The wine had brought out, as it were, each man's inmost character.

Some were loud and quarrelsome, others sentimental and whining; some, whom we had hitherto thought dull, most mirthful; some, whom we had ever regarded as discreet and taciturn, most garrulous and uproarious.

I remember that in the midst of our clamorous gayety, my eye fell upon the cavalier Signor Zanoni, whose conversation had so enchanted us all; and I felt a certain chill come over me to perceive that he wore the same calm and unsympathising smile upon his countenance which had characterised it in his singular and curious stories of the court of Louis XIV.

I felt, indeed, half-inclined to seek a quarrel with one whose composure was almost an insult to our disorder.

Nor was such an effect of this irritating and mocking tranquillity confined to myself alone.