Or, to accommodate it to the capacity of the combatants,
The frightfull'st grinner
Be the winner.
In the meanwhile I would advise a Dutch painter to be present at
this great controversy of faces, in order to make a collection of
the most remarkable grins that shall be there exhibited.
I must not here omit an account which I lately received of one of
these grinning matches from a gentleman, who, upon reading the
above-mentioned advertisement, entertained a coffee-house with the
following narrative:- Upon the taking of Namur, amidst other public
rejoicings made on that occasion, there was a gold ring given by a
Whig justice of peace to be grinned for. The first competitor that
entered the lists was a black, swarthy Frenchman, who accidentally
passed that way, and being a man naturally of a withered look and
hard features, promised himself good success. He was placed upon a
table in the great point of view, and, looking upon the company like
Milton's Death,
Grinned horribly a ghastly smile.
His muscles were so drawn together on each side of his face that he
showed twenty teeth at a grin, and put the country in some pain lest
a foreigner should carry away the honour of the day; but upon a
further trial they found he was master only of the merry grin.
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