CHAPTER XXX

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THE MOUTH, TEETH, JAW AND CHIN

A mouth to be beautiful should be in harmony as regards proportion with the rest of the features of the face; that is, it should be neither remarkably large nor remarkably small. Neither the upper nor the lower lip should project beyond the other when the mouth is closed. The lips should shut easily over the teeth, and in doing so should fall into a flowing line of curves without compression. The more the lips are endowed with motion and the more richly they are coloured, the finer and more delicate are the human passions they indicate.

An excess of even good form is bad; thus if the full rich lines of a generous mouth are exaggerated, we have the indication of sensuality, whilst the finer susceptibilities shown by delicately moulded lips may, by a little excess towards thinness, give fastidiousness and even avarice.

The middle-sized mouth, which combines strength with warmth of feeling, whilst it steers clear of coarseness, is what gives the best indications. Such a mouth shows courage, generosity, and affection.

A mild, somewhat overhanging upper lip generally signifies goodness, or rather kindliness of disposition; but if very much overhung it shows weakness of purpose and an irresolute, vacillating character and, where the under lip is small as well as retreating and the chin also small, it is an indication of imbecility.

A mouth in which the lower lip projects shows prudence amounting to distrust and melancholy. We often see this form of mouth with the down-drooping nose; both are indications of the dominating influence of Saturn at the birth of the person possessing such a combination of features. If the under lip should be very full as well as projecting and droops in a flaccid manner without closing over the teeth when the lips are in repose, it is a sign of a sensual nature. Of course an intellectual brow and a firm and energetic form of nose would lessen the evil of such an indication, but there is always a tendency towards the grosser pleasures of the senses in a person with such a form of lips.

A mouth with lips habitually apart denotes eloquence, if the rest of the face gives intellectual indications; but if none of the signs of mental power are there, it would only signify a chattering person wanting in decision and promptness of action.

A firmly closed mouth shows courage, fortitude and determination; even an habitually open mouth will be seen to close with a sort of forced compression when endurance is necessary. Everyone closes the mouth after saying, "I am resolved."

A somewhat long mouth, with an upward curve at the corners and with thin and very flexible lips, indicates wit. Voltaire had this sort of mouth.

Full, flexible lips, with a hollow in the centre of the lower lip, and with the corners turning upwards, show a joyous, hospitable and rather materialistic temperament, with good spirits and sense of humour.

A mouth with full lips, but in which one side of the lower lip is larger and fuller than the other, was said by the old writers to denote ardour in love and general sensuousness. It is one of the signatures of Venus.

A wart just above the upper lip shows a coarse and cruel nature; a mole in the same place, love of the opposite sex.

Of course, the shape and placing of the teeth are not without significance in the character given by the mouth. When the upper gum shows above the teeth directly the lips are open, it is a sign of a selfish and phlegmatic nature.

Short, small teeth are held by the old physiognomists to denote weakness and short life, whilst rather long teeth, if evenly set in the head, denote long life.

The more the teeth, in point of size, shape and arrangement, approach to those of the carnivorous animals, the more violent are the animal instincts in the person; whilst the more the human teeth in shape and position approach to those of the graminivorous animals, the more placid is the character.

White, medium-sized and evenly-set teeth, which are seen as soon as the mouth is open, but which are never exposed--that is, which do not at any time show the gums--are a sign of good and honest natures.

Projecting teeth show rapacity; small, retreating teeth, such as are rarely seen unless in laughter, show weakness and want of physical and moral courage. The lower teeth projecting and closing over the upper range are indicative of a harsh nature.

In most faces the mouth or the nose is the more prominent. Where the nose is the dominant feature, energy, command and force of willpower, combined (unless the mouth and eyes show great kindness) with selfishness, show themselves in the character. Where the mouth, jaw and chin are more prominent, the appetites and passions are strong.

Broad jaws, with a broad forehead, mean both force of intellect and force of animal passion. Byron had this combination of brow and jaw; but the lips, which were full and flexible and with upward-curving corners, redeemed the sensuality given by the jaws, and the intellectual qualities shown by the form of the brow were in excess of the indications of voluptuousness given by the lower part of the face.

A person who has the jaw much broader than the brow and head has strong passions and a weak intellect--the very worst possible combination.

When the jaws are massive and yet the head and brow are more so, we have a powerful character, who can exert all his intellectual powers on one subject--one who has the very valuable faculty of concentration.

Where the jaws are much narrower than the head, we have a character where the sensual instincts are feeble, and where intellect is of a subtle and refined order. Wit is shown by this form of face, especially if the nose is delicately outlined, the tip pointed and somewhat drooping over the mouth.

When the lips retreat on each side of the mouth and open into an oval form, it denotes a subtle intelligence, tact and refinement of nature.

A sharp indentation immediately above the chin, between it and the lower lip, shows good understanding.

A pointed chin is a sign of craftiness, wisdom, discretion and intuitive perception.

A soft, fat, double chin shows epicurism and love of sensual pleasures of all sorts; it also indicates an indolent temperament. We never see such chins in persons of an energetic, restless nature. Charles James Fox, who was excessively indolent, had this chin even in youth.

A flat chin shows avarice and a cold, hard nature; a small chin indicates weakness, want of will-power and cowardice.

A retreating chin is a sign of silliness and, if the brow is shallow, of imbecility.

Where the space between the nose and the red part of the lip is short and very sharply cut, it indicates refinement and delicacy of perception, but not much power--no _force_ of intellect; where this space is unusually short, it denotes silliness and weakness of purpose. A rather long but not flat upper lip, especially where the serpentine line of the middle of the mouth is much defined and the middle of the lip droops to the lower lip and is very flexible, denotes an eloquent person. We see this form of upper lip in the bust of Demosthenes, the greatest of Grecian orators; in Cicero, whose eloquence was unsurpassed in his age; in Fox, whose powers of oratory were great; in the demagogue Wilkes, in Edmund Burke, in Lord Palmerston and numerous other orators.

A very long upper lip, which is flat and which belongs to a straight and formless or too thick-lipped mouth, is a sign of a low and vicious type of character. Almost all the faces of great criminals have this defect, combined with massive jaws and high cheek-bones, which last defect is, both Lavater and Perneti (a great French writer on the subject of physiognomy) tell us, a sign of rapacity and egotism.

A round chin, with a dimple in it, denotes kindliness and benevolence, a tender and unselfish nature. In a very massive double chin the dimple increases the quality of love of sensual pleasures. A square and massive chin shows strong perseverance and determined will.

An old Italian writer says that "women with brown, hairy moles on the chin, especially if these excrescences are on the under part of the chin, are industrious, active and are good housewives"; they are also, he says, "very sanguine and given to love follies. They talk much and whilst they are easily excited to return a love which is offered them, they are not so readily prevailed upon to become indifferent. For this reason," he goes on, evidently speaking feelingly and probably therefore with personal experience of the matter, "they should be treated with circumspect, calm friendship and kept at a distance by a mildly cold dignity of demeanour." He gives no directions as to how this effective "demeanour" is to be arrived at, but at once passes on to another remark on the subject of moles, and tells us that "a mole upon the upper lip, especially if it is bristly, will be found in no person who is not defective in something essential." This is rather a wide way of putting the matter. Are people with this blemish morally, mentally, or physically deficient? Wanting in kissableness such a mouth might be and this, perhaps, where lips are concerned, _is_ "something essential."

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