That hearb of some, Starlight is call’d by name,
Of others, Penthia, though not so well;
But thou, whenever thou dost find the same,
From this day forth doe call it Astrophel.
And whensoever thou it up doost take,
Doe pluck it softly for that shepheard’s sake.”
May the injunction of the last lines never be forgotten by any one who
knows that the Forget-me-not is associated with the friendship of two
such noble-minded men!
It is hardly necessary to say that Sir Philip Sidney fell gallantly
fighting at the battle of Zutphen, or to narrate the interesting
anecdote of his refusing a drink of cold water till a wounded soldier
had partaken of it, saying, “Thy necessity is yet greater than mine;”
thus nobly displaying both firm endurance (I.) and sensitive humanity
(II.)
The other instances, ALEXANDER THE GREAT, and NAPOLEON, may be best
treated of by contrasting them with their opposites; and we shall thus
be enabled to illustrate, at the same time, both the Roman and the Greek
Noses more fully. Moreover, while the contrast will clearly demonstrate
the distinctive characteristics of those Noses, it will also evince how
important it is to attend to compound forms, and how materially the
character is affected by the intermixture of classes.
Of all the conquerors whose wild ambition has stained with blood the
page of History, Alexander and Napoleon alone fought from a high
romantic motive—the desire of eternal fame. By virtue of a large share
of the Roman Nose, they pursued their favourite and chosen career with
determined energy and a reckless disregard for the lives of others;
nevertheless, being strongly gifted with the Greek, they might in some
other sphere have been high artists of some class; but having the sword
in their hands, they pursued intellectual fame by its means.
It is difficult to say whether the Roman or the Greek form predominates
in their Noses; for they are perhaps as much Greco-Roman as
Romano-Greek; but as they were warriors, we place them here because it
will be advantageous to draw an illustrative contrast between their
characters and Noses, and the characters and Noses of too many other
mere conquerors, whose Noses have been purely Roman.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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