Sublime

Fable is more historical than fact, because fact tells us about one man and fable tells us about a million men.

that some, out of fear, kept themselves hidden, and only exposed themselves to those upon whose sympathies they could be sure.

capered.

This is the true and exact account of the Great Cigar Fraud, and the moral of it is this–that civilisation is founded upon abstractions.

having bestowed her affections (or whatever it might be that, in the absence of anything better, represented them)

deluge.

A true friend of man; almost the only friend of human progress. An Old Mortality, say rather an Immortality, with unwearied patience and faith making plain the image engraven in men’s bodies, the God of whom they are but defaced and leaning monuments.