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noses. Accordingly, we find, that the greater the length of the nose, from the junction with the brow to the apex, the more vigorous and persevering the character.

The more directly the nose falls from the brow, the more prompt and decisive the mind. On the contrary, it may be observed, that the deeper and more sudden the fall, or break, between the nose and the brow, providing it does not degenerate into an absolutely straight continuous line from the top of the forehead to the end of the nose, the more slow of apprehension.

Who ever saw a mean-spirited, cowardly, dastard, with a fine Roman nose, abounding in bone, and rising in majestic grandeur from the brow?

If a line, drawn from the highest extremity of the forehead or brow, and passed along the face longitudinally, to the tip of the chin, should yet leave the nose untouched, unless disease or

accident shall have injured it, you may very safely reckon upon finding no very strong share of either mental or bodily energy.

I say nothing here of those clumsy, cachectical, excrescencies-those spongy collections of flesh and blood, carbuncled and bloated by intemperance, which disfigure the faces of gluttons and drunkards. These traits speak for themselves. Persons degraded by noses of that kind, may, indeed, be said to carry the mark of the

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beast in their foreheads." Nature often brands with infamy; by either extravagantly enlarging, or sometimes entirely destroying, one of the noblest ornaments of the human countenance, those who violate the laws of prudence, moderation, and decency, which she has prescribed to all her offspring, as the best security against deformity and misery.

It were no difficult task to write a distinct work on this noble organ of the human countenance; but I must forbear, and proceed to some notice of the Cheeks.

THE CHEEKS.

These portions of the features, like that of which we have just been treating, are extremely liable to change by time and accident. Indeed, infinitely more so than the nose.

Sensuality and moisture of temperament are strongly depicted in the round, thick, fleshy cheeks of persons arrived at years of maturity.

Thin and contracted cheeks indicate a dryness of humours and discontent.

Cheeks that are marked by gently undulating lines, very lightly intersecting them, are the usual characteristics of wisdom, experience, and ingenuity of mind.

Certain hollows, more or less triangular, which are sometimes observed in the cheeks, are an infallible sign of envy and jealousy.

A cheek naturally gracious, with a gentle

elasticity, pleasingly rising towards the eyes, are the vouchers of a heart beneficent, generous, and incapable of the smallest meanness,

It must be confessed, however, that there cannot be any great degree of reliance placed on decisions formed from an examination of the cheeks. How have oppression, sorrow, disease, and time committed ravages upon the finest face! Where once shone the glow of health and cheerfulness, now are seen the deep furrows of care and affliction :

"And many a furrow in my grief-worn cheek,
"Hath been the channel to a flood of tears."

That which but yesterday wore the bloom of health and comeliness is to-day blighted by the pelting of some pitiless storm; and is blanched with the pale aspect of disappointment and

sorrow.

Let not the physionomist, therefore, hold the reputation of his science by so slender a tenure-let him not rely for a judgment upon that which is so fragile and evanescent-which

perisheth in the using," and vanisheth like the dews of the morning.

I hasten, therefore, to an infinitely more important and permanent object of physiognomical investigation.

THE MOUTH, LIPS, JAWS, AND CHIN. Oh! with what sublime humility!--what piety! -what manifest goodness of heart, does the amiable and excellent Lavater approach this great organ of beauty; this mysterious, this multifarious and expressive portraiture of whatever exalts or debases, beautifies, or deforms humanity! And if he had not the courage to attempt a full elucidation of its various powers and characteristics, with what cautious diffidence ought I to approach so awful a sanctuary!

Whether quiescent or in motion; distorted by passion, or reposing in its native forms, the mouth is an instrument of expression, whose language cannot be easily mistaken.

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