He was prone to superstition, but
not to credulity. Though his imagination might incline him to a belief
of the marvellous and the mysterious, his vigorous reason examined the
evidence with jealousy. He had a loud voice, and a slow deliberate
utterance, which no doubt gave some additional weight to the sterling
metal of his conversation[26]. His person was large, robust, I may say
approaching to the gigantick, and grown unwieldy from corpulency. His
countenance was naturally of the cast of an ancient statue, but somewhat
disfigured by the scars of that _evil_, which, it was formerly imagined,
the _royal touch_[27] could cure. He was now in his sixty-fourth year,
and was become a little dull of hearing. His sight had always been
somewhat weak; yet, so much does mind govern, and even supply the
deficiency of organs, that his perceptions were uncommonly quick and
accurate[28]. His head, and sometimes also his body shook with a kind of
motion like the effect of a palsy: he appeared to be frequently
disturbed by cramps, or convulsive contractions[29], of the nature of
that distemper called _St. Vitus's dance_. He wore a full suit of plain
brown clothes, with twisted hair-buttons[30] of the same colour, a
large bushy greyish wig, a plain shirt, black worsted stockings, and
silver buckles. Upon this tour, when journeying, he wore boots, and a
very wide brown cloth great coat, with pockets which might have almost
held the two volumes of his folio _Dictionary_; and he carried in his
hand a large English oak stick.
Pages:
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35