Eugene Onegin ( without commentary )

XLII

Capricious belles of the grand monde! Before all others you he left; and it is true that in our years 4 the upper ton is rather tedious. Although, perhaps, this or that dame interprets Say and Bentham, in general their conversation 8 is insupportable, though harmless tosh. On top of that they are so pure, so stately, so intelligent, so full of piety, 12 so circumspect, so scrupulous, so inaccessible to men, that the mere sight of them begets the spleen.7