----But before the Corporal begins, I must first give you a description of his attitude; ----otherwise he will naturally stand represented, by your imagination, in an uneasy posture, --stiff, --perpendicular, --dividing the weight of his body equally upon both legs; ----his eye fixed, as if on duty; --his look determined, --clenching the sermon in his left hand, like his firelock. 
- But before the Corporal begins, I must first give you a description of his attitude; otherwise you will imagine him stiff and perpendicular, - his eye fixed, as if on duty, his look determined; clenching the sermon in his left hand. 