Basswood books

In order to keep Mr. Pen from indulging in that idleness of which his
friend the Doctor of the Cistercians had prophesied such awful
consequences, Mr. Smirke, Dr. Portman's curate, was engaged at a liberal
salary, to walk or ride over from Clavering and pass several hours daily
with the young gentleman. Smirke was a man perfectly faultless at a
tea-table, wore a curl on his fair forehead, and tied his neck-cloth with
a melancholy grace. He was a decent scholar and mathematician, and taught
Pen as much as the lad was ever disposed to learn, which was not much.
For Pen had soon taken the measure of his tutor, who, when he came riding
into the court-yard at Fairoaks on his pony, turned out his toes so
absurdly, and left such a gap between his knees and the saddle, that it
was impossible for any lad endowed with a sense of humour to respect such
an equestrian. He nearly killed Smirke with terror by putting him on his
mare, and taking him a ride over a common, where the county fox-hounds
(then bunted by that staunch old sportsman, Mr.


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