All of them bore powerful marks of a profound and elegant mind, well stored with literature, and possessed of an uncommon share of activity and discrimination.
My station was in that part of the house which was appropriated for the reception of books, it being my duty to perform the functions of librarian as well as secretary.

Here my hours would have glided in tranquillity and peace, had not my situation included in it circumstances totally different from those which attended me in my father's cottage.

In early life my mind had been much engrossed by reading and reflection: my intercourse with my fellow mortals was occasional and short.

But, in my new residence, I was excited by every motive of interest and novelty to study my master's character; and I found in it an ample field for speculation and conjecture.
His mode of living was in the utmost degree recluse and solitary.

He had no inclination to scenes of revelry and mirth.