His love of
beauty is passionate, and betrays itself in all petulant and
contemptuous expressions.
But beyond his delight in genius, and his love of individual
and civil liberty, Mr. Landor has a perception that is much more
rare, the appreciation of character. This is the more remarkable
considered with his intense nationality, to which we have already
alluded. He is buttoned in English broadcloth to the chin. He hates
the Austrians, the Italians, the French, the Scotch, and the Irish.
He has the common prejudices of the English landholder; values his
pedigree, his acres, and the syllables of his name; loves all his
advantages, is not insensible to the beauty of his watchseal, or the
Turk's head on his umbrella; yet with all this miscellaneous pride,
there is a noble nature within him, which instructs him that he is so
rich that he can well spare all his trappings, and, leaving to others
the painting of circumstance, aspire to the office of delineating
character. He draws his own portrait in the costume of a village
schoolmaster, and a sailor, and serenely enjoys the victory of nature
over fortune.
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