Page:Language of the Eye.djvu/80

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62
THE LANGUAGE

is less capable of evading the criticism and observation of the beholder. We have always preferred to act under the dictation of a judgment formed from personal interviews, than by the strongest recommendation or exposition of character furnished to us by others; yet we would not presume to announce axioms as simply from our own experience; but we do unhesitatingly say, we subscribe to the opinion of those philosophers, who say blue eyes are generally more significant of gentleness and yielding than brown and black. Speaking of blue eyes, an early poet says:—

Oh! that is beauty, might ensnare
A conqueror's soul, and make him leave his crown
At random, to be scuffled for by slaves.

True it is, there are many powerful men with blue eyes, but more strength, manhood, and thought are combined with brown than with blue. A man with small ears, must have a large, noble eye, or he is full of conceit. He is one of those coxcombs who are on excellent terms with themselves, who with dull mediocrity of talent, and living on superficiality, presume to address the intellectual. He is one of the noisome weeds in the garden of life, and grows near that night-shade—ingratitude.

It is said that choleric men have eyes of every colour, but more brown than blue. Clear blue eyes are seldom or ever seen in the melancholic, but most in the phlegmatic temperament. When the under arch described by the upper eye-lid is perfectly circular, it indicates a pious disposition, fearful, but free from selfishness. When the eye-lid forms a horizontal line over the pupil, you are looking on a very able, versatile man; it may be seen in worthy men, but generally in men whose penetration is allied to simulation. The important and presumptuous carry a wide, open eye, showing much of the white:—

This is a fellow wise enough to play the fool.