CONCERNING EYES 199 



way hundreds of pairs of eyes could be seen in the 

 course of a day. In Cheapside the population 

 seemed too mixed; but in Piccadilly, and Bond 

 Street, and along Eotten Row, during the season, 

 it appeared safe to set down a very large majority 

 of the pedestrians as belonging to the prosperous 

 class. There are other streets and thoroughfares 

 in London where very nearly all the people seen 

 in it at any time are of the working class. I also 

 frequently strolled up and down the long streets, 

 where the poor do their marketing on Saturday 

 evenings, and when, owing to the slow rate of 

 progress, their features can be easily studied. 



To take the better class first. I think it would 

 puzzle any stranger, walking in Piccadilly or along 

 the Row on a spring afternoon, to say what the 

 predominant color of the English eye is, so great 

 is the variety. Every shade of gray and blue, 

 from the faint cerulean of a pale sky, to the ultra- 

 marine, called purple and violet, and which looks 

 black ; and every type and shade of the dark eye, 

 from the lightest hazel and the yellowish tint re- 

 sembling that of the sheep's iris, to the deepest 

 browns, and the iris of liquid jet with ruddy and 

 orange reflections in it the tortoiseshell eye and 

 chief glory of the negro woman. Another surpris- 

 ing fact was the large proportion of fine eyes. For 

 this variety and excellence several explanations 

 might be given, not one of which would probably 

 seem quite satisfactory; I therefore leave the 

 reader to form his own theory on the subject. 



