Who had the honour to edit his _Adversaria_, can both, it is said,
bear witness to the fact, that Porson was unlike many pedants who make
a display of their brilliant parts to surprise rather than enlighten;
he was liberal in the extreme, and truly amiable in communicating his
knowledge to young men of talent and industry, and would tell them
all they wanted to know in a plain and direct manner, without any
attempt to display his superiority. All, however, agree that the time
for profiting by Porson's learning was _inter bibendum_, for then, as
Chaucer says of the Sompnour--
"When he well dronkin had with wine,
Then would he speak ne word but Latine."