Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1854-11-22
LucrcZia BOrgia.

lis introduced as presented to her husband
bv the Madonna, Mrs. jameson says i
looked in VAN IN the countenance OF Luc
crezia for some trace, some testimony OF
the crimes imputed 10 her; but she is
fair, golden-haired, gentle.looklng creature,
with a feeble and vapld expression
There certainly are instances OF persons
whose looks have betrayed nothing OF the
vigor, energy and strong passions OF tneir
nature. Thus of the ferocIous rulilan Gra-
ham of Claverhou,e, Sir Walter Scott tells
us that he had "a beautiful and melancholy
visage, worthy of the most pathetic dreams
of romance : and Lord Byron says that The
cruel Ali Pacha was the 'mildesl-iookrng
gentleman that he ever saw. The gentle,
childish-l looking Couthon was unquestiona-
bly, one Of the most ferocious monsters oil
the French Revolution; and when be was
carried TO the tribune as he was required
to be on account of bis extreme bodily
weakness, his soft mild voice was ever lift
ed up in calling for more cruel bloodahed,
and more sweeping slaughters.
As general rule however-and it is a
rule which guides us every day in life, and
guides us with safety-when furious, and
cruel. and treacherous passions live IN the
heart, they are to be traced in manhood In
tie lineaments of The face. The personal
description of the stalwart Caialne, his pal
lid complexion, his unpleasant unhealthy
eye, his wax sometimes rapid, at other
tines slow, and the frenzy in his face and
features, as noticed by Sallust, a. great
painter, is familiar to all readers. FuzelI
used 10 decline the company of the famous
French painter David. David had hare
lip; but it was not this innocent dishsure-
ment which dispeased FuzeIi. He SAID
that " hen he looked at the French artist,
he could never divet his mind of the afro
cities Of the French Revolution, nor sepa-
rate them from the part he had acted IN
them, for they were stamped on his coun-
tenance.
On the whole, in Judging ofthe nature of
our fellow creatures at first sight, an OBJ
server with his own heart and feelings as
they ought to be, will very rarely be far
deceived by coniding in that natural skill
in pbysiognomy with which we all come
into the world. Heaven as some one
says, is not in the habit of hanging out
false colors. The face is book IN which
the innocent and the good may every day
read lessons of caution and aversion Tor
their guidance, protection, and defence, and
find
How surer than suspicious thousand eyes
Is that fine sense which to the pure In heart,
By mere repugnancy of their own goodness
Reveals the approach OF evil
DO not believe that an authentic IN
stance can be quoted of a thoroughly good
man with sinister expression OF counte-
nance though il would appear that there
have been bad men with pleasing features
yet suspect good eye would have de-
tected serpent-likc beauty in those them
who were decided and deliberately wicked.
The world docs not put any faith IN that
professional physiognomist who denounced
Socrates as a vicious man we merely be-
lieve tha; his features were rude and Inele-
CANT in the extreme.
There is scarcely a man among all the
good, great and wise men of antiquity
whom it would be safe TO prefer to Phocion
TO honest, wise, and witty Phoclon.-
There was beautiful balance Of the moral
and intellectual gifts in this man. He was
the sagest Of his times; and Of all the an
clients he was, perhaps, as his recorded say
ings amply attest, the wIttiest. His great
moral virtues were rigid honesty, passion
ate attachment to truth, and great kindness
of Disposition Yet Of this admirable man,
Plutarch tells us-and he evidently speaks
from contemporary statements-that though
one Of the most humane and best tempered
men in the world, his counenance was Sc
we're, ill-natured, and forbiddlng, so much
so that it repelled strangers from address
ing him.
This account also agrees with an admission
in one of Phocion's sayings, that his brow
appeared lowering. Yet it is nowhere sta
ted that there were any traces OF cunning,
OF diSsimulation, or Of sycopbancy in this
rough face. think no more can be made
of this narrative than that Phocion, like
many other good men, was no beauty
no Alclbiades, nor Xenophon, nor Critias.
Ard nowhere in this world would the want
of fine features IN a ruler or general be crit
icsed with more exaggeration Of severity
than in Athens-Athens, which, though
in beautiful women boasted above
all the States of Greece of her beautiful
men.
On this point, however, it is TO be OBJ
served that, in general, the vices and the
real character, where it is bad, are more
easily to be read in the faces Of men than
of women, owing no doubt TO the manly
nature and to the greater power which, in
protection oflleirInferior physical strength.
nature has given to women III controlling
and concealng The outward expression OF
the passions which rage. and the fires
which burn in their hearts and their brains.
A woman certainly is no more to be blam-
ed for having more art in her nature, and
more wisdom in her daily contrivanceS than
man. than fox is to be censured for hav-
ing about him more cunning and wiles than
a lion.
The face Of the man of middle aye
whose breast has, for lifetime, been agi
tated by violent passions, will not be un-
wrnkled and the habtual tone of his
voice, though he may strive to modulate il
to serve his purposes, will have acquired
at least of harshness which !
once did not belong to it. But it is not un-
common to meet with woman who has
passed through painful career of crimes
and passions, Of agony and grief, still
speaking with the sweet voice which en-
chantcd the listener il the days of her in
nocence and happiness, still wearing the
features, the cheek unprofaned
by tear, which might be thought to beto-
ken days spent wholly in the indolent en-
;ovrent of Measure and with a brow still |