ing. Remark their walk, when they enter, and when they leave the judgment hall. Let the light fall full upon their countenances; be yourself in the shade. Physiognomy will render the torture unnecessary *, will deliver innocence, will make the most obdurate vice turn pale, will teach us how we may act upon the most hardened. Every thing human must be imperfect, yet will it

* About two years since one philosopher wrote to another, the torture will soon be abolished in Austria. It was asked, What shall be its substitute? The penetrating look of the judge, replied Sonnenfels. Physiognomy will, in twenty-five years, become a part of jurisprudence, instead of the torture; and lectures will be read in the universities on the Physiognomice forense, instead of the Medicina forensis,

Let this, however, be spoken in a whisper; otherwise those who scoff at us will laugh, and those who pity us grieve. "What," it will be said, shall men then be pardoned or executed according to their countenances?" The worthy, hearing this, and not having time to examine facts, will exclaim, "This is, indeed, being too enthusiastic."

But let us elucidate this by example. It is about five-andtwenty or thirty years since some persons endeavoured to ascertain the probable duration of life. The satirical laughed; the philosophers, as usual, reasoned inconclusively, and the divines discovered that men had impiously attempted to penetrate those secrets which were reserved to God alone. Had any one then affirmed that, in five-and-twenty years, some millions of money would be advanced upon such calculations, men would have answered, according to the wise reasoning of every age, “This is going too far; it is the mere scheme of adventurers to pick our pockets." Yet institutions, at present, founded on these calculations, for the benefit of widows and orphans, are become general; and Süssmilch, Kneesebom, and Struyk, are become the benefactors of thousands with whom they are unacquainted.

be evident that the torture, more disgraceful to man than the halter, the axe, and the wheel, is infinitely more uncertain and dangerous than physiognomy. The pain of torture is more horrible even than the succeeding death; yet is it only to prove, to discover truth. Physiognomy shall not execute, and yet it shall prove; and by its proof, vice alone, and not innocence, shall suffer. Oh, ye judges of men, be men, and humanity shall teach you, with more open eyes, to see, and to abhor all that is inhuman!

XVII.

A WORD TO THE CLERGY.

BRETHREN, you also need a certain degree of physiognomy; and, perhaps, princes excepted, no men more.

You ought to know whom you have before you, that you may discern spirits, and portion out the word of truth to each, according to his capacity and his need.

To whom can a knowledge of the degree of actual and possible virtue, in all who appear before you, be more advantageous than to you?

To me, physiognomy is more indispensible than the Liturgy.

It is to me alike profitable for doctrine, exhortation, comfort, correction, examination; with the healthy, with the sick, the dying, the malefactor; in judicial examinations, and the education of youth. Without it I should be as the blind leading the blind.

A single countenance might rob me of ardour, or inspire me with enthusiasm. Whenever I preach I generally seek the most noble countenance, on which I endeavour to act; and the weakest, when teaching chil

dren. It is generally our own fault if our hearers are inattentive; if they do not themselves give the key in which it is necessary they should be addressed. Every teacher, possessed of physiognomonical sensation, will easily discern and arrange the principal classes among his hearers, and what each class can and cannot receive. Let six or seven classes, of various capacities, be selected; let a chief, a representative, a characteristic countenance, of each class be chosen; let these countenances be fixed in the memory, and let the preacher accommodate himself to each; speaking thus to one, and thus to another, and in such a manner to a third. There cannot be a more natural, effectual, or definite, incitement to eloquence than supposing some characteristic countenance present, of the capacity of which almost mathematical certainty may be obtained. Having six or seven, I have nearly my whole audience before me. I do not then speak to the winds. God teaches us by physiognomy to act upon the best of men according to the best of means.

XVIII.

MISCELLANEOUS COUNTENANCES.

A.

PHYSIOGNOMONICAL DENOMINATIONS OF COUNTENANCES ELUCIDATED.

(a) A REGULAR, well-formed countenance is that in which

(1) All the parts are remarkable for their symmetry.

(2) The principal features, as the nose, and mouth, are neither small nor bloated; but distinct and well defined.

(3) The position of the parts, taken together, and viewed at a distance, appears nearly horizontal and parallel.

(b) A beautiful countenance—is that in which, beside the proportion and position of the parts, harmony, uniformity, and mind, are visible; in which nothing is superfluous, nothing deficient, nothing disproportionate, nothing superadded, but all is conformity and concord.

(c) A pleasant countenance-does not necessarily require perfect symmetry and har