Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916. Character
Characterless as a china shepherdess. 1 Character, like porcelain ware, must be painted before it is glazed. There can be no change after it is burned in. 2 A character is like an acrostic or Alexandrine stanza—read it forward, backward, or across, it spells the same thing. 3 Some characters are like some bodies in chemistry; very good, perhaps, in themselves, yet fly off and refuse the least conjunction with each other. 4 Your character at present is like a person in a plethora, absolutely dying from too much health. 5
