Though present he is absent. This was said of persons who, engaged in thought, paid little or no attention to what was said or done in their company, which led them often into great absurdities. M. Bruyere in his Caractères, ou Mœurs de ce Siècle, has given an excellent description of an absent man, but too much in detail, though perhaps there may be but few of the instances he produces, which may not have occurred. It is admirably abridged in one of the papers of the Spectator.
Fuente: Erasmo, 1684.
