盡管我喜歡廣交朋友，但我只愿與為數不多的幾人成為至交。我所提及的那位黑衣男士，就是那樣一個我希冀與其成為莫逆之交的人，因為他深得我的景仰。誠然，其行為舉止不乏某些怪異的出爾反爾，他全然可被稱為幽默家王國中的幽默大師。雖然他慷慨大方，乃至奢靡無度，但他仍假惺惺地希望人們將其視作節儉與審慎之奇才。盡管其言談之中滿是污穢和自私的格言，其內心卻充盈著最博大無際的愛心。
參考譯文：
Though fond of many acquaintances, I desire an intimacy only with a few. The Man in Black, whom I have often mentioned, is one whose friendship I could wish to acquire, because he possesses my esteem. His manners, it is true, are tinctured with some strange inconsistencies, and he may be justly termed a humorist in a nation of humorists. Though he is generous even to profusion, he affects to be thought a prodigy of parsimony and prudence; though his conversation be replete with the most sordid and selfish maxims, his heart is dilated with the most unbounded love.
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