The Merry Past 



from a fire-eating rival, and having married, retired 

 to his family domain, where he hunted, shot, fished, 

 farmed (after a fashion), drank, danced, and begat 

 sons and daughters like a patriarch. A patriarch he 

 was in practice, as, besides a large family by the wife 

 of his bosom, those by his handmaids and others of 

 his people would have disgraced no Israelite of ancient 

 days. Many of these last served him as domestics 

 and in other occupations, for he acted conscientiously, 

 emulating those wonderful men of remotest antiquity, 

 in particular taking good care up to the very last 

 piously to obey the mandate to increase and multiply. 



His appearance is described as having been peculiar 

 in the extreme. 



The Squire was a short, stout man, wearing a 

 powdered wig with two tiers of coachman's curls 

 appearing from below a hunting-cap, around which 

 was tied a white handkerchief, with a large bow in 

 front, to be in readiness to defend his neck in case 

 of rain. To this wig was appended a natty pig- 

 tail, which, from a habit he had of inclining his head 

 a little on one side, always got between his coat collar 

 and his neck, and stuck out under his left ear. The 

 countenance was that of a hardy, hearty, hard- 

 drinking country gentleman, the cheeks being streaked 

 with red veins like a winter apple, but there was no 

 appearance of a sot. His eye was small, volatile, 

 keen, and expressive. He wore a long grey frock 

 coat, evidently nailed together by the household 

 snip, and a pair of leather breeches, which he boasted 

 had never been cleaned since he first put them on. 



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