n.

A large party was assembled at the Grange. Among them were some of the
young ladies who were to form the chorus; one elderly spinster, Miss
Ilex, who passed more than half her life in visits, and was everywhere
welcome, being always good-humoured, agreeable in conversation, having
much knowledge of society, good sense in matters of conduct, good taste
and knowledge in music; sound judgment in dress, which alone sufficed
to make her valuable to young ladies; a fair amount of reading, old
and new; and on most subjects an opinion of her own, for which she had
always something to say; Mr. MacBorrowdale, an old friend of Mr. Gryll,
a gentleman who comprised in himself all that Scotland had ever been
supposed to possess of mental, moral, and political philosophy; 'And
yet he bore it not about'; not 'as being loth to wear it out,'{1} but
because he held that there was a time for all things, and that dinner
was the time for joviality, and not for argument; Mr. Minim, the amateur
composer of the music for the comedy; Mr. Pallet, the amateur painter
of the scenery; and last, not least, the newly-made acquaintance, Lord
Curryfin.

1 We grant, although he had much wit,
H. was very shy of using it,
As being loth to wear it out;
And therefore bore it not about,
Except on holidays or so,
As men their best apparel do.
Hudibras.

Lord Curryfin was a man on the younger side of thirty, with a good
person, handsome features, a powerful voice, and an agreeable delivery.
He had a strong memory, much power of application, and a facility of
learning rapidly whatever he turned his mind to. But with all this, he
valued what he learned less for the pleasure which he derived from the
acquisition, than from the effect which it enabled him to produce on
others. He liked to shine in conversation, and there was scarcely a
subject which could be mooted in any society, on which his multifarious
attainments did not qualify him to say something. He was readily taken
by novelty in doctrine, and followed a new lead with great pertinacity;
and in this way he had been caught by the science of pantopragmatics,
and firmly believed for a time that a scientific organisation for
teaching everybody everything would cure all the evils of society. But
being one of those 'over sharp wits whose edges are very soon turned,'
he did not adhere to any opinion with sufficient earnestness to be on