"He must, upon no account, sustain a conversation with any spirit, lest he should appear, to his utter disgrace, interested in what is said: and when he is quite tired of his existence, from a total vacuity of ideas, he must affect a look of absence, and pretend, on the sudden, to be wholly lost in thought."
Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress
At least 14 entries in ESTC (1782, 1783, 1784, 1785, 1786, 1790, 1791, 1793, 1795, 1796).<br>
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Frances Burney, <u>Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress. By the Author of Evelina</u>. 5 vols. (London: Printed for T. Payne and Son and T. Cadell, 1782). &lt;<a href="http://estc.bl.uk/T102228">Link to ESTC</a>&gt;