The Doctor, even in his youth, can never have run much risk of being
mistaken for Apollo--his nose was probably never of a Grecian pattern,
as that ingenious people would certainly have rounded the point with
a little more skill, and have placed the nostrils more out of sight.
I have heard his front teeth were far from symmetrical, and reminded
old Major M'Turk of the charge of Mahratta irregular horse, by which
that heroic gentleman lost his eye; but as he has got quit of those
spirited, though straggling defenders, and supplied their place with a
straight-dressed militia of enamel or bone, which do duty remarkably
well, in spite of the bright yellow uniform they have lately assumed, I
conclude that he has been a gainer by the exchange. And, on the whole,
I have no doubt, if there are some handsomer fellows in the Guards, and
at the universities, there are several much uglier people to be seen in
this very parish. It can't, therefore, be for the express purpose of
escaping the sight of his face that they have begun their operations to
force him to turn his back on them during the prayers. But this they
are thoroughly resolved on achieving. They have already once placed
the Bible surreptitiously on the side of the reading desk, towards the
people, leaving the Prayer-Book on the side towards the south; and as
the Doctor, in the surprise of the moment, began with his face in that
direction, his elocution was wasted on the blank wall of the chancel
and the empty pulpit; and we had the pleasure of an uninterrupted view
of his profile, and a side-hearing also of his words, which gave us as
complete a silhouette of the prayers as of the rector. When we come to
the enjoyment of his full-face reversed, and can leisurely contemplate
his occiput, and the nape of his neck--in which, I am sorry to see,
number one so powerfully developed--we shall have the farther advantage
of not having our own meditations interrupted by hearing a syllable he
says. He resists, indeed, at present; and even told a deputation of
ladies that he would consult common sense on the occasion, and read
so that the poor folks under the west gallery could join in every
petition. Miss Araminta--your Araminta, Charles--lifted her beautiful
eyes to the Doctor in surprise, and asked "if he really prayed _to_
John Simpkins and Peter Bolt, for surely he could pray _for_ them, and
_with_ them better, with his face to the altar;" and the Doctor said
something about "girls minding their own business, and leaving him to
his," which would have led to very unpleasant consequences, if the
rest of the ambassadors had not interfered, and smoothed the raven
down of the Doctor's temper by some judicious declarations of respect
for his office, and contempt for some unfortunate evangelical brethren
in the neighbourhood; till at last the old man took Araminta by the
hand, and told her, with great truth, that she was one of the nicest
girls in the world, and that he would ride fifty miles at a moment's
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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