A little bluster or ferocity, any fine writing, or any absurdity, and the world would have sneered, condemned, or laughed.

But no man could read this letter and fail to perceive that here was dignity and force, justice and sense, with just a touch of pathos and eloquence to recommend it to the heart.

Men might differ with the writer, but they could neither laugh at him nor set him aside.
Gage replied after his kind.

He was an inconsiderable person, dull and well meaning, intended for the command of a garrison town, and terribly twisted and torn by the great events in which he was momentarily caught.

His masters were stupid and arrogant, and he imitated them with perfect success, except that arrogance with him dwindled to impertinence.