O 'corne âpre le nubi, ond’ egli è chiuso
Impetuoso il fulmine, e sen fugge ;
Cosi pareva a forza ogni suo detto,
Tuonando uscir dall1 infiammato petto.
Cant. vi. 38.
But the passion may be much varied in the representation:
perhaps the eyes are fixed upon the ground; the countenance pale,
troubled, and threatening; the lip trembles, and the breath is suppressed,
or there is a deep and long inspiration as of inward pain.
In the following sketch I have endeavoured to represent those
feelings which succeed the last horrid act of revenge: the storm
has subsided, but the gloom is not yet dissipated. Some compunctious
visitings of nature are in the lips, though the eye retains
its severity. By the posture and the fixed attention I would
indicate, that the survey of the now lifeless body carries back the
train of thought with less severe judgment of past transactions.
#
If I were to set down what ought to be represented as the prevailing
character and physiognomy of a madman, I should say, that
his body should be strong, and his muscles rigid and distinct;
his skin bound; his features sharp; his eye sunk; his colour a
dark brownish yellow, tinctured with sallowness, without one spot
R