Even those who habitually deny the power given by a knowledge of the science of physiognomy admit that _in certain moments_ they have been able to judge of what they could ask for from the expression they saw on the face of the person with whom they were dealing. Now, if this were so at one moment, why should it not be so always? When the soul is agitated, that agitation shows itself, at once, upon the face by the variation of its colours and by the contraction of certain muscles about the features. Both this changing of colour and this movement of the features vary according to the passions which produce the agitation and these different expressions most people can read at a glance. No one confounds the expression of happiness with unhappiness, of love with hatred, of hope with despair, of jealousy with trustfulness, of envy with sympathy. Habitual drunkards show their vice on their faces, even when they are perfectly sober; so also do the other vices show themselves by the lines left on the face by the constant recurrence of the contraction of the features when under the immediate and violent influence of the ruling passion. By dint of continually exercising the faculty of observation they come to see expressions and lines on the face which, though perhaps quite lost upon others, give them indications of character which are sometimes startling revelations. Here, again, is another objection which is often advanced against the study of physiognomy. Does it not, by laying bare the vices and weaknesses of human nature, induce a cynical opinion of human nature? No; for, whilst it makes us clear-sighted as to the vices, it also reveals to us many sweet and noble qualities in those by whom we are surrounded, which, perhaps, were never suspected by us. No one better understood his fellow-men, no one was ever more alive to "the sweet, sad music of humanity," than Shakespeare. His large-hearted, sympathetic nature gave him intuitive perception of character, and this, aided by his wonderful powers of observation, must have made him a physiognomist. He "looked quite through the thoughts of men," and yet, with all this wondrous knowledge of human nature, he says, "What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a God!" [Illustration: _THE PLANETS' PLACES ON THE FACE FACSIMILE FROM AN OLD WOODCUT, DATE 1657_ _To face Chapter XXVII._] CHAPTER XXVII. THE FOREHEAD AND EYEBROWS