Beauchamp; or, The Error.James, G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford)
History
Beauchamp; or, The Error.
James, G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford)
Great Britain -- History -- 18th century -- Fiction
But who was he in the midst of all this strange assortment? Was he the
owner of this wild, lonely dwelling? Oh no, it was a young man dressed
as none could be dressed who frequented not very different scenes from
those that lay around him. His clothes were not only those of a
gentleman, but those of a gentleman who thought much of his own
personal appearance--too much indeed to be perfectly gentlemanly. All
that the tailor, the boot-maker, the hat-maker could do had been done
to render the costume correct according to the fashion of the day; but
there was a certain something which may be called a too-smartness
about it all; the colours were too bright, the cut too decidedly
fashionable, to be quite in good taste. Neither was the arrangement
of the hues altogether harmonious. There are the same colours in a
China-aster and a rose, but yet what a difference in the appearance of
the two flowers; and the same sort of difference, though not to the
same extent, existed between the dress of the person before us, and
that of the truly well-dressed man even of his own time. In most other
respects his appearance was good; he was tall, rather slightly formed
than otherwise, and had none of that stiffness and rigidity which
might have been anticipated from his apparel. Demeanour is almost
always tinged more or less by character, and a wild, rash, vehement
disposition will, as in his case, give a freedom to the movements
which no drilling can altogether do away with. His features in
themselves were not bad. There was a good high forehead, somewhat
narrow indeed, a rather fine pair of eyes (if one could have seen them
both), a little close together, a well-formed nose, and a mouth and
chin not badly cut, though there was a good deal of animal in the one,
and the other was somewhat too prominent. The whole countenance,
however, was disfigured by a black silk shade which covered the right
eye, and a fresh scar all the way down the same side of the nose,
while from underneath the shade, which was not large enough for its
purpose, peeped out sundry rainbow rings of blue and yellow, invading
both the cheek and the temple.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account