What could Dr. _Slop_ do? ----he crossed himself + --Pugh! --but the doctor, Sir, was a Papist. --No matter; he had better have kept hold of the pummel --He had so; --nay, as it happened, he had better have done nothing at all; for in crossing himself he let go his whip, ----and in attempting to save his whip betwixt his knee and his saddle's skirt, as it slipped, he lost his stirrup, ----in losing which he lost his seat; ----and in the multitude of all these losses (which, by the bye, shews what little advantage there is in crossing) the unfortunate doctor lost his presence of mind. So that without waiting for _Obadiah's_ onset, he left his pony to its destiny, tumbling off it diagonally, something in the stile and manner of a pack of wool, and without any other consequence from the fall, save that of being left (as it would have been) with the broadest part of him sunk about twelve inches deep in the mire.
_Obadiah_ pull'd off his cap twice to Dr. _Slop_; --once as he was falling, --and then again when he saw him seated. ----Ill-timed complaisance; --had not the fellow better have stopped his horse, and got off and help'd him? --Sir, he did all that his situation would allow; --but the MOMENTUM of the coach-horse was so great, that _Obadiah_ could not do it all at once; he rode in a circle three times round Dr. _Slop_, before he could fully accomplish it any how; --and at the last, when he did stop his beast, 'twas done with such an explosion of mud, that _Obadiah_ had better have been a league off. In short, never was a Dr. _Slop_ so beluted, and so transubstantiated, since that affair came into fashion.
What could Dr. Slop do? - he crossed himself + (for the doctor, Sir, was a Papist.) He would have done better to have kept hold of the pummel - nay, to have done nothing at all; for in crossing himself he let go his whip, and in attempting to save his whip, he lost his stirrup, - in losing which he lost his seat; - and in the multitude of all these losses (which, by the bye, shows what little point there is in crossing oneself) the unfortunate doctor lost his presence of mind.
Tumbling off his pony like a pack of wool, he landed with the broadest part of him sunk twelve inches deep in the mire.
Obadiah had been riding so fast, and the Momentum of the coach-horse was so great, that he rode in a circle three times round Dr. Slop, before he stopped his beast; and then 'twas done with such an explosion of mud that he had better have kept his distance. Never was a Dr. Slop so bespattered, and so transubstantiated into mud.