CHAPTER XIV.
Erat homo ingeniosus, acutus, acer, et qui plurimum et salis haberet etfellis, nec candoris minus.--Pliny.
I do not know a more difficult character to describe than LordVincent's. Did I imitate certain writers, who think that the whole artof pourtraying individual character is to seize hold of some prominentpeculiarity, and to introduce this distinguishing trait, in all timesand in all scenes, the difficulty would be removed. I should only haveto present to the reader a man, whose conversation was nothing butalternate jest and quotation--a due union of Yorick and Partridge. Thiswould, however, be rendering great injustice to the character I wishto delineate. There were times when Vincent was earnestly engrossedin discussion in which a jest rarely escaped him, and quotationwas introduced only as a serious illustration, not as a humorouspeculiarity. He possessed great miscellaneous erudition, and a memoryperfectly surprising for its fidelity and extent. He was a severecritic, and had a peculiar art of quoting from each author he reviewed,some part that particularly told against him. Like most men, in thetheory of philosophy he was tolerably rigid; in its practice, more thantolerably loose. By his tenets you would have considered him a veryCato for stubbornness and sternness: yet was he a very child in hisconcession to the whim of the moment. Fond of meditation and research,he was still fonder of mirth and amusement; and while he was among themost instructive, he was also the boonest of companions. When alonewith me, or with men whom he imagined like me, his pedantry (for more orless, he always was pedantic) took only a jocular tone; with the savanor the bel esprit, it became grave, searching, and sarcastic. He wasrather a contradicter than a favourer of ordinary opinions: and this,perhaps, led him not unoften into paradox: yet was there much soundness,even in his most vehement notions, and the strength of mind whichmade him think only for himself, was visible in all the productionsit created. I have hitherto only given his conversation in one of itsmoods; henceforth I shall be just enough occasionally to be dull, and topresent it sometimes to the reader in a graver tone.
Buried deep beneath the surface of his character, was a hidden, yet arestless ambition: but this was perhaps, at present, a secret evento himself. We know not our own characters till time teaches usself-knowledge: if we are wise, we may thank ourselves; if we are great,we must thank fortune.
It was this insight into Vincent's nature which drew us closertogether. I recognized in the man, who as yet was only playing a part,a resemblance to myself, while he, perhaps, saw at times that I wassomewhat better than the voluptuary, and somewhat wiser than thecoxcomb, which were all that at present it suited me to appear.
In person, Vincent was short, and though not ill--yet ungracefullymade--but his countenance was singularly fine. His eyes were dark,bright and penetrating, and his forehead (high and thoughtful) correctedthe playful smile of his mouth, which might otherwise have given to hisfeatures too great an expression of levity. He was not positivelyill dressed, yet he paid no attention to any external art, exceptcleanliness. His usual garb was a brown coat, much too large for him,a coloured neckcloth, a spotted waistcoat, grey trowsers, and shortgaiters: add to these gloves of most unsullied doeskin, and a curiouslythick cane, and the portrait is complete.
In manners, he was civil, or rude, familiar, or distant, just as thewhim seized him; never was there any address less common, and lessartificial. What a rare gift, by the by, is that of manners! howdifficult to define--how much more difficult to impart! Better for aman to possess them, than wealth, beauty, or talent; they will more thansupply all. No attention is too minute, no labour too exaggerated, whichtends to perfect them. He who enjoys their advantages in the highestdegree, viz., he who can please, penetrate, persuade, as the objectmay require, possesses the subtlest secret of the diplomatist and thestatesman, and wants nothing but opportunity to become "great."