CHAPTER XXVIII

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THE EYES AND EYELASHES

The eye has been called "the window of the soul," and not without reason, for it seems more than any other organ to be capable of expressing all its emotions. The most tumultuous passions, the most delicate feelings, the most acute sensations, the eye expresses in all their force and in all their purity, as they arise and transmits them by variations so rapid as to give to the lookers-on the very image of that with which it is itself inspired; for the eye receives and reflects the intelligence of the thoughts as well as the warmth of the feelings.

The colours most common to the eyes are brown, grey, blue, hazel and black, or what we _call_ black--for those eyes which appear to be black will generally be found to be of a deep yellowish-brown when looked at very narrowly; it is the distance only which makes them seem to be black, because the deep yellow-brown colour is in such strong contrast to the white of the eye that it appears black. There are also eyes of so bright a hazel as to seem almost yellow; lastly, there are eyes that are positively green. Very beautiful, too, are some of the eyes of this colour when they are shaded--as is very often the case--with long, dark eyelashes; but, though beautiful, they are not indicative of a _good_ disposition.

Green eyes, although their praises are often sung in Spanish ballads, show deceit and coquetry. We sometimes see eyes which appear to be a combination of yellow, orange, and blue, the latter colour generally appearing in streaks over the whole surface of the iris, while the orange and yellow are set in flakes of unequal size around and at some distance apart; these eyes are indicative of originality, amounting, at times, to eccentricity. No commonplace person has this sort of eye; they show intellectuality, and, in most cases, literary ability.

There are eyes which are remarkable for being of, what might be said to be, no colour. The iris has only some shades of blue or pale grey, so feeble as to be almost white in some parts, and the shades of orange which intervene are so small that they can scarcely be distinguished from grey or white, notwithstanding the contrast of colours. The black of the pupil is, in these eyes, too marked, because the colour of the iris around it is not deep enough, so that in looking at them we seem to see only the pupil. These eyes are expressionless, for their glance is fixed and dead; they invariably belong to persons of the lymphatic temperament, and they indicate a listless and feeble disposition, incapable of enterprise and a cold and indolently selfish nature.

Blue eyes are more significant of tenderness and of a yieldingness of purpose than either brown, black, or grey eyes. There are occasionally to be met strong characters with this tint of eye, but then they will be found to have other indications in the rest of their physiognomy which correct the delicacy and yieldingness of this coloured eye. Blue-eyed people are not inconstant, like those of the hazel and yellow eyes, but they yield from affection.

Angry, irritable persons have frequently eyes of a brownish tint, inclined to a greenish hue. Although the purely green eye of which I have spoken indicates deceit and coquetry, the propensity to greenish tints in the eyes is a sign of wisdom and courage. Very choleric persons, if they have blue eyes, have also certain tints of green in them and, when under the influence of anger, a sudden red light appears in them. Such eyes as these are generally found in connection with the sanguine, or, as it is sometimes called, choleric temperament; that is, in those persons who have been born under the double influence of Jupiter and Mars; but, when we see these red tints in the eyes, it would be a sign that, of the two planets presiding over this temperament, Mars was dominant.

Clear grey-blue eyes, with a calm steadfastness in their glance, are indicative of cheerfulness of disposition, of a serene temper and a constant nature. These eyes are peculiar to the Northern nations; one meets with them among the Swedes, and also sometimes amongst the Scotch. The blue eyes we see among the rare blondes of the South--that is, in Italy and Spain--always have eyes in which there are some greenish tints; and such eyes, though often called light blue, have none of the qualities of serenity and constancy which belong to the light blue eyes of the North. Neither must the pleasant light blue eye, with the honest glance, be confounded with another sort of eye of a pale blue, almost steel-coloured hue, which has a continually shifting sort of motion both of the eyelids and the pupils of the eyes. People with such eyes as these are to be avoided, as they are indicative of a deceitful and selfish nature. Very dark blue eyes, with something of the tint of the violet, show great power of affection and purity of mind, but not much intellectuality.

