, with purpose almost as unwelcome, to exhibit their wrinkles and
infirmity, and claim her as their companion by the tokens of her own decay.
Because of his horrible
infirmity, you have let yourselves become his slaves.
Forgive me and have pity on my folly, and remember I know but little, and, if I talk much, it's more from
infirmity than malice; but he who sins and mends commends himself to God."
The symptoms of the
infirmity are much the same in every case, but the affliction itself is variously termed.