He was of great stature; he had a leonine head, a leonine face, a rough voice, and an eye which was sometimes a pirate's and sometimes a woman's, according to the mood.

He knew nothing about etiquette, and cared nothing about it; in speech, manner, carriage, and conduct he was the reverse of conventional.

He was frank, to the limit; he had opinions on all subjects; they were always on tap and ready for delivery, and he cared not a farthing whether his listener liked them or didn't.

Whom he loved he loved, and manifested it; whom he didn't love he hated, and published it from the housetops.

In his young days he had been a sailor, and the salt-airs of all the seas blew from him yet.