"Our faces were our coats of arms."

"Eyes were most characteristic. These played the prime parts in life,—eyes and voice. Eyes were a civility and a kingdom: voice a fortune. There was a culture, a fate in them, direful, divine." And he quoted, without naming the author:—

"Black eyes, in your dark orbs doth lie

My ill or happy destiny;

If with clear looks you me behold,

You give me wine and mounts of gold;

If you dart forth disdainful rays,

To your own dye you turn my days;

Black eyes, in your dark orbs doth dwell

My bane or bliss, my heaven or hell."