444 On Learning and the Aris. 
He is an object of ridicule to the circle around 
him; but he knows to estimate himself, and he 
returns the contempt with which he is received. 
He feels that he is net on his proper ground ; 
no common sympathy attaches him to his .com- 
pany, nor his company to him; each are under 
restraint, but a modesty yet unsubdued in him 
subjects him to truly painful feelings, while a 
happy confidence which the polish of the world 
often confers, administers to the company the 
enjoyment of a secret triumph. He retires from 
the scene without regret, and his absence excites 
no regret in those whom he has quitted. <A few 
reflections on the strange interview for a while 
occupy the thoughts of either party. The one 
laments the littlenesses and follies of which he 
has been a witness; the others laugh at the 
awkward mortal for his oddities and unaccommo- 
dating wisdom. While the fruit of these reflec- 
tions differs in each as much as the reflections 
themselves. The one are strengthened in the per- 
Suasion that the accomplishments of politeness 
are the finishing of the human character, and 
with more self satisfaction go on in a course, 
which as a whole is but a waste of time, of talents 
and of character. ‘The other owes it perhaps to 
his keen disgust that he is not swallowed up in 
the gulph of dissipation, that trifling and uns 
important attentions are not over-rated by hims 
