This their
idea of his pre-eminence was supported by his conversation, which,
while it was more liberal and learned than that to which they had
been accustomed, was tinctured with an assuming air, so agreeably
diffused, that, instead of producing aversion, it commanded respect.
They not only appealed to him, in all doubts relating to foreign
parts, to which one and all of them were strangers, but also consulted
his knowledge in history and divinity, which were frequently the
topics of their debates; and, in poetry of all kinds, he decided
with such magisterial authority, as even weighed against the opinions
of the players themselves. The variety of characters he had seen
and observed, and the high spheres of life in which he had so lately
moved, furnished him with a thousand entertaining anecdotes. When
he became a little familiarized to his disappointments, so that his
natural vivacity began to revive, he flashed among them in such
a number of bright sallies, as struck them with admiration, and
constituted himself a classic in wit; insomuch that they began to
retail his remnants, and even invited some particular friends to
come and hear him hold forth.
Pages:
1199
1200
1201
1202
1203
1204
1205
1206
1207
1208
1209
1210
1211
1212
1213
1214
1215
1216
1217
1218
1219
1220
1221
1222
1223