HABITS AND APPEARANCE. Ill 



fingers, which he has described in one of his books as the 

 habit of an old man. When he sat still he often took hold of 

 one wrist with the other hand ; he sat with his legs crossed, 

 and from being so thin they could be crossed very far, as 

 may be seen in one of the photographs. He had his chair 

 in the study and in the drawing-room raised so as to be 

 much higher than ordinary chairs ; this was done because 

 sitting on a low or even an ordinary chair caused him some 

 discomfort. We used to laugh at him for making his tall 

 drawing-room chair still higher by putting footstools on it, 

 and then neutralising the result by resting his feet on another 

 chair. 



His beard was full and almost untrimmed, the hair being 

 grey and white, fine rather than coarse, and wavy or frizzled. 

 His moustache was somewhat disfigured by being cut short 

 and square across. He became very bald, having only a fringe 

 of dark hair behind. 



His face was ruddy in colour, and this perhaps made people 

 think him less of an invalid than he was. He wrote to Dr. 

 Hooker (June 13, 1849), "Every one tells me that I look quite 

 blooming and beautiful ; and most think I am shamming, but 

 you have never been one of those." And it must be remem- 

 bered that at this time he was miserably ill, far worse than in 

 later years. His eyes were bluish grey under deep over- 

 hanging brows, with thick bushy projecting eyebrows. His 

 high forehead was much wrinkled, but otherwise his face was 

 not much marked or lined. His expression showed no signs 

 of the continual discomfort he suffered. 



When he was excited with pleasant talk his whole manner 

 was wonderfully bright and animated, and his face shared to 

 the full in the general animation. His laugh was a free and 

 sounding peal, like that of a man who gives himself sympa- 

 thetically and with enjoyment to the person and the thing 

 which have amused him. He often used some sort of gesture 

 with his laugh, lifting up his hands or bringing one down with 



