And there
certainly is a great deal of difference between the author of
Lavengro and themselves--he retaining his principles and his brush;
they with scarlet breeches on, it is true, but without their
Republicanism, and their tails. Oh, the writer can well afford to
be vituperated by your pseudo-Radicals of '32!
Some time ago the writer was set upon by an old Radical and his
wife; but the matter is too rich not to require a chapter to
itself.
CHAPTER XI
The Old Radical.
"This very dirty man, with his very dirty face,
Would do any dirty act, which would get him a place."
Some time ago the writer was set upon by an old Radical and his
wife; but before he relates the manner in which they set upon him,
it will be as well to enter upon a few particulars tending to
elucidate their reasons for so doing.
The writer had just entered into his eighteenth year, when he met
at the table of a certain Anglo-Germanist an individual, apparently
somewhat under thirty, of middle stature, a thin and weaselly
figure, a sallow complexion, a certain obliquity of vision, and a
large pair of spectacles. This person, who had lately come from
abroad, and had published a volume of translations, had attracted
some slight notice in the literary world, and was looked upon as a
kind of lion in a small provincial capital.
Pages:
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610