Here again he showed that impatience of detail, and that audacity of self-reliant genius, which were the source of both his weakness and his strength.

He used to speak with aversion of a Parliamentary career, and told Hogg that though this had been suggested to him, as befitting his position, by the Duke of Norfolk, he could never bring himself to mix with the rabble of the House.

It is none the less true, however, that he entertained some vague notion of eventually succeeding to his father's seat.
Combined with his eager intellectual activity, there was something intermittent and fitful in the working of his mental faculties.

Hogg, in particular, mentions one of his habits in a famous passage, which, since it brings the two friends vividly before us, may here be quoted.

"I was enable to continue my studies afterwards in the evening, in consequence of a very remarkable peculiarity.