Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1890-01-11
HAVE vou A oouslE CHM

n -, H Preod u II, - Il Il SAID - n.
diests seyesg Character.
The great justification Of the double
chin rests. x course. on its unrivaled
value a. an index Of character-and such
. character: 1t Is really natures patent
Of nobility. This was long ago discsrned
by the great master Of physiognomy. h
Is not difficult to divine what LAvates
thought OF double chin He carefully
points out that man differs ffon4 the ami
NAL chiefly by his chin, laying D down
a. an axiom that the chin Is the dis;inct-
i've Characteristic VI humanity: conse-
qnentIy double ehinned people are doub-
Iy differentiated from the beasts that per-
ish, which IN greatly To their credit. He
expressly takes for his model Of the
thinker. full of sagscity and pen~tra-
ton. a man with feshy double chin,
coupled with nose rounded at the end.
The portrait he gives Is even better than
the letter press. a. the gentleman i
iimned with at least I've chins, ~ that his
lower Jaw WAS vista u magnificent dis
tances like Washington.
This happy physiognomy Of the double
chin, coapled with the rounded nose,
characterize. he tells us. the mind which
can rise to heights. and which follows
it's designs with rejecting Hrmness. TN
alleged by ob-tinAcy. Let, therefore.
those with double chins re joice. whether
they possess rounded noses or not. and
quote iAvater IN gratitude. He gives
a. ~ b.. ADttf.is,
mention. and the face ~ endowed, he
saws enthusiastically is reasons own
image. He quite revels In this feature.
He takes an example Of Raphael with a
beautifully rounded double chin, and in
crltic,sing IL he acknowledges that the
profile Is wanting In truth, harmony and
grace; but then, asks be, how Is it II 10
strongly takes captive our sympathy
Where lies the iIiusion9 Merely in the
chin, he answers. and. as the chin Is
double one. the matter Is no longer
mystery. He points trlumphsntly to
Ciceros magnificent double chin, and IN
burst Of eloquence says Of Wren's that,
IL you can find man with (among other
thingsJ such a chin as that, without
being gifted with some extraordinary
talent, he renounces forever the science
Of phySioguomy.
What i.avater has thus laid down ex-
perience amply corroborates. The double
chinncd, therefore, should hold their
heads up higher. N the consciousness Of
Just prominence TO their certificates Of
character IL il. az limited above, rather
difficult at present TO tell who is endowed
and who is not Portrait painters are
craven enough 10 dissiinulate double
chin. they leave 1t to "A caricaturist, who
seems To think it great fun for a popular
statesman or poet to have two chlns.
whereas those appendages are the secret
Of their success. Some of our more oh
servant writers have got glimpse of
the truth, Wiikie Collins. for instance.
He very properly credits Count Fosco,
the man OF daring, resource and deter
mlnation, with "a double chin, to which
toscos PCT cDckatoo calls public atten-
ton by rubbing its head against 1t in the
most appreciative manner possible. But
your ordinary novelist would never have
thought Of that.
As an Englishunan, by the way, one
naturally turns to Shakespeare to see
whether his appearance corrobordtes La
vaters views. Shakespeare undoubtedly
foresaw the point, as he foresaw every
thing else, but he was sufficiently artful
to wear Just enough beard to place it in
eternal doubt whether lac had a double
chm or not. Thus he leaves it open to
all parties. single-chinned or double, to
quote him a, an instance of anything
they like, which. after all, is the great
use which Shakespeare has always been
put to. London Standard