212 LAUGHTER 



of " Owen's sugar-of-lead smile " referring to the great 

 naturalist, Richard Owen. There was no malice in the 

 description, for he had, as some others have, a very sweet 

 smile, accompanied by a strangely grave and disapproving 

 glare in his large blue prominent eyes. It was only 

 apparently sugar of lead ; really, it was sugar of milk 

 the milk of human kindness. The smile of the lost 

 picture called " La Gioconda " is by fanciful people regar- 

 ded as something very wonderful. It is really the clever 

 portraiture of the habitual " leer " of a somewhat wearied 

 sensual woman. It had a fascination for the great 

 Leonardo, but no profound significance. 



