392 



Again, it is Mr. Seymour, not Mr. Ha- 

 milton, who speaks of the parson's daughter 

 as not being an undesirable object, though 

 her features were irregular, and her eyes 

 somewhat inclined to look across each other: 

 this slight inclination, my adversary, has ex- 

 aggerated into asquint.* Perhaps there is no 

 detect in the human countenance that de- 

 pends so much on the degree, as that of a 

 deviation in the eyes : the inclination to de- 

 viate may be such, as scarcely to be percep- 

 tible at first sight; and a slight cast in the 

 eye, as it is called, though no one would call 

 it a beauty, may give an archness and a pe- 

 culiarity, which may accord with the general 

 character and expression of the counte- 

 nance, and, like other peculiarities, suit par- 

 ticular tastes : positive squinting is among 

 the worst of deformities ; it is one however 

 that belongs to Mr. Knight's comment, not 

 to my text. I would not claim too much 

 indulgence for the style of a dialogue; but 

 I should hardly have expected that the jo- 

 cular manner in which Mr. Seymour speaks 

 of the parson's daughter, and the allusions 

 * Analytical Inquiry, Part 2. chap. 2. sec. 79. 



