dark, bushy, beetling brows; his protuberant eyes
filled with cunning, and burning with a lustre like
live coals; deep-chested, and with shoulders raised
and rounded, giving him an air of pugnacity; snarl
written upon his countenance, and pride in the pose
of his pygmean figure; dull, dissolute, and disobe-
dient, he was, nevertheless, the idol of his mother.
She, poor woman, reverenced, almost worshipped,
him, as being something superior to her plebeian self,
by reason of the father's part that was in him; won-
dering how his sire should be so blind to his merits,
and so severe upon his alleged faults and foibles.
She the rather encouraged him in his irregularities
since others rebuked them, and was the more liberal
towards him, because of his father's stint; deeming
his vices and extravagance to be not only excusable,
but proper, in one who had to uphold and play the
part of a gentleman. His father strove to instil into
him some knowledge of law, but soon relinquished
the distasteful and hopeless task, and articled him to
a Notary, who, for a tempting premium, consented to
take him into his office. But, instead of applying
himself there, he spent most of his time in idleness
and debauchery; by night frequenting the abodes of
vice and infamy, and by day, haunting the doors and
corridors of the court-house, in the latter always in-
stinctively seeking to avoid a rencontre with his sul-
len and offended parent.

[[11]]

p010 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p011w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p012

v?