Upon Turning Up His Face To Look At Him After, I
Perceived He Was About Forty.
- Never mind, said I, some good body
will do as much for me when I am ninety.
I feel some little principles within me which incline me to be
merciful towards this poor blighted part of my species, who have
neither size nor strength to get on in the world. - I cannot bear to
see one of them trod upon; and had scarce got seated beside my old
French officer, ere the disgust was exercised, by seeing the very
thing happen under the box we sat in.
At the end of the orchestra, and betwixt that and the first side
box, there is a small esplanade left, where, when the house is
full, numbers of all ranks take sanctuary. Though you stand, as in
the parterre, you pay the same price as in the orchestra. A poor
defenceless being of this order had got thrust somehow or other
into this luckless place; - the night was hot, and he was surrounded
by beings two feet and a half higher than himself. The dwarf
suffered inexpressibly on all sides; but the thing which incommoded
him most, was a tall corpulent German, near seven feet high, who
stood directly betwixt him and all possibility of his seeing either
the stage or the actors. The poor dwarf did all he could to get a
peep at what was going forwards, by seeking for some little opening
betwixt the German's arm and his body, trying first on one side,
then the other; but the German stood square in the most
unaccommodating posture that can be imagined:
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