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Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864

"Passages from the French and Italian Notebooks, Complete"

Indeed, he was a very quiet little man, and, though so
thoroughly made up, there was something particularly green, fresh, and
simple in him. Both these Englishmen were elderly, and the smaller one
had perfectly white hair, glossy and silken. It did not make him in the
least venerable, however, but took his own character of neatness and
prettiness. He carried his well-brushed and glossy hat in his hand in
such a way as not to ruffle its surface; and I wish I could put into one
word or one sentence the pettiness, the minikinfinical effect of this
little man; his self-consciousness so lifelong, that, in some sort, he
forgot himself even in the midst of it; his propriety, his cleanliness
and unruffledness; his prettiness and nicety of manifestation, like a
bird hopping daintily about.
His companion, as I said, was of a completely different type; a tall,
gray-haired man, with the rough English face, a little tinted with port
wine; careless, natural manner, betokening a man of position in his own
neighborhood; a loud voice, not vulgar, nor outraging the rules of
society, but betraying a character incapable of much refinement.


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