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. CHAPTER XXIX. THE NOSE We often see fine eyes in an otherwise ugly face, but rarely is a thoroughly beautiful nose found in a face which could be called ugly, for the nose is the keynote of the face, and in it lies the chief characteristic of the countenance. Beautiful eyes and beautiful lips have, it is true, more charm--it is the expression of the eyes and lips of those we love which we most remember in absence--but it is the nose which, more than any other feature, most affects the general character of the face. This will be seen if we try the experiment of drawing the head and face of any beautiful statue--say the Venus of Milo, for instance--and, while giving it all its fair proportions of brow and cheek and chin, we substitute a small turn-up nose, or, worse still, a flat or snub nose, for the noble yet softly gracious line of the nose in this most perfect head and how much we should lower the noble type of beauty this Venus presents! Of course no one in real life could be unattractive with such a brow and beautifully shaped eyes, to say nothing of the perfect lips and softly rounded lines of the chin; but the nobility of the face would be entirely lost by this alteration of the lines of the nose; whilst we might alter the beautiful lines of the eyes, narrow the brow, and even take from the softly voluptuous contour of lips and chin, yet by leaving untouched the perfect form of the nose we should still retain the dignity of expression which is so characteristic of this statue.