MS-WU-MSS008-2-47

[1400] you begin to wonder if you have done ^not died without knowing and
gone to hell or been born again into an even worse place than
before. [1401] Then it is hard to believe in those bried^[⁁]f[^f] years when
the bakers were often i ndulgent, at ^cc[⁁]lose [^close] of day, and baking[^-]-
apples, I was always a great man for apples, to be had almost for
the whinging o^[⁁]i[ⁱ]f you knew your way about, and ^{a a} little sunshine and
shelter for those who direly needed them.

[1403] And there he is as good
as gold on the bench, his back to the river, and dressed as follows
follows, though clothes don't matter, I know, I know, but he'll
never have any others, if I know anything about it. [1404] He has had
them a long time already, to judge by their decay, but no matter,
they are the last. [1405] But most remarkable of all is his greatcoat, in
the sense that it coves^[⁁]rs[^rs] him completely and screens him from view.

[1406] For it is so well buttoned, from top to bottom, by means of fifteen
buttons at the very least, set at intervals of three or four inches
at the very most, that nothing is to be seen of what goes on inside.
inside.

[1407] And even the two feet, flat on the ground demurely side
by side, even they are partly hidden by this coat, in spite of the
double flexion of the body, first at the base of the trunk, where
the thighs form a right angle with the pelvis, and then again at t
the knees, where the shins resume the perpendicular.

[1407] For the posture
posture is completely lacking in abandon, and but for the absence
of bonds you might think he was bound to the bench, the posture is
so stiff and set in the sharpness of its planes and angles, like
that of the Colossus of Memnon, dearly loved son of Dawn.

[1408] In other
words^, when he walks, or simply stands stockstill, the tails of
this coat literally