The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1889-01-30
1ELt TAlE noualE ctINs.
JiViizat Thes Are said 20 SIGNIFY 70 the
Reader of Character

4
Reader Of Characfer.
The great iusti6 6eatIon Of the double
chin rests, Of course, on It's unriyaled
value as an index of characteP-a1ld
such acharacterl II Is really natures
patent of nobility. This was long ago
discerned by the great master of ptly-
siognomy. II IS not difficult TO define
what Lavater taougf Of adoubIe chm.
He carefully points out thai man diff
fers from the animals chiefly by his
chin, laying II down as an axiom that
the chin Is the distinctive character
istic OF humanity; consequently, dou-
bic chfnned people are doubly diff
ferentiated, from the beasts that perish.
which IS greatly TO their credit. He
expressly takes for his model Of ssthe
thinker. full of sagacity and penetra.
don, a man with flash double chin
coupled with nose rounded af the
end The portrait he gives Is even
better than the letter press, as the gen.
1feman Is HEnned with at least five
dhinS, so that his lower Jaw IS vista
Of magnificent distances, like Wash
hlgton.
This happy physiogonomy of the
double chin, coupled with the round
ed nose, charaeterizes, he tells us. the
mind which can rise to heights, and
which follows its designs with reflect
ing frnness. unalIoyed by obstinacy.
Let, therefore, those with double chins
rejoice, whether they possess rounded
noses or not, and quote Llvater in
gratitude. He gives again another
example of the double mention, and
the face so endowed, he says enthu-
siasticaIly. is Reasons own image
He quite Pevels in this feature He
takes an example of Raphael, with
beautifully rounded double chin. and
IN criticising it he acknowledges that
The profile Is wanting in truth. haF
mony and grace; but then. asks he,
how IS 1t it so strongly takes captive
our sympatIly2
Where lies the illusion7 Merely IN
the chin, he answers. and, as the chin
is double one, the matter Is no longer
mystery. He points trililnphantly
to Cicero's magnificent double chin,
and, in 4 burst of cIoquence, says of
Wren's, that, if you can find a nlan
with (among other things such chin
as that, without being gifted with
some extraordinary talent, he reuoun-
ces forever the science of PIIysiog-
nomy What Lavater has thus laid
& s@n experience amply corroborates.
Ehe double chinned, therefore, should
holE heir heads up higher. in the con
scicusness of modest merit, and give
free play and just prominence to their
certificates of character.
1t Is, as hinted above, rather diff
cult at present to tell whois endowed
and who is not Portrait painters arc
craven enough to disSimulata double
chin; they leave it to the caricaturist,
who seems to think it great fun for
popular statesman or poet to have
to have two chiis. whereas these APP
pendages are the secret Of their sue
cess. Some of our more obseHvant
writers have got a glimpse of the
truth, Mr.. WIfkie Collins, for instance.
He very properly credits Count Fosco,
the man of daring, resource and de
termination, with double chin, to
which Fosco's pet cockRtoo calls pub
lie intention by rubbing his head
against it III the most uppreciative
manner possible. But your ordinary
novelist would never have thought of
that. As an Englishnan, by the way,
one naturally turns to Shakespeare to
see whether his appearance corroEor-
doubtedly foresaw the point. as he
foresaw everything else, but he was
sufficiently artful to wear Just. enough
beard to place it in eternal doubt
whether he had double chin or not.
Thus he leaves 1t open to all parties,
single rlIihned or double, to quote him
as an instance of anything they like,
which, after ell, IS the great use which
Shakespeare has always been put to-
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