

ANIMALS. 



145 



contempt, ridicule, anger, and resentment. 

 "Painters, whose study leads to the contem- 

 plation of external forms, are much more ade- 

 quate judges of these than any naturalist can 

 be; and it is with these a general remark, 

 that no one passion is regularly expressed on 

 different countenances in the same manner; 

 but that grief often sits upon the face like joy; 

 and pride assumes the air of passion. It 

 would be vain, therefore, in words, to express 

 their general effect, since they are often as 

 various as the countenances they sit upon ; 

 and in making this distinction nicely, lies all 

 the skill of the physiognomist. In being able 

 to distinguish what part of the face is marked 

 by nature, and what by the mind ; what part 

 had been originally formed, and what is made 

 by habit, constitutes this science, upon which 

 the ancients so much valued themselves, and 

 which we at present so little regard. Some, 

 however, of the most acute men among us, 

 have paid great attention to this art ; and, by 

 long practice, have been able to give some 

 character of every person whose face they ex- 

 amined. Montaigne is well known to have 

 disliked those men who shut one eye in look- 

 ing upon any object ; and Fielding asserts, 

 that he never knew a person with a steady 

 glavering smile, but he found him a rogue. 

 However, most of these observations, tending 

 to a discovery of the mind by the face, are 

 merely capricious ; and Nature has kindly hid 

 our hearts from each other, to keep us in good 

 humour with our fellow-creatures." 



The parts of the head which give the least 

 expression to the face, are the ears ; and they 

 are generally found hidden under the hair. 

 These, which are immoveable, and make so 

 small an appearance in man, are very distin- 

 guishing features in quadrupeds. They serve 

 in them as the principal marks of the passions; 

 the ears discover their joys or their terrors, 

 with tolerable pecision ; and denote all their 

 internal agitations. The smallest ears, in men, 

 are said to be most beautiful ; but the largest 

 are found the best for hearing. There are 

 some savage nations who bore their ears, and 

 so draw that part down, that the tips of the 

 ears are seen to rest upon their shoulders. 



The strange variety of the different customs 

 of men, appears still more extravagant in their 

 manner of wearing their beards. Some, and 



among others the Turks, cut the hair off* their 

 heads, and let their beards grow. The Eu- 

 ropeans, on the contrary, shave their beards, 

 and wear their hair. The Negroes shave 

 their heads in figures at one time, in stars af 

 another, in the manner of friars ; and still 

 morecommonly in alternate stripes ; and their 

 little boys are shaved in the same manner. 

 The Talapoins, of Siam, shave the heads and 

 the eye-brows of such children as are com- 

 mitted to their care. Every nation seems to 

 have entertained different prejudices, at dif- 

 ferent times, in favour of one part or another 

 of the beard. Some have admired the hair 

 upon the cheeks on each side, as we see with 

 some low-bred men among ourselves, who 

 want to be fine. Some like the hair lower 

 down ; some choose it curled ; and others 

 like it straight. " Some have cut it into a 

 peak ; and others shave all but the whisker. 

 This particular part of the beard was highly 

 prized among the Spaniards ; till of late, a 

 man without whiskers was considered as un- 

 fit for company ; and where Nature had de- 

 nied them, Art took care to supply the defi- 

 ciency. We are told of a Spanish 'general 

 who, when he borrowed a large sura of money 

 from the Venetians, pawned his whisker, 

 which he afterwards took proper care to re- 

 lease. Kingson assures us, that a considera- 

 ble part of the religion of the Tartars con- 

 sists in the management of their whiskers; and 

 that they waged a long and bloody war with 

 the Persians, declaring them infidels, merely 

 because they would not give their whiskers 

 the orthodox cut. The kings of Persia car- 

 ried the care of their beards to a ridiculous 

 excess, when they chose to wear them mat- 

 ted with gold thread : and even the kings ol 

 France, of the first races, had them knotted 

 and buttoned with gold. But of all nations, 

 the Americans take the greatest pains in cut 

 ting their hair, and plucking their beards. 

 The under part of the beard, and all but the 

 whisker, they take care to pluck up by the 

 roots, so that many have supposed them to 

 have no hair naturally growing on that part : 

 and even Linnaeus has fallen into that mistake. 

 Their hair is also cut into bands; and no 

 small care employed in adjusting the whisker. 

 In fact, we have a very wrong idea of savage 

 finery ; and are apt to suppose that, like the 



