Empty heads, - heads without ideas in wholesomevariety and

sufficient number to furnish food for the mental clockwork, - ill-
regulated heads, where the faculties are not under the control of

the will, - these are the ones that hold the brains which their
owners are so apt to tamper with, by introducing the appliances we

have been talking about. Now, when a gentleman's brain is empty or
ill-regulated, it is, to a great extent, his own fault; and so it

is simple retribution, that, while he lies slothfully sleeping or
aimlessly dreaming, the fatal habit settles on him like a vampyre,

and sucks his blood, fanning him all the while with its hot wings
into deeper slumber or idler dreams! I am not such a hard-souled

being as to apply this to the neglected poor, who have had no
chance to fill their heads with wholesome ideas, and to be taught

the lesson of self-government. I trust the tariff of Heaven has an
AD VALOREM scale for them - and all of us.

But to come back to poets and artists; - if they really are more
prone to the abuse of stimulants, - and I fear that this is true, -

the reason of it is only too clear. A man abandons himself to a
fine frenzy, and the power which flows through him, as I once

explained to you, makes him the medium of a great poem or a great
picture. The creative action is not voluntary at all, but

automatic; we can only put the mind into the proper attitude, and
wait for the wind, that blows where it listeth, to breathe over it.

Thus the true state of creativegenius is allied to REVERIE, or
dreaming. If mind and body were both healthy and had food enough

and fair play, I doubt whether any men would be more temperate than
the imaginative classes. But body and mind often flag, - perhaps

they are ill-made to begin with, underfed with bread or ideas,
overworked, or abused in some way. The automatic action, by which

geniuswrought its wonders, fails. There is only one thing which
can rouse the machine; not will, - that cannot reach it; nothing

but a ruinous agent, which hurries the wheels awhile and soon eats
out the heart of the mechanism. The dreaming faculties are always

the dangerous ones, because their mode of action can be imitated by
artificial excitement; the reasoning ones are safe, because they

imply continued voluntary effort.
I think you will find it true, that, before any vice can fasten on

a man, body, mind, or moral nature must be debilitated. The mosses
and fungi gather on sickly trees, not thriving ones; and the odious

parasites which fasten on the human frame choose that which is
already enfeebled. Mr. Walker, the hygeian humorist, declared that

he had such a healthy skin it was impossible for any impurity to
stick to it, and maintained that it was an absurdity to wash a face

which was of necessity always clean. I don't know how much fancy
there was in this; but there is no fancy in saying that the

lassitude of tired-out operatives, and the languor of imaginative
natures in their periods of collapse, and the vacuity of minds

untrained to labor and discipline, fit the soul and body for the
germination of the seeds of intemperance.

Whenever the wandering demon of Drunkenness finds a ship adrift, -
no steady wind in its sails, no thoughtful pilot directing its

course, - he steps on board, takes the helm, and steers straight
for the maelstrom.

- I wonder if you know the TERRIBLE SMILE? [The young fellow whom
they call John winked very hard, and made a jocular remark, the

sense of which seemed to depend on some double meaning of the word
SMILE. The company was curious to know what I meant.]

There are persons - I said - who no sooner come within sight of you
than they begin to smile, with an uncertainmovement of the mouth,

which conveys the idea that they are thinking about themselves, and
thinking, too, that you are thinking they are thinking about

themselves, - and so look at you with a wretchedmixture of self-
consciousness, awkwardness, and attempts to carry off both, which

are betrayed by the cowardly behaviour of the eye and the tell-tale
weakness of the lips that characterize" target="_blank" title="v.描绘；具有...特征">characterize these unfortunate beings.

- Why do you call them unfortunate, Sir? - asked the divinity-
student.

Because it is evident that the consciousness of some imbecility or
other is at the bottom of this extraordinary expression. I don't

think, however, that these persons are commonly fools. I have
known a number, and all of them were intelligent. I think nothing

conveys the idea of UNDERBREEDING more than this self-betraying
smile. Yet I think this peculiar habit as well as that of

MEANINGLESS BLUSHING may be fallen into by very good people who met
often, or sit opposite each other at table. A true gentleman's

face is infinitely removed from all such paltriness, - calm-eyed,
firm-mouthed. I think Titian understood the look of a gentleman as

well as anybody that ever lived. The portrait of a young man
holding a glove in his hand, in the Gallery of the Louvre, if any

of you have seen that collection, will remind you of what I mean.
- Do I think these people know the peculiar look they have? - I

cannot say; I hope not; I am afraid they would never forgive me, if
they did. The worst of it is, the trick is catching; when one

meets one of these fellows, he feels a tendency to the same
manifestation. The Professor tells me there is a muscular slip, a

dependence of the PLATYSMA MYOIDES, which is called the RISORIUS
SANTORINI.

- Say that once more, - exclaimed the young fellow mentioned above.
The Professor says there is a little fleshy slip called Santorini's

laughing muscle. I would have it cut out of my face, if I were
born with one of those constitutional grins upon it. Perhaps I am

uncharitable in my judgment of those sour-looking people I told you
of the other day, and of these smiling folks. It may be that they

are born with these looks, as other people are with more generally
recognized deformities. Both are bad enough, but I had rather meet

three of the scowlers than one of the smilers.
- There is another unfortunate way of looking, which is peculiar to

that amiable sex we do not like to find fault with. There are some
very pretty, but, unhappily, very ill-bred women, who don't

understand the law of the road with regard to handsome faces.
Nature and custom would, no doubt, agree in conceding to all males

the right of at least two distinct looks at every comely female
countenance, without any infraction of the rules of courtesy or the

sentiment of respect. The first look is necessary to define the
person of the individual one meets so as to avoid it in passing.

Any unusualattraction detected in a first glance is a sufficient
apology for a second, - not a prolonged and impertinent stare, but

an appreciating homage of the eyes, such as a stranger may
inoffensively yield to a passing image. It is astonishing how

morbidly sensitive some vulgar beauties are to the slightest
demonstration of this kind. When a lady walks the streets, she

leaves her virtuous-indignation countenance at home; she knows well
enough that the street is a picture-gallery, where pretty faces

framed in pretty bonnets are meant to be seen, and everybody has a
right to see them.

- When we observe how the same features and style of person and
characterdescend from generation to generation, we can believe

that some inherited weakness may account for these peculiarities.
Little snapping-turtles snap - so the great naturalist tells us -

before they are out of the egg-shell. I am satisfied, that, much
higher up in the scale of life, character is distinctly shown at

the age of -2 or -3 months.
- My friend, the Professor, has been full of eggs lately. [This

remark excited a burst of hilarity which I did not allow to
interrupt the course of my observations.] He has been reading the

great book where he found the fact about the little snapping-
turtles mentioned above. Some of the things he has told me have

suggested several odd analogies enough.
There are half a dozen men, or so, who carry in their brains the

OVARIAN EGGS of the next generation's or century's civilization.
These eggs are not ready to be laid in the form of books as yet;

some of them are hardly ready to be put into the form of talk. But
as rudimentary ideas or inchoate tendencies, there they are; and