ce. One of the first mathematicians and classical scholars of
the day was mentioning it as a compliment to himself that a cousin of
his, a girl from school, had said to him, 'You know (Manning) is a very
plain good sort of a young man, but he is not anything at all out of the
common.' Leigh Hunt once said to me, 'I wonder I never heard you speak
upon this subject before, which you seem to have studied a good deal.' I
answered, 'Why, we were not reduced to that, that I know of!'--

There are persons who, without being chargeable with the vice here
spoken of, yet 'stand accountant for as great a sin'; though not dull
and monotonous, they are vivacious mannerists in their conversation,
and excessive egotists. Though they run over a thousand subjects in
mere gaiety of heart, their delight still flows from one idea, namely,
themselves. Open the book in what page you will, there is a frontispiece
of themselves staring you in the face. They are a sort of Jacks o' the
Green, with a sprig of laurel, a little tinsel, and a little smut,
but still playing antics and keeping in incessant motion, to attract
attention and extort your pittance of approbation. Whether they talk of
the town or the country, poetry or politics, it comes to much the same
thing. If they talk to you of the town, its diversions, 'its palaces,
its ladies, and its streets,' they are the delight, the grace, and
ornament of it. If they are describing the charms of the country, they
give no account of any individual spot or object or source of pleasure
but the circumstance of their being there. 'With them conversing, we
forget all place, all seasons, and their change.' They perhaps pluck a
leaf or a flower, patronise it, and hand it you to admire, but select no
one feature of beauty or grandeur to dispute the palm of perfection
with their own persons. Their rural descriptions are mere landscape
backgrounds with their own portraits in an engaging attitude in front.
They are not observing or enjoying the scene, but doing the honours as
masters of the ceremonies to nature, and arbiters of elegance to all
humanity. If they tell a love-tale of enamoured princesses, it is plain
they fancy themselves the hero of the piece. If they discuss poetry,
their encomiums still turn on something genial and unsophisticated,
meaning their own style. If they enter into politics, it is understood
that a hint from them to the potentates of Europe is sufficient. In
short, as a lover (talk