Mynheer Vandunck, though he never was drunk, Sipped brandy and water gayly. - George Colman the Younger

Johnson's style was grand and Gibbon’s elegant; the stateliness of the former was sometimes pedantic, and the polish of the latter was occasionally finical. Johnson marched to kettle-drums and trumpets. Gibbon moved to flutes and hautboys. Johnson hewed passages through the Alps, while Gibbon levelled walks through parks and gardens.

But when ill indeed,
E'en dismissing the doctor don't always succeed.

Three stories high, long, dull, and old,
As great lords' stories often are.