How times change

This book has kept me right for years. How else could I have dealt with absurdly romantic letters from unwanted suitors:

Sir, I do not know whether your epistle was intended in a jest, in which case its absurdity might have been excused on the grounds of its plagiarisms. But if you can really write in earnest to any woman whom you profess to esteem, I must express my humble opinion that such is not the proper course by which to excite a reciprocal feeling.

Or indeed let my beloved know that mother approved:

My dear sir, you will be delighted to hear that Mamma is every way favourable to our attachment. I say our, for I now feel under no restraint in confessing that my partiality for you is closely akin to a deeper feeling.

So much more civilised than:
C U Fri. I realy jst wn2 gt n yr pants, ok? LOL ;-)