DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70302#0197
LIFE OF DANIEL DANCER, ESQ.
171
From a principle of rigid economy, Mr. Dancer rarely
washed his hands and face; and when he did, it was always
without the assistance of either soap or towel. Dispensing
with those articles of expensive luxury, he used when the
sun shone, to betake himself to a neighbouring pool, and
after washing himself with sand, he would lie on his
back in the sun to dry himself. His tattered garments,
which were scarcely sufficient to cover his nakedness,
were kept together by a strong hay-band, which he
fastened round his body. His stockings were so patched
that not a vestige of the original could be perceived, and
in cold or dirty weather he wound about his legs ropes of
hay, so that his whole figure presented the most striking
picture of misery that can possibly be conceived.
At one period of his life, he used annually to purchase
two shirts, but for several years preceding bis death, he
allowed himself only one. This he bought at some old
clothes shop, and seldom exceeded half a crown in
price. After coming into his possession, it never under-
went the operations of washing or mending, nor did he
ever change it till it dropped from his back in rags. In
making one of these purchases, he was involved in an
affair which gave him no small trouble and uneasiness.
Being desired by the mistress of the shop to which he went
to purchase an old shirt, to mention his price, he told
her “ as much under three shillings as possible.” A
shirt was accordingly produced, for which, after bargain-
ing a long time, Dancer as he declared, agreed to give
two shillings and ninepence. He gave the woman three
shillings, and waited for the change, but to his mortifi-
cation and surprise, she refused to give any, positively
asserting, that he had agreed to take the shirt at the
price of the sum she had received. Kemonstrances were
vain, and to suffer such a diminution of his property
without endeavouring to obtain redress, he regarded as
z 2 criminal
171
From a principle of rigid economy, Mr. Dancer rarely
washed his hands and face; and when he did, it was always
without the assistance of either soap or towel. Dispensing
with those articles of expensive luxury, he used when the
sun shone, to betake himself to a neighbouring pool, and
after washing himself with sand, he would lie on his
back in the sun to dry himself. His tattered garments,
which were scarcely sufficient to cover his nakedness,
were kept together by a strong hay-band, which he
fastened round his body. His stockings were so patched
that not a vestige of the original could be perceived, and
in cold or dirty weather he wound about his legs ropes of
hay, so that his whole figure presented the most striking
picture of misery that can possibly be conceived.
At one period of his life, he used annually to purchase
two shirts, but for several years preceding bis death, he
allowed himself only one. This he bought at some old
clothes shop, and seldom exceeded half a crown in
price. After coming into his possession, it never under-
went the operations of washing or mending, nor did he
ever change it till it dropped from his back in rags. In
making one of these purchases, he was involved in an
affair which gave him no small trouble and uneasiness.
Being desired by the mistress of the shop to which he went
to purchase an old shirt, to mention his price, he told
her “ as much under three shillings as possible.” A
shirt was accordingly produced, for which, after bargain-
ing a long time, Dancer as he declared, agreed to give
two shillings and ninepence. He gave the woman three
shillings, and waited for the change, but to his mortifi-
cation and surprise, she refused to give any, positively
asserting, that he had agreed to take the shirt at the
price of the sum she had received. Kemonstrances were
vain, and to suffer such a diminution of his property
without endeavouring to obtain redress, he regarded as
z 2 criminal