Grey eyes, of a somewhat greenish grey, with orange as well as blue in them, and which are of ever-varying tints, like the sea, are those which denote most intellectuality. They are especially indicative of the impulsive, impressionable temperament--a mixture of the sanguine and the bilious--which produces the poetic and artistic natures. The line--

"The poet's eye, in a fine phrenzy rolling,"

does not suggest a blue, or even a black, so much as the changeful, ever-varying tinted, grey eye; and it is a fact that in England (where there are more varieties of tints in eyes than in any other country) the poets have almost always grey eyes. A biographer of Byron speaks of his "beautiful, changeful grey eyes, which deepened in colour when he was under the influence of tenderness and passion, and which glowed with a red light when he was angry." Shakespeare also had, we are told, grey eyes, and so had Sir Walter Scott; whilst Coleridge had eyes of a greenish grey. Among the artists, too, eyes of this colour abound.

Black eyes, or what are considered such, are indicative of passionate ardour in love. Brown eyes, when not of the yellowish tint, but pure russet brown, show an affectionate disposition; the darker the brown--that is, the more they verge on to that deepest tint of brown which is seen in eyes we are in the habit of calling black--the more ardent and passionate is the power of affection. The brown eyes which do not appear black--that is, which are not dark enough to appear so--are the eyes of sweet, gentle, and unselfish natures, without the inconstancy of the light brown or _yellow_ eyes--"golden eyes," as they were called by a lady novelist--and which are very little more to be trusted than the green eyes already spoken of. The maiden in Longfellow's _Hyperion_, of whom he says,

"She has two eyes so soft and brown, She looketh up, she looketh down; Beware, beware, she is fooling thee,"

must have had these _light_ brown eyes.

Eyes which show no lines when in sorrow or laughter denote a passionless and unimpressionable nature. Eyes of a long almond shape, with thick-skinned eyelids which appear to cover half the pupil, are indicative of genius; if in conjunction the forehead is that which shows idealism, and has one deep perpendicular line between the eyebrows, which is indicative of originality of mind and which is generally to be seen in the forehead of distinguished writers and artists. It is very remarkable in all the portraits of Michael Angelo. The almond-shaped eye, however, even without this peculiar form of forehead, always means a susceptible, impressionable nature. Eyes which are large, open and very transparent and which sparkle with a rapid motion under well-defined eyelids, denote elegance in tastes, a somewhat susceptible temper and great interest in the opposite sex.

Eyes with weakly-marked eyebrows above them and with thinly-growing eyelashes which are completely without any upward curve, denote a feeble constitution and a melancholy disposition. These eyelashes are often seen in people who combine the lymphatic and melancholic temperaments--that is, in persons born under the combined influence of the two melancholy planets, Saturn and the Moon. The eyes of these people are either of a pale, colourless sort of blue, or of a dull black without any sparkle in them.

Want of eyelash, like want of eyebrows, shows a general want of force, both of body and intellect.

Strong, dark and short eyelashes show force of character and a strong and obstinate will.

Eyes with sharply-defined angles, sinking at the corners, show subtlety of mind; the sharper the angle and the more it sinks, the greater the delicacy of perception it denotes; but when very much developed it shows also craftiness amounting to deceit. Well-opened eyes with smooth eyelids and a steady and somewhat fixed glance denote sincerity. Lines running along the eyelid from side to side and passing out upon the temples denote habitual laughter--a cheerful temperament, or, at any rate, one in which the sense of humour is strong.

We sometimes see (but it is rare) persons whose eyes are of different colours. For instance, one eye will be of a bluish-grey, whilst the other will be so flecked with orange or tawny yellow spots as to appear what might be called a brown eye. This peculiarity of having eyes of different colours is sometimes to be seen in dogs, and very often in cats of the Persian breed, or white cats, but it is very rare in human beings. An old Italian writer says that people having eyes of different colours are likely to become mad. Having, during the whole course of my life, only known two persons having this peculiarity, I do not feel qualified to pass an opinion as regards this indication. One of these persons certainly was mad on several points; and, when it is added that the other is the writer of this book, many of its readers may be inclined to think that the mediæval physiognomist's theory might very possibly be correct.

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