To describe the character of Wellington, is to reverse that of Napoleon.
Napoleon was shrewd, artful, and deceitful; Wellington open-hearted,
strong-sensed, candid, and sincere. Napoleon a clever statesman;
Wellington obtuse in politics. Napoleon a great strategist; Wellington
short-sighted, though daring in the field. Napoleon a lover and patron
of arts; Wellington a despiser of them. Napoleon said to be personally
timid; Wellington constitutionally brave. Napoleon’s cruelties were acts
of cool calculation and state-policy; Wellington’s of military fury.
Napoleon poisoned his sick troops because he did not know what else to
do with them, and murdered the Duke d’Enghien to produce “an effect” in
Europe; Wellington’s cruelties were the necessary consequences of war
energetically carried on, and were never the result of cold-blooded
predetermination.[21]
Before closing this section, we would request the reader’s attention
to the strong proof of the truth of the hypothesis derivable from
the fact that like Noses, with like circumstances (_cæteris
paribus_, as the phrenologists say), produce like characters: for
instance, Wolsey, Richelieu, Ximenes, Lorenzo di Medici,
Alfred:—Sidney, Raleigh:—Alexander, Napoleon.
CHAPTER III.
OF THE GREEK NOSE.
CLASS II.—THE GREEK, or straight Nose, is perfectly straight; any
deviation from a right line must be strictly noticed. If the
deviation tend to convexity, it approaches the Roman, and the
character is improved by an accession of energy; on the other hand,
when the deviation is towards concavity, it partakes of the
Celestial, and the character is weakened. It should be fine, and
well chiselled, but not sharp.
It indicates Refinement of character; love for the Fine Arts, and
_Belles-Lettres_; astuteness, craft, and a preference for indirect
rather than direct action. Its owner is not without some energy in
pursuit of that which is agreeable to his tastes; but, unlike the
owner of the Roman Nose, he cannot exert himself in _opposition_ to
his tastes. When associated with the Roman Nose, and distended
slightly at the end by the Cogitative, it indicates the most useful
and intellectual of characters, and is the highest and most
beautiful form which the organ can assume.
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