His friends thought him very clever, and at the same time had an easy feeling about him which was a tribute to his freedom from pedantry.

He was clever indeed, and an excellent companion; but the real measure of his brilliancy was in the success with which he entertained himself.

He was much addicted to conversing with his own wit, and he greatly enjoyed his own society.

Clever as he often was in talking with his friends, I am not sure that his best things, as the phrase is, were not for his own ears.

And this was not on account of any cynical contempt for the understanding of his fellow-creatures: it was simply because what I have called his own society was more of a stimulus than that of most other people.