The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

188 TOBIAS SMOLLETT
first collier, bound for the river Thames. He had not been gone half
an hour, when we were joined by another character, which pro-
mised something extraordinary—A tall, meagre figure, answering,
with his horse, the description of Don Quixote mounted on
Rozinante, appeared in the twilight at the inn door, while my aunt
and Liddy stood at a window in the dining-room—He wore a coat,
the cloth of which had once been scarlet, trimmed with Branden-
burgs, now totally deprived of their metal, and he had holster-
caps and housing of the same stuff and same antiquity. Perceiving
ladies at the window above, he endeavoured to dismount with the
most graceful air he could assume; but the ostler neglecting to hold
the stirrup when he wheeled off his right foot, and stood with his
whole weight on the other, the girth unfortunately gave way, the
saddle turned, down came the cavalier to the ground, and his hat
and periwig falling off, displayed a head-piece of various colours,
patched and plaistered in a woeful condition—The ladies, at the
window above, shrieked with affright, on the supposition that
the stranger had received some notable damages in his fall; but the
greatest injury he had sustained arose from the dishonour of his
descent, aggravated by the disgrace of exposing the condition of
his cranium; for certain plebeians that were about the door,
laughed aloud, in the belief that the captain had got either a scald
head, or a broken head, both equally opprobrious.
He forthwith leaped up in a fury, and snatching one of his pistols,
threatened to put the ostler to death, when another squall from the
women checked his resentment. He then bowed to the window,
while he kissed the but-end of his pistol, which he replaced;
adjusted his wig in great confusion, and led his horse into the
stable—By this time I had come to the door, and could not help
gazing at the strange figure that presented itself to my view—He
would have measured above six feet in height, had he stood up-
right; but he stooped very much; was very narrow in the shoulders,
and very thick in the calves of his legs, which were cased in black
spatter-dashes—As for his thighs, they were long and slender, like
those of a grasshopper; his face was, at least, half a yard in length,
brown and shrivelled, with projecting cheek-bones, little grey eyes
on the greenish hue, a large hook-nose, a pointed chin, a mouth
from ear to ear, very ill furnished with teeth, and a high, narrow
fore-head, well furrowed with wrinkles. His horse was exactly in
the stile of its rider; a resurrection of dry bones, which (as we after-