322 BLUSHING. Chap. XIII. 



see any one blushing often puts his hands before his 

 face." Shakspeare makes Marcus (' Titus Andronicus,' 

 act ii, sc. 5) say to his niece, "Ah! now thou turn'st 

 away thy face for shame." A lady informs me that she 

 found in the Lock Hospital a girl whom she had for- 

 merly known, and who had become a wretched cast- 

 away, and the poor creature, when approached, hid her 

 face under the bed-clothes, and could not be persuaded 

 to uncover it. We often see little children, when shy or 

 ashamed, turn away, and still standing up, bury their 

 faces in their mother's gown; or they throw themselves 

 face downwards on her lap. 



Confusion of mind. — Most persons, whilst blushing 

 intensely, have their mental powers confused. This is 

 recognized in such common expressions as " she was 

 covered with confusion." Persons in this condition lose 

 their presence of mind, and utter singularly inappro- 

 priate remarks. They are often much distressed, stam- 

 mer, and make awkward movements or strange grimaces. 

 In certain cases involuntary twitchings of some of the 

 facial muscles may be observed. I have been informed 

 by a young lady, who blushes excessively, that at such 

 times she does not even know what she is saying. When 

 it was suggested to her that this might be due to her 

 distress from the consciousness that her blushing was 

 noticed, she answered that this could not be the case, 

 " as she had sometimes felt quite as stupid when blush- 

 ing at a thought in her own room." 



I will give an instance of the extreme disturbance 

 of mind to which some sensitive men are liable. A gen- 

 tleman, on whom I can rely, assured me that he had 

 been an eve-witness of the following scene: — A small 

 dinner-party was given in honour of an extremely shy 

 man, who, when he rose to return thanks, rehearsed the 



