He is a vivacious little
fellow, and wonderfully excitable to mirth; and it is truly a sight to
see him laugh;--every feature partakes of his movement, and even his
whole body shares in it, as he rises and dances about the room. He has
great variety of conversation, commensurate with his experiences in life,
and sometimes will talk Spanish, ore rotundo,--sometimes imitate the
Catholic priests, chanting Latin songs for the dead, in deep, gruff,
awful tones, producing really a very strong impression,--then he will
break out into a light, French song, perhaps of love, perhaps of war,
acting it out, as if on the stage of a theatre: all this intermingled
with continual fun, excited by the incidents of the passing moment. He
has Frenchified all our names, calling B------ Monsieur Du Pont, myself
M. de L'Aubepine, and himself M. le Berger, and all, Knights of the
Round-Table. And we live in great harmony and brotherhood, as queer a
life as anybody leads, and as queer a set as may be found anywhere. In
his more serious intervals, he talks philosophy and deism, and preaches
obedience to the law of reason and morality; which law he says (and I
believe him) he has so well observed, that, notwithstanding his residence
in dissolute countries, he has never yet been sinful.
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