savante

— The reputation of a scholar, eccentric habits, grave dress, a severe countenance, and boldness enough to be rude, have raised the Doctor to his little eminence in his circle, where he holds forth, like the philosophers of old in their porticoes, and where weak, would-be savants and savantes come, each with their taper, to borrow light from an offensive half-illumined lamp, shining dimly in neighbouring darkness.