Concerning Eyes. 205 



began my observations in London there is no 

 better place ; and my simple plan was to walk along 

 the most frequented streets and thoroughfares, 

 observing the eyes of every person that passed me. 

 My sight being good, even the very brief glance, 

 which was all that could be had in most cases, was 

 sufficient for my purpose ; and in this 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 Rotten 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 colour of the English eye is, so great is 

 the variety. Every shade of grey and blue, from 

 the faint cerulean of a pale sky, to the ultramarine, 

 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 resembling that 

 of the sheep's iris, to the deepest browns, and the 

 iris of liquid jet with ruddy and orange reflections 



