Parson Plaford may be five feet four, but I would lay anything he is not five feet five.

I will, however, do him the justice of saying that he read the lessons with clearness and good emphasis, and that he strove to prevent his criminal congregation from enjoying the luxury of a stealthy nap.

He occasionally furnished them with some amusement by attempting to lead the singing.
The melody of his voice, which suggested the croak of an asthmatical raven, threw them into transports of sinister appreciation; and the remarkable manner in which he sometimes displayed the graces of Christian courtesy to the schoolmaster afforded them an opportunity of contrasting the chaplain with the Governor.
Parson Plaford's deity was an almighty gaoler.

The reverend gentlemen took a prison view of everything.

He had a habit, as I learned, of asking new comers what was their sentence, and informing them that it ought to have been twice as long.