There was a lady, who was allied to some of the best families in the kingdom, exceedingly agreeable, and very accomplished, who took great pleasure in the conversation and society of Porson. He, on his part, was very partial to her; and she it was who was the occasion of his composing those excellent Charades, which have found their way into many of the public prints, but of which an accurate copy has no where hitherto appeared. They were principally composed in his walks from his chambers, to the house of the author of this narrative, and will be found in the Appendix. Και ομως ετολμησαμεν ημείς, τα ουτως εχοντα, προς αλληλα ξυναγκγειν και ξυναρμοσαι. CHAPTER XXXVII. PORSON’S CHARACTER. His character will now be given, as it impressed the judgment of one who studied it much, and knew it well; but the undertaking is somewhat arduous. There were blended in him very opposite qualities. In some things he appeared to be of the most unshaken firmness; in others he was wayward, capricious, and discovered the weakness of a child. Although in the former part of his life, more particularly, he would not unfrequently confine himself for days together, in his chamber, and not suffer himself to be intruded upon by his most intimate acquaintance, he hardly ever could resist the allurements of social converse, or the late and irregular hours to which they occasionally lead. That he was friendly to late hours, and generally, exhibited Dr. Johnson’s reluctance to go to bed, might naturally arise from the circumstance of his being from a child, a very bad sleeper. Porson frequently spent his evenings with the present venerable Dean of Westminster, with Dr. Wingfield, with the late Bennet Langton, and with another friend in Westminster, with respect to whom, the following line used to be facetiously applied from Homer. Ριψε ποδος τεταγων απο βηλου θεσπεσιοιο Yet he hardly ever failed passing some hours afterwards, at the Cyder Cellar, in Maiden-lane. The above individuals being all of them very regular in their hours, used to give him to understand, that he was not to stay after eleven o’clock, with the exception of Bennet Langton, who suffered him to remain till twelve; corrupted in this instance perhaps, by Doctor Johnson. But so precise was Porson in this particular, that although he never attempted to exceed the hour limited, he would never stir before. On one occasion, when from some incidental circumstance, the lady of the house gave a gentle hint, that she wished him to retire a little earlier, he looked at the clock, and observed with some quickness, that it wanted a quarter of an hour of eleven.