ed a
feather--that was gone; but the gold lace, though tarnished, and the
cockade, though battered, still remained. From under this shade the
profile of the Corporal assumed a particular aspect of heroism: though
a good-looking man on the main, it was his air, height, and complexion,
which made him so; and a side view, unlike Lucian's one-eyed prince, was
not the most favourable point in which his features could be regarded.
His eyes, which were small and shrewd, were half hid by a pair of thick
shaggy brows, which, while he whistled, he moved to and fro, as a horse
moves his ears when he gives warning that he intends to shy; his nose
was straight--so far so good--but then it did not go far enough; for
though it seemed no despicable proboscis in front, somehow or another
it appeared exceedingly short in profile; to make up for this, the
upper lip was of a length the more striking from being exceedingly
straight;--it had learned to hold itself upright, and make the most of
its length as well as its master! his under lip, alone protruded in the
act of whistling, served yet more markedly to throw the nose into the
background; and, as for the chin--talk of the upper lip being long
indeed!--the chin would have made two of it; such a chin! so long, so
broad, so massive, had it been put on a dish might have passed, without
discredit, for a round of beef! it looked yet larger than it was from
the exceeding tightness of the stiff black-leather stock below, which
forced forth all the flesh it encountered into another chin,--a remove
to the round. The hat, being somewhat too small for the Corporal,
and being cocked knowingly in front, left the hinder half of the head
exposed. And the hair, carried into a club according to the fashion,
lay thick, and of a grizzled black, on the brawny shoulders below. The
veteran was dressed in a blue coat, originally a frock; but the skirts,
having once, to the imminent peril of the place they guarded, caught
fire, as the Corporal stood basking himself at Peter Dealtry's, had
been so far amputated, as to leave only the stump of a tail, which just
covered, and no more, that part which neither Art in bipeds nor Nature
in quadrupeds loves to leave wholly exposed. And that part, ah,
how ample! had Liston seen it, he would have hid for ever his
diminished--opposite to head!--No wonder the Corporal had been so
annoyed by the parcel of the previous day, a coat so short, and a--; but
no matter, pass we to