, 1873-02-23

should havo teen exciting pitt OF horror a
| Lear or Macbeth.
| Anomalies like these do not invalidate tha
I goneral truth that the mind stamps its character
on the features Of the face. It is still true th.t "a
the Scripture says, "a man may ba known br
his look, and one that hiss understanding by hia
| countenance when thou mes!est him." How
often do We hit upon the character OF 3 stranger
at a glance, with tLousand-fold more ACCURACY
than if re were to make it the subject OF long
and laborious study! Tha ruling principle Of
the man flashes upon us instantly, from soma
peculiar expression imprinted upon the teatu1ea
by the thoughts and feelings Of years, when, il
we we're to wait and Judge by the equivoeal signs
Of words and deeds, no might be led into tho
grossest error. It is said OF the celebrsted
phyaiognomist, Layater, that = stranger
was once introduced to him, whose fea>
lures, though he svinced. high intsl>
Iec.ual endowments and the most accoIn>
plished maaners, impressed him 1t once
with the conviction, This mau is 4 murderor.'s
Dining with him tho next day, Larater forgot
his impression; but scarcely had the elegant
and polished gentleman left town, when news
came that lie IVES al asaassin who had fed from
Sweden to escape arrest. Douglas Jer1old, IN
one Of his plays, makes one Of the person1 thug
comment Oh the looks Of another: "You have
most Tybn1n-1iks physiognomy. THERE'S Tur-
pin in the curl Of your upper Gp.-Jack Sheppard
in the under one,-Duva and Darlington are in
your eyes,-and as for your chin, why, si1tesn-
String jack lives in i'll" Even Moore, whose
thrust ut tho phYsiognomists we have quoted,
betrays his belief in their general principles BY
giving to tho yelled prophet Of Khozsasan
yisage fit for his hideous soul, while the young
Nourmahal, the light Of the Harsm, has features
worthy at an angel:
While her laugh, full OF rte without any CONTROL
But the swest enc Of gracefulness, rung from h*a
And whsre 1t most spsrted, no glance could discover
In ps cheeks or eyes, for it brighteaed al over,
Like sny fair Lake, that the breeze was upon,
When it breaks into dmples and laughs in the sun.
It is fact we'll fitted to provoke se1ious
thought, that the spiritual principle monlds and
fashions the plastic substance Of it's homc,-
that it writes it's o1n character on its exterior
walls, and chronicles, from month to month,
from year to yesr, its upward aspirations,
or its increasing abasement. Even After
ons has reached middle life, the face
may undergo great changes; and many hu-
man countenance becomes drama OF profound
interest,-sta visible incarnation Of the Mani.
chnan dream, mirroring, az it does, with ter
rible fidelity, the alterations Of q fierce inward
struggle between good and evil, darkness and
light. Somewhere in our readings We have met
with the story Of painter, who, seeing beau-
tifu1 child, WAS so fascinated by the lovenesH Of
it's face that he resolved to paint it. He did 60,
and hung the picture, his favorite, in his study.
It became a kind Of guardian angel; in sorrov
and in passion he tranquillized his soul by gag
ing upon that heavenly countenance. By and
by he resolved, should he ever find its counter
part, TO paint that also but years passed. and he
was despairing of erer finding the latter, when ha
discovered face go intensely ugly as fullytc
realize his idea It WAS that Of O wretch lyingin
despair upon the floor OF his prison cell. He
painted that terrible face but what we're his
emotions when he learned that it WAS the same
person he had painted before /! The first was
the face Of the innocent child the last that Of
tho prohigate, ruined youth. The likeness Of
an angel had been transformed into the reality
of 3 fani