Some observers may be taken aback by Brooks's treatment of homosexuality: while the subject was only a side theme in the movie, here it's placed front and center in the character of Roger and his flitty common-law assistant, Carmen Ghia.

Another of our friends once walked into the communal showers to find a boy tootling on the pink oboe of another of the same age.

I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasee, or a ragoust.

Have you ever stood at the edge of a great wood on a high ridge when a wild south-wester broke over it in full fury on an autumn evening?