Mr. Seward (1862)

Source: The Polynesian. Honolulu: Saturday, September 13, 1862

MR. SEWARD. -A man, I should think, under 5 feet 9 inches in height, and of some sixty years in age; small made, with small, delicate hands and feet, and a small, wiry body; scanty, snow-white; deep-set, clear grey eyes; a face perfectly clean-shavened, and a smooth colorless skin, of a sort of parchment texture. Such were the outward features that struck me at once. He was in his office when first I saw him, dressed in black, with his waistcoat half unbuttoned, one leg over the side of his arm-chair, and a cigar stuck between his lips. Barring the cigar and the attitude, I should have taken him for a shrewd, well-to-do-attorney, waiting to hear a new client's business. You are at your ease with him at once. There is a frankness and bonhomie about his manner, which renders it, to my mind, a very pleasant one. In our British phrase, Mr. Seward is good company. A good cigar, a good glass of wine, and a good story, even if it is tant soit peurisque, are pleasures which he obviously enjoys keenly. Still, a glance at that hard knit frame, and that clear, bright eye, shows you that no pleasure, however keenly appreciated, has been indulged into excess throughout his long, laborious career. And, more than that, no one who has had the pleasure of seeing him amongst his own family can doubt the kindliness of his disposition. It is equally impossible to talk much with him without perceiving that he is a man of remarkable ability. He has read much-especially of modern literature-traveled much, and seen much of the world of man as well as that of books. 
-Court Journal.