Sentence:  he was, on the contrary, as mercurial and sublimated a composition, ... as <WSD>heteroclite</WSD> a creature in all his declensions; ... with as much life and whim, and "gaité de cœur" about him, as the kindliest climate could have engendered and put together. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Deviating from the ordinary rule; eccentric, abnormal.