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��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
��Such were Pope and Covvper among the poets ; Richard Baxter, Dr. Chan- ning, and our own Professor Stuart, among divines ; Aristotle, Kant, and Lord Jeffrey, among metaphysicians. When Jeffrey was appointed judge, S. Smith said : " His robes will cost him little. One buck rabbit will clothe him to the heels." A distinguished traveller, speaking of Kant, says : " Leaner, nay, drier, than his small body, none probably ever existed, and no sage ever passed his life in a more tranquil and absorbed manner. A high, serene forehead, a fine nose, a clear, bright eye, distinguished his face advantageously." Tradition has given a similar organization to the apostle Paul. But from his abundant labors, perils, and sufferings, we should infer that he must have possessed a more vigorous constitution. " Dr. Channing possessed a diminutive fig- ure, with a pale, attenuated face, eyes of spiritual brightness, an expansive and calm brow, and movements of nervous alacrity."
This temperament, with a mixture of the bilious, shows itself in the cyn- ic, the satirist, and the railer. Dean Swift and Voltaire were eminent in- stances of the most caustic and ma- lignant tempers. Li the countenance of Voltaire, it is said, there was a mix- ture of the eagle and the monkey, and in his character he united the boldness of the one with the malice of the other. The muddy counte-
a face ? " Because mine nioder was a woman," responded honest Hans. If we examine the early histories of eminent men, we find that they nearly all received their early training from woman ; we shall find that the subtle essence that tln-illed into life their dormant powers, emanated from the soul of woman — mother or instructor. St. Chrysostom, St. Augustin, Louis IX of France, and the Wesleys, are brilliant specimens of the mother's training. In the eyes of ■woman depreciatoi's, it must appear an odd freak to constitute women the brain- moulders of monarchs and statesmen; such, nevertheless was frequently the case. — The Knickerbocker.
��nance of Swift seldom relaxed. Be- neath the face of a Sphynx he wore the spirit of a Mephistopheles. Dr. Young wrote the following pithy epi- gram on Voltaire :
" Thou art so witty, profligate, and thin, At once we think thee Milton, death, and sin."
Sterne was of a similar habit of mind and body. He was tall, thin, and pale. His countenance was emi- nently indicative of mirth and wit, v/ith a very manifest and painful ex- pression of mischief mingled with his fun. He was undoubtedly an unprin- cipled huniorist. Now it is evident that the soul and body are so inti- mately associated that the condition of one materially affects the other. The health and growth of both are modified by the same causes. Some- times a noble physical organization stimulates the mind to greater activity. Hazlett, the critic, supposed that the celebrated preacher, Edward Irving, was first inspired to enact the orator by his consciousness of superior mus- cular power, and by the admiration which his handsome and majestic per- son called forth in strangers. Such feelings have often excited a love of military parades and called forth the highest bravery upon the battle-field. That great warrior, the Duke of Marlborough, possessed un- rivalled beauty of person and majesty of form. He is represented, in his old age, as standing before a full- length portrait of himself, and ex- claiming, with conscious pride : "77/(7/ 7ifas a mau."
We all instinctively estimate char- acter by external signs. Every fea- ture of the body, and every motion of its limbs, has its appropriate lan- guage. If I were to describe to you only the color and texture of the hair of two persons of different tempera- ments, you would at once form some notion of their respective traits of character. Suppose I were to repre- sent the one as having dark, grizzly hair, course and wiry in its texture ;
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