A breach of confidence

A brilliant and paradoxical talker

A burning sense of shame and horror

A century of disillusionment

A certain catholicity of taste [catholicity = universality]

A cheap and coarse cynicism

A civilizing agency of conspicuous value

A cleanness and probity of life [probity = integrity; uprightness]

A commendable restraint

A condescending and patronizing spirit

A confused and troublesome time

A conscientious anxiety to do the right thing

A conspicuous and crowning service

A constant source of surprise and delight

A contemptible species of mockery

A convenient makeshift

A copious torrent of pleasantry

A course of arrogant obstinacy

A crumb of consolation

A crystallized embodiment of the age

A cynical and selfish hedonist

A dangerous varnish of refinement

A dead theological dogma

A decorous and well-intentioned person

A deep and most impressive solemnity

A deep and strange suggestiveness

A deep authentic impression of disinterestedness

A dereliction of duty

A disaster of the first magnitude

A distorted and pessimistic view of life

A dogmatic and self-righteous spirit

A duel of brains

A dull collocation of words

A fastidious sense of fitness

A fatal moral hollowness

A feeling of lofty remoteness

A feminine excess of inconsequence

A final and irrevocable settlement

A firmness tempered by the most scrupulous courtesy

A fitting interval for penitence

A flippant rejoinder

A flood of external impressions

A flourish of rhetoric

A fund of curious information

A furtive groping after knowledge

A gambler’s desperate chance

A ghastly mixture of defiance and conceit

A glaring example of rapacity [rapacity = plundering]

A graceful nonentity

A great and many-sided personality

A great capacity for generous indignation

A great source of confusion

A gross piece of stupidity

A habit of riding a theory too hard

A habit of rigorous definition

A happy and compensating experience

A haughty self-assertion of equality

A hideous absurdity

A hideous orgy of massacre and outrage

A high pitch of eloquence

A homelike and festive aspect

A hopeless enigma

A hotbed of disturbance

A hushed rustle of applause testified to a widespread approbation
                                   [approbation = warm approval; praise]