at then? He was
still a sensible, intelligent man, however abstemious and bookish.

On the other hand, the divine could not help regarding his new friend as
something of an epicure or belly-god, nor could he observe in him either
the perfect education, or the polished bearing, which mark the gentleman
of rank, and of which, while he mingled with the world, he had become a
competent judge. Neither did it escape him, that in the catalogue of Mr.
Touchwood's defects, occurred that of many travellers, a slight
disposition to exaggerate his own personal adventures, and to prose
concerning his own exploits. But then, his acquaintance with Eastern
manners, existing now in the same state in which they were found during
the time of the Crusades, formed a living commentary on the works of
William of Tyre, Raymund of Saint Giles, the Moslem annals of
Abulfaragi, and other historians of the dark period, with which his
studies were at present occupied.

A friendship, a companionship at least, was therefore struck up hastily
betwixt these two originals; and to the astonishment of the whole parish
of St. Ronan's, the minister thereof was seen once more leagued and
united with an individual of his species, generally called among them
the Cleikum Nabob. Their intercourse sometimes consisted in long walks,
which they took in company, traversing, however, as limited a space of
ground, as if it had been actually roped in for their pedestrian
exercise. Their parade was, according to circumstances, a low haugh at
the nether end of the ruinous hamlet, or the esplanade in the front of
the old castle; and, in either case, the direct longitude of their
promenade never exceeded a hundred yards. Sometimes, but rarely, the
divine took share of Mr. Touchwood's meal, though less splendidly set
forth than when he was first invited to partake of it; for, like the
owner of the gold cup in Parnell's Hermit, when cured of his
ostentation,

----"Still he welcomed, but with less of cost."

On these occasions, the conversation was not of the regular and
compacted nature, which passes betwixt men, as they are ordinarily
termed, of this world. On the contrary, the one party was often thinking
of Saladin and Coeur de Lion, when the other was haranguing on Hyder
Ali and Sir Eyre Coote. Still, however, the one spoke, and the other
seemed to listen; and, perhaps, the lighter intercourse of society,
where amusement is the sole object, can scarcely rest on a