Under the forcing system, a young gentleman usually took leave of his spirits in three weeks.

He had all the cares of the world on his head in three months.

He conceived bitter sentiments against his parents or guardians in four; he was an old misanthrope, in five; envied Curtius that blessed refuge in the earth, in six; and at the end of the first twelvemonth had arrived at the conclusion, from which he never afterwards departed, that all the fancies of the poets, and lessons of the sages, were a mere collection of words and grammar, and had no other meaning in the world.
But he went on blow, blow, blowing, in the Doctor's hothouse, all the time; and the Doctor's glory and reputation were great, when he took his wintry growth home to his relations and friends.
Upon the Doctor's door-steps one day, Paul stood with a fluttering heart, and with his small right hand in his father's.

His other hand was locked in that of Florence.

How tight the tiny pressure of that one; and how loose and cold the other! Mrs Pipchin hovered behind the victim, with her sable plumage and her hooked beak, like a bird of ill-omen.