HIS PORTRAIT. 119 



pression he could quickly change into one 

 of angry dispute or grave discussion, 

 should offensive personality provoke the 

 one, or serious reasoning invite the other; 

 indeed, sometimes his countenance would 

 assume a malevolence of expression I 

 have rarely, if ever, seen surpassed. 



In conversation, while sober, and I 

 never saw him otherwise in the company 

 of ladies, he was fluent if not eloquent 

 his manners bland if not polished 

 rich in anecdote, acute of understanding, 

 bright and quick in repartee, slow but 

 severe in his satire, generally just though 

 approaching to sarcasm in his observa- 

 tions, and conveying to the youthful mind 

 a fund of pleasing intelligence. 



Indeed, I fancied I could discern in 

 his strongly -marked features, the wicked 

 dissimulation, the unscrupulous ambi- 

 tion, and the princely dignity of Richard, 

 the implacable hatred of Shyluck, the 

 malicious cunning of lago, the worldly 



