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 
