Page:Confederate Portraits.djvu/177

 up so kindly in him, that you could not tell which pre- ponderated." 34

Less prejudiced judges than those above quoted ren- der a verdict which is still decidedly favorable. In his earlier career in the United States Senate Benjamin is said to have been generally popular, and to have en- deavored always to foster social relations ; and Sumner, his bitterest opponent, bore testimony to his kindness of manner and conformity to the proprieties of debate. 35 W. H. Russell speaks of his "brisk, lively, agreeable manner" and calls him "the most open, frank, and cordial of the Confederates whom I have yet met." 36 Thomas F. Bayard, surely a connoisseur, says that Benjamin's "manner was most attractive — gentle, sympathetic, and absolutely unaffected," and that "he certainly shone in social life as a refined, genial, charming companion." 37 And the testimony of his English friends is equally decided. "A charming companion," writes Sir Frederick Pollock, " an accomplished brother lawyer, and a true friend, one I could not easily replace." 38

In many of these social sketches of Benjamin there is a curious insistence on his smile, which seems to have been as perennial as Malvolio's, if a little more natural. "The perpetual smily that basked on his Jewsh lips," 39 says the acrid Pollard. And Jones, in his "Diary," recurs to it almost as a third-rate playwright does to a character tag, so much so that on one occasion he notes Mr. Ben- jamin's appearance without his smile as of inauspicious