The appearance seems to depend both on the browser and the window size and I've been fiddling with the image placement to try to balance them.  I don't like the block quote template as it doesn't seem to do anything and I prefer quotes of this sort to stand out typographically, in some way.  The quote in this case seems to have a Dickensian sound to it, which provides a sense of the period.  I'm hoping that the readership will like it but critics abound, alas.  Anyway, thanks for your input.