These garments had evidently been intended for a
much shorter person than their present owner. His ankles and wrists
were left naked for several inches. In his shoes, however, a pair of
very brilliant buckles gave the lie to the extreme poverty implied
by the other portions of his dress. His head was bare, and entirely
bald, with the exception of a hinder part, from which depended a queue
of considerable length. A pair of green spectacles, with side glasses,
protected his eyes from the influence of the light, and at the same
time prevented our hero from ascertaining either their color or
their conformation. About the entire person there was no evidence of a
shirt, but a white cravat, of filthy appearance, was tied with extreme
precision around the throat and the ends hanging down formally side by
side gave (although I dare say unintentionally) the idea of an
ecclesiastic. Indeed, many other points both in his appearance and
demeanor might have very well sustained a conception of that nature.
Over his left ear, he carried, after the fashion of a modern clerk, an
instrument resembling the stylus of the ancients. In a breast-pocket
of his coat appeared conspicuously a small black volume fastened
with clasps of steel.
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