the first water, "Who is Mr. St. John?" I asked.

"The finest gentleman in England," answered the coxcomb, settling his
cravat.

"Perfectly intelligible!" was my reflection on this reply; and I
forthwith arrested a Whig parson,--"Who is Mr. St. John?" said I.

"The greatest reprobate in England!" answered the Whig parson, and I was
too stunned to inquire more.

Five minutes afterwards the sound of carriage wheels was heard in the
courtyard, then a slight bustle in the hall, and the door of the
ante-room being thrown open Mr. St. John entered.

He was in the very prime of life, about the middle height, and of a mien
and air so strikingly noble that it was some time before you recovered
the general effect of his person sufficiently to examine its peculiar
claims to admiration. However, he lost nothing by a further survey: he
possessed not only an eminently handsome but a very extraordinary
countenance. Through an air of /nonchalance/, and even something of
lassitude; through an ease of manners sometimes sinking into effeminate
softness, sometimes bordering upon licentious effrontery,--his eye
thoughtful, yet wandering, seemed to announce that the mind partook but
little of the whim of the moment, or of those levities of ordinary life
over which the grace of his manner threw so peculiar a charm. His brow
was, perhaps, rather too large and prominent for the exactness of
perfect symmetry, but it had an expression of great mental power and
determination. His features were high, yet delicate, and his mouth,
which, when closed, assumed a firm and rather severe expression,