Lawrence Kenward!
If we compare this passage with any page taken at random from
_Mid-Channel_, we might think that a century of evolution lay between
them, instead of barely twenty years.
The convention of wit-at-any-price is, indeed, moribund; but it is
perhaps not quite superfluous, even now, to emphasize the difference
between what the French call the "mot d'auteur" and the "mot de
situation." The terms practically explain themselves; but a third class
ought to be added--the "mot de caractere." The "mot d'auteur" is the
distinguishing mark of the Congreve-Sheridan convention. It survives in
full vigour--or, shall one say, it sings its swan-song?--in the works of
Oscar Wilde. For instance, the scene of the five men in the third act of
_Lady Windermere's Fan_ is a veritable running-fire of epigrams wholly
unconnected with the situation, and very slightly related, if at all, to
the characters of the speakers. The mark of the "mot d'auteur" is that
it can with perfect ease be detached from its context.
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