498 



ON PHYSIOGNOMY 



tensions to such a figure. Another singularity of opinibn was that of his 

 extending his physiognomic characters to the pecuharity of the hand- 

 writing ; and in this instance reviving the reveries of many of the ancient 

 mystics, who pretended to confide in the same mark ; whilst, by inter- 

 weaving into the body of this science a belief in apparitions, and this, too, 

 upon very peculiar and fanciful principles, he has indirectly connected it 

 with the dark and exploded study of divination, from which it was one of 

 his first and most prominent objects to separate it. 



I will only farther observe, that in the wide extent to which he carried 

 this favourite and fascinating science of his heart, he describes the whole 

 material world as subject to its dominion ; amuses us with a developement 

 of the propensities, partialities, and ruling passions, not only of men and 

 quadrupeds, but of birds, fishes, reptiles, and insects, from the unequivocal 

 language of their external expression ; and mak^s the reputable class of 

 tradesmen, probably without their knowledge, the deepest physiognomists 

 in the world ; for the trader, says he, when in the act of dealing, not only 

 at once decides that his customer has an honest look, a pleasing or forbid- 

 ding countenance, and trusts or forbears to trust him accordingly ; but 

 determines by its colour, its fineness, its exterior, the physiognomy of every 

 article of traffic. How far the former part of this last remark may apply 

 to M. Lavater's own countrymen, the honest and enlightened traders of 

 Zurich, I will not pretend to say ; but it is highly probable that there are 

 some before me who have not always f^lt themselves able to read the cha- 

 racters of the countenance quite so well as is here supposed of them, and 

 to whom a few additional lessons from the Zurich counting-house, or the 

 Zurich professor, might have been every now and then of no small service 

 in the transactions of buying and selling ; and have saved them, in various 

 instances, from bad debts and impositions. 



Having pointed out these defects, it becomes me to observe, that, with 

 all its blemishes, M. Lavater's Essays form the best and fullest book on , 

 the subject we at present possess. To say nothing of its language, which, 

 though far too florid, is animated, and often elegant, it is a rich repository 

 of isolated facts, shrewd remarks, and ingenious suggestions ; and with 

 less fancy, and more judgment, would have been, and must have been, the 

 favourite text-book of every physiologist in this branch of natural philoso- 

 phy. Nor, even as it is, can it ever be neglected by any who is desirous 

 of establishing physiognomy upon a permanent and sober basis ; and of 

 analyzing the causes, and determining the real principles, upon which every 

 one pretends to judge, whether rightly or wrongly, of the internal qualities 

 of the mind, by the external features of the body ; and consequently, as in 

 the case of astronomy, gives proof that the study is founded in nature, 

 although its specific laws have not had the good fortune, like those of 

 gravitation, to be systematically sought out and exemplified. 



It is from this last circumstance, in connexion with M. Lavater's desul- 

 tory and erratic mode of handling his subject, that other philosophers have 

 been induced to abandon altogether the common ground of the general 

 form and features, upon which mankind in all ages, whether learned or 

 unlearned, have hitherto reasoned, and to inquire whether there may not ^ 

 be some less sensible and obvious, but at the same time more fixed and 

 scientific, more exact and immediate index in some part of the human 

 figure, which may infallibly direct us to the same ends. No minister has 

 lience devised more schemes for taxation, no insurance-broker more mo- 

 difications for a lottery, than this general research has given rise to— -this 

 philosophical rage 



