from *Emma*
"...she [Miss Woodhouse] requires something entertaining from each of you, either one thing extremely clever, be it prose or verse, original or repeated, or two things only moderately clever, or three things very dull indeed, and she engages to laugh heartily at them all."
"Oh!" cried Miss Bates, "then I need not be uneasy. 'Three things very dull indeed'; that will just do for me, you know. I shall be sure to say three dull things as soon as ever I open my mouth, shan't I? (looking round with most good-humoured dependence on everyone's assent) Do not you all think I shall?"
Emma could not resist.
"Ah, ma'am, but there may be a difficulty. Pardon me, but you will be limited as to number - only three at once."