Finally he began to mutter some commonplaces which meant nothing particularly.

[…] every evening he comes precisely at a certain hour to drink beer, seasoned with a little tobacco, and the company of these two women. Drinks diligently in a sipping way, says Horace; and smokes, with such dull speech as there may be,—not till he is drunk, but only perceptibly drunkish; raised into a kind of cloudy narcotic Olympus, and opaquely superior to the ills of life; in which state he walks uncomplainingly to bed.

Bad loans on bank balance sheets reflect that millions of people have lost jobs, eliminating spending power, while companies have seen sales evaporate.

[I]t was thus the passion of Mr. Panton allayed its overflowings: for very shortly after his marriage, he again fell passionately in love with another lady; a bona roba Queen, the full head taller than himself, and more than an armfull.