Boxiana (1821) [ Practices ]
… belong to their bodies ! the same thing is also to be discovered in real life. A more common assertion is not to be met with among the lower classes of society, than in speaking of various individuals according to their notoriety of talents, or remarkable for their stupidity , "that such a man wears a HEAD;" again, of another, "he is without a HEAD;" of a third, "he was upon the wrong side of the hedge when the brains were given away;" and so on to the end of the chapter upon mankind. If the NOB of the boxer, then, does not bear any competition with the nicety of the mathematician's HEAD, it will, however, not be disputed but it has some analogy to the upper works …
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