Every day for at least ten years together did my father resolve to have it mended--'tis not mended yet; --no family but ours would have borne with it an hour----and what is most astonishing, there was not a subject in the world upon which my father was so eloquent, as upon that of door-hinges. ----And yet at the same time, he was certainly one of the greatest bubbles to them, I think, that history can produce: his rhetorick and conduct were at perpetual handy-cuffs. --Never did the parlour-door open--but his philosophy or his principles fell a victim to it; ----three drops of oil with a feather, and a smart stroke of a hammer, had saved his honour for ever.

Every day for at least ten years my father resolved to have it mended - 'tis not mended yet; no other family would have borne with it an hour - and what is most astonishing, there was not a subject in the world upon which my father was so eloquent, as that of door-hinges. And yet his speech and actions were at perpetual handy-cuffs. Never did the parlour-door open, without his philosophy felling victim to it; yet three drops of oil, and a smart stroke of a hammer, would have solved it for ever.
