The Washington critic., 1889-05-08
SOME TERRIBLE EYES.


To have been under the hostile gaze,
no word or sign added, of Richcieu, was
to secure memory which for years af
ter gave the possessor of II, however
changed the scene and circumstances
might be, thrill of most unpleasant
personal fear. And very analogous
case within the memories of our own
time can be adduccd. 1t is that of u
man who certainly, as far rs personal
advantages went, was every inch u
king. With Hcrculean frame and in
hcritcd beauty of manly features, he
had that dignity which, rs was noticed
by another royal hand, seemed TO spring
from the sense of unlimited power,
which the same observer mentions as
particularly characteristic of the large
full eyes. 1t Is of those eyes that we
have more TO add. Not only did they
imply long experience of unlimited
sovereignty, but they spoke in tones of
terror TO all those on whom they were
bent in anger. For those who were in
innate with the ways of the Russian
Court have unanimously recorded how
much of influence in the shape of abso-
lutte fear there was in the eyes of the
Emperor Nicholas lie looked at
culprits with his slow stare of anger,
and the unhappy wretchcs felt, In
very different sense from that in which
the phrase was originally used, "undcr
the wand of the cnchantcr." But large
rs were the Cars cycs-the Romanoif
inheritance from their beautiful stat
uesque German ancestrcss-thcrc was
no brilliant or sparkling glance of ire
when they were directed toward an
offender. On the contrary, those who
have had most experience of them de-
scribe them as being dull, cold, almost
fish like in aspect. Stolid rs the gaze
was, none recorded in history ever pro-
duccd more tcrrorizing effects on its OBJ
| jects. In many cases where there was
any real ground of offence the person
at whom the Car in his accustomed
silent fashion was looking frequently
did not wait to be interrogated, some.
times was hardly suspected, but, like
the victims of Richclieu, as just men
toned, poured forth q full confession
under the gaze of the phlegmatic
sovereign. OF all Eastern potcntates,
whether ancient or modern, competent
judges have united in declaring that
none ever made his look more feared
than did Runieet Sing, the Lion of La
horc, whom doubtless many old Indians
must remember. Eyc-witncsses, Eu-
ropean as well as native, declared that
among his wild hor6es of followers,
some of them among the fiercest
troopers in the world, Runjcct inspired
intense personal fear in all who came
near by his look, his eyes being un.
speakably dreaded Yet he was scanned
with smallpox, one eye was destroyed
by it, his face was wien, and his voice
n shrill and squeaking one. With all
these disadvantages the Lion of La
hore's glance so terrorized his subjects
that for result akin TO 1t we must go
TO Mahmoud of Ghuzni, whose dread
full brow is historic. The other in
stance in which personal disadvantages
have been in inverse ratio to the un-
questioned authority exercised is that of
a parsonage much less known and to
whose good qualities justice has not
yet been perhaps done. We mean
Walker commonly called the
"Filibuster. He was q little.
spare, weakly man in aspect--a mere
nobody physically, in the midst Of his
big, Western rangers. But, as an eye
witness has said, "Walller had the eyes
of a lion." In this lay the secret of the
extraordinary authority which he ex-
crcised over so many men of the wild
est and most daring character, ac-
customed to brook no master. The in
domitable spirit enthroned in that pigmy
body was fifty typifcd by those lion
like eyes. Nor was it until Walker
was reused to anger that the peculiar
force of his look was found. In such 4
case all the intense and vivid energy of
the mans heart blazcd in his eyes, and
then, according to all accounts, they be
came terrible Before their anger the
biggest Texan rangers cowcd like
frightened children. Now, perhaps,
this Is, of all cases, one of the most
noteworthy in the history of terrible
eyes, because the man possessing them
had no physical advantages, no settled
authority and prescription, no army of
slaves at his back. On the other hand,
those over whom he exercised undisput-
ed sway were n class of men, If ever there
were such in the world, who had the
most1ugged and turbulent independence
of word, action and nature. But the
old truth was again realized, and they
paid involuntary homage to n, born
leader of men.-[Gentleman's Maya
zine.