Comparative physiognomy; or, Resemblances between men and animals . fortruth is simple, and isbetter suited to the sim-ple-minded than to thesophistical. As there is but one step from thesublime to the ridicu-lous, so there is but onestep from reason to com-mon sense, and it is ex-pressed in the word expediency. The Russians are full ofexpedients, for, like the goose, they have large hair growing down ina point in the centre of theforehead indicates the fieryaction of subterfuge, as thepitching downward of theforehead itself over the topof the nose and the innerangle of the eye
Comparative physiognomy; or, Resemblances between men and animals . fortruth is simple, and isbetter suited to the sim-ple-minded than to thesophistical. As there is but one step from thesublime to the ridicu-lous, so there is but onestep from reason to com-mon sense, and it is ex-pressed in the word expediency. The Russians are full ofexpedients, for, like the goose, they have large hair growing down ina point in the centre of theforehead indicates the fieryaction of subterfuge, as thepitching downward of theforehead itself over the topof the nose and the innerangle of the eye indicatesthe watery action of thesame faculty. The one isthe choleric and the otherthe phlegmatic mode inwhich this faculty exhibitsitself. Though the burningof Moscow was disastrous to the French, it showed the char-acter of the Russians, and illustrated the principle that it isa foul bird that litters its own nest This is true of the goose,and it is the result of expediency. This same faculty leadsto backbiting, to the undermining of character, to tattling and. x THE GOOSE. 221 slander, to burning out mens eyes, and to whatever else Sub-terfuge might be supposed to engage in. The goose salutesyou with the only means that is left her to vent the slander
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookpubl, booksubjectphysiognomy
