CONCERNING EYES 193 



great weight with the popular mind, the prejudice 

 ought to be the other way, since he is one of those 

 who sing the splendors of the green eye. 

 Thus in Romeo and Juliet : 



The eagle, madam, 



Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye 

 As Paris hath. 



The lines are, however, nonsense, as green-eyed 

 eagles have no existence; and perhaps the ques- 

 tion of the popular prejudice is not worth argu- 

 ing about. 



Once only in my long years' quest after green 

 eyes, during which I have sometimes walked miles 

 along a crowded thoroughfare seeing the orbs of 

 every person that passed me, was I led to think 

 that my reward had come at last. On taking my 

 seat in a public conveyance I noticed a fashion- 

 ably-dressed lady, of a singularly attractive ap- 

 pearance, on the opposite seat, but a little higher 

 up. Her skin was somewhat pale, her hair dark, 

 and her eyes green! "At last!" I exclaimed, 

 mentally, glad as if I had found a priceless gem. 

 It was misery to me to have to observe her fur- 

 tively, to think that I should so soon lose sight of 

 her! Several minutes passed, during which she 

 did not move her head, and still the eyes were 

 green not one of the dull and dark hues that 

 Broca imagined and painted, but a clear, exquis- 

 itely beautiful sea-green, as sea-water looks with 

 a strong sunlight in it, where it is deep and pure, 



