t you call them?

_I._--Idioms.

_He._--Ah, exactly; well, each condition of life has its exceptions
to the general conscience, to which I should like to give the title
of idioms of vocation.

_I._--I understand. Fontenelle speaks well, writes well, though his
style swarms with French _idioms_.

_He._--And the sovereign, the minister, the banker, the magistrate,
the soldier, the man of letters, the lawyer, the merchant, the
artisan, the singing master, the dancing master, are all most
worthy folk, though their practice strays in some points from the
general conscience, and abounds in moral idioms. The older the
institution, the more the idioms; the worse the times, the more do
idioms multiply. The man is worth so much, his trade is worth the
same; and reciprocally. At last, the trade counts for so much, the
man for the same. So people take care to make the trade go for as
much as they can.

_I._--All that I gather clearly from this twisted stuff is, that
there are very few callings honestly carried on, and very few
honest men in their callings.

_He._--Good, there are none at all; but in revenge, there are few
rogues out of their own shops; and all would go excellently but for
a certain number of persons who are called assiduous, exact,
fulfilling their strict duty most rigorously, or, what comes to the
same thing, for ever in their shops, and carrying on their trade
from morning until night, and doing nothing else in the world. So
they are the only people who grow rich and are esteemed.

_I._--By force of idioms.

_He._--That is it; I see you understand me. Now, an idiom that
belongs to nearly all conditions--for there are some that are
common to all countries and all times, just as there are follies
that are universal--a common idiom, is to procure for one's self as
many customers as one possibly can; a common folly is to believe
that he is cleverest who has most of them. There are two
exceptions to the general conscience, with which you must comply.
There is a kind of credit; it is nothing in itself, but it is made
worth something by opinion. They say, _good character is better
than golden girdle_: yet the man who has a good character has not a
golden girdle, and I see nowadays that the golden girdle hardly
stands i