We shall consider the whole features which are acted upon by
emotion, and are expressive of intelligence, as forming the countenance.
This definition embraces the forehead, that smooth table,
on which principally the emotions, while they last, are written in
most expressive characters. Some would persuade us that the fine
forehead is beautiful because it indicates the size and perfection of
the brain; but I should, on the contrary, say, and I am certain I
have the prevailing sentiment of the peasant and the philosopher
in my favour, that we look there for the expression of emotion,
and that we have no thoughts of the brain in contemplating a fine
countenance, but that we are insensibly and irresistibly drawn to
love that which indicates human character in its loveliest moods.
Under the smooth skin of the forehead He muscles which move
with every passing thought. It is lovely to see it serene, because we
admire the unruffled mind; so do we admire the placid sea, because
it is indicative of the softness of the breeze, and the safety of those
who trust to it; but when we love it quiet we know that the storm
may rise to convert its beauty into darkness and terror: so in the
face, we value it not as a mere fixed form of beauty, which may
remain like a bust before us, but as the varying index of the mind.
The forehead, the eyebrow, and the eyes constitute by far the fairest
and most expressive part of the human countenance, and there we
must look for the indications of pleasure, for whatever human
sympathy the heart most longs for. The forehead is important to
the human face, not because we have conviction of its form being
the indication of the size of the brain, and therefore of the degree
of intellect; but because it is an index of the thoughts and emotions,
and is a particular and appropriate organ of expression.
We have already had occasion to remark, that the expression
which is peculiarly human affects chiefly the angle of the mouth
and the inner extremity of the eyebrow. And it is to these points
that we have principally to attend in all our observations concerning
the expression of passion. These are the most moveable parts of
the face: to these points the muscles are concentrated; and it is
upon the changes which they undergo, that expression is acknowledged
chiefly to depend.
To demonstrate how important these points of the features are,
we have only to make that experiment which Peter of Cortona
made before Francis the First of France; to sketch a placid countenance,
and touch lightly with the pencil the angle of the bps
and the inner extremity of the eyebrows. By elevating or depressing
these, we shall quickly convey the expression of grief or
of laughter.
These parts, however, and all the features of an impassioned
countenance, have an accordance with each other. When the
angles of the mouth are depressed in grief, the eyebrows are not
elevated at the outer angles, as in laughter. When a smile plays
around the mouth, or the cheek is elevated in laughter, the brows
are not ruffled as in grief. The characters of such opposite passions
n a