The Beauty of Expression. 25 



tree and the liuinan face and figure. And as of these two the latter is the 

 far simpler and more familiar, let us see how they apply to explain 

 the expression of the human countenance and form. 



We shall thus at once ol)tain the principles of a science of rational 

 physiognomy — not indeed to be applied to our acquaintances or 

 others, as if it gave a true index of their actual characters, because the 

 outer and the inner man are but seldom in harmony ; but it indicates 

 what they were designed or tended naturally to be, though circum- 

 stances have made them to be different, and not to be judged by their 

 appearance. 



First, then, we say that the prevalence of the straight line in the 

 human face and figure conveys the expression of energy aiming at 

 the infinite — in other words, intellectual energy ever seeking its home 

 in truth and righteousness, but with no tenderness or compassion. 



And does not every one feel that a man of a columnar form standing 

 in harmony with the laws of nature (gravitation), that is, upright ; his 

 shoulders as square or straight as the type of the human form will per- 

 mit without an offensive departure from it ; his head also of the same 

 character as his whole figure, high and quadrate ; his chin, mouth, and 

 eyebrows straight, his nose the same, all of course within the limits 

 allowed under the type of humanity — does not every one feel, if he can 

 picture to himself such a figure, or recall any senator, judge, or apostle as 

 represented in marble or on canvas by an adequate artist, that such is 

 really the expression of the straight line ? And have we not here an 

 explanation of the fact that when the object of society is to invest a 

 man with the aspect of intelligence, righteousness, or religion, ever 

 aiming at the infinite, it clothes him in a gown or robe that falls 

 in simple folds, and renders his appearance as columnar as possible, 

 filling up at the same time, for the same end, all the sinuosities and 

 finite lines of the neck by a voluminous wig, such as the judges, 

 &c., of old used to wear? 



At the other end of the scale of the expression of the liuman 

 figure is that in which the most finite of the conic lines appears most 

 conspicuously, that is, the circle, and consequently (in a form of three 

 dimensions), the sphere, or portions of it. Here in the extreme case 

 we have a barrel-shaped body, a bullet-shaped head, eyebrows aiming 

 at the semicircle, eyes and mouth gaping, bluffy cheeks, and nose 

 aiming at the spherical, all as if modelled by a hand in a boxing glove 

 in harmony with its own form. AVho does not feel that such a mortal 

 seems to be one of nature's most finite creatures, stupid to a degree, 

 and if capable of animation at all, then only of that of the faun — the 

 lowest of mythic beings in point of intelligence ? 



And here a very interesting fact comes out, on which, however, I 

 shall not enlarge at present. It is to the effect that just as the 



