Soundly rang his laugh at any jest against himself. He
wished to be taken, as he took others, for what was good in him
without dissimulation of the evil, for what was wise in him without
concealment of the childish. He hated a draped virtue, and
despised a wit on its own defence. And he drew (if I may so
express myself) a human and humorous portrait of himself with all
his defects and qualities, as he thus enjoyed in talk the robust
sports of the intelligence; giving and taking manfully, always
without pretence, always with paradox, always with exuberant
pleasure; speaking wisely of what he knew, foolishly of what he
knew not; a teacher, a learner, but still combative; picking holes
in what was said even to the length of captiousness, yet aware of
all that was said rightly; jubilant in victory, delighted by
defeat: a Greek sophist, a British schoolboy.
Among the legends of what was once a very pleasant spot, the old
Savile Club, not then divorced from Savile Row, there are many
memories of Fleeming. He was not popular at first, being known
simply as 'the man who dines here and goes up to Scotland'; but he
grew at last, I think, the most generally liked of all the members.
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