Mr Poyser is a kind farmer, and as he takes very seriously his duty to speak on behalf of the village at the coming of age of the young Squire, he is a little shy and ponderous, and has been fidgeting and fretting before the arrival of the Squire and his moment in the spotlight.
‘All eyes were now turned on Mr Poyser, who, with his hands still busy in his pockets, began with the deliberateness of a slow-striking clock.’
Source: George Eliot, Adam Bede (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985 (1859)), p. 309
