His nature was a compound of tenderness and fire, which last
sometimes showed itself in sharp and unpleasant flashes. His excitable
temper was capable almost of fierceness, and he could now and then be
needlessly stern; but towards his father, mother, and friends he was a
model of steady affection. He made friends readily, and kept them, and
was usually a pleasant companion though subject to sallies of imperious
irritability which occasionally broke through his strong sense of good
breeding. For this his susceptible constitution was largely answerable,
for he was a living barometer, and his spirits rose and fell with every
change of weather. In spite of his impatient outbursts, the officers
whom he had commanded remained attached to him for life; and, in spite
of his rigorous discipline, he was beloved by his soldiers, to whose
comfort he was always attentive. Frankness, directness, essential good
feeling, and a high integrity atoned for all his faults.
In his own view, as expressed to his mother, he was a person of very
moderate abilities, aided by more than usual diligence; but this modest
judgment of himself by no means deprived him of self-confidence, nor,
in time of need, of self-assertion. He delighted in every kind of
hardihood; and, in his contempt for effeminacy, once said to his mother:
"Better be a savage of some use than a gentle, amorous puppy, obnoxious
to all the world." He was far from despising fame; but the controlling
principles of his life were duty to his country and his profession,
loyalty to the King, and fidelity to his own ideal of the perfect
soldier.
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