HOBBES.
The major part of our illustrations being taken from purely literary men, present Greco-Cogitative Noses. It is not our intention to descant at length on persons whose works are well known, by name at least, to every one, and whose lives were, for the most part, passed in the usual monotonous tenour of those of literary men; but Bacon may be referred to as an important corroborative instance of the shrewd, wily measures by which the astute Greek prefers to further his ambition. Bacon as a man presents such a lamentable contrast to Bacon as a philosopher, and the wretched underhand means by which he attained eminence are so well known, and so painful to dwell upon, that we refrain from doing more than referring the reader to the facts for comparison with his profile. Wretchedly inconsistent as his character appears, it is not inconsistent with his Nose; and, perhaps, what are termed his inconsistencies, are only a proof that the intellectual and moral powers are distinct, and that the most profuse development of the former, cannot compensate for a deficiency of the latter.
It is unnecessary to dissertate upon the names in the present list in order to demonstrate their right to appear among the Cogitatives. No one will deny their title to that most enviable epithet, and it would be by portraits alone that the identity between their minds and noses could be exhibited to any who are incredulous on that subject. To such we can only say, examine for yourselves; the portraits are, for the most part, easily attainable; and an attentive examination of them will well repay the labour, and, without doubt, satisfy the most sceptical of the truth of the hypothesis.
The names on that list are, for the most part, names which are a volume in themselves: they write their own history; certainly no encomiums of ours can add anything to their glory. It is undeniable that it was by close cogitation, serious, hard thinking, that each of them obtained a place in the rolls of Fame; and it is equally certain that almost every person may, by the same process obtain, if not an equal, yet certainly no mean place in the same estimable record.
It is a common and veracious observation, that certain faces prevail in certain ages; but it may be further added, that this epochal character frequently arises from the formation of the Nose, more especially of the Cogitative part.
Up to about the close of the reign of James I. the Greco-Cogitative prevailed; during the time of Charles I. and the Protectorate, the Romano-Cogitative was almost universal, and the Cogitative part was much increased in intensity. The Noses of the time are remarkably broad and thick, a circumstance which can only be attributed to the serious religious and political questions which then agitated the minds of all men. With the careless dissipated days of the second Charles came in the thin, long Greek, or Greco-Roman Nose, with little or none of the Cogitative element; and this for the most part prevailed up to the commencement of the present century. What future ages may determine to be the form of Nose characteristic of our age it is impossible to say. We can form no accurate judgment, for time alone can separate the tares from the wheat, and decide who are the great men of our age.
To an observant mind there is something very remarkable in the striking contrast between the physiognomies of the leaders in our own Rebellion (as it is historically termed) and of those of the French revolutionists. Besides a certain serious determination, a stern, unflinching, dogged consciousness of right, that nothing could turn to the right hand or to the left, which is visible in the countenances of the former, and to be contrasted with the flippant, wicked, blood-thirsty-looking smirk of the latter, there is a remarkable contrast in their Noses. The thick, broad, Cogitative Nose is visible in all of the former, from Old Noll himself to honest Andrew Marvel; while the void of thought, sharp, captious, vulpine Nose is to be seen in every one of the bloody tyrants of the French sans-culotterie.
The latter look like men who
“Could smile, and murder while they smile.”
The former like men who