He was absolutely without any pretence to oratory; and yet for thirty minutes he played upon his audience as it were a pipe, and plucked out the heart of its mystery.

He was by turn, serious, merry, doleful, witty, pathetic, humorous, ironical and gravely philosophic.

When he was gay in speech, his face was funereal, and during the utterances of his grave reflections, his face was lighted up with a winning smile.

There were moments when one might have heard a pin drop; when one could not have heard his name, if shouted, for laughter; when one's eyes gathered a sudden mist.
"Sir Hugh did not once remove his eye-glass; he would have put up half a dozen glasses had he had them.
"'Well,' enquired Montaigne, as the after-cheering subsided.
'A grave, melancholy intellect, with a sprightly temperament; a wonderful man.

Who is he ?' asked Sir Hugh, dropping his glass.
"'His name, as you know is Amos Blackstone; he lives some miles away; but he is a household name.' "'Is he in business ?' "'Yes, a lawyer; a patent lawyer.