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Masonic Didactics; Or, Short Moral Essays Of Universal Adaptation.
blood , and creating untold misery . It carries in its train devastation and despair . It leaves behind woe—woe—woe ! The mind may picture to itself the terrors of war , but the immediate approach of the " flaming torch and destroying sword , " quickly banishes all fanciful timidity in a realizing sense of impending danger , and the necessity for action would we escape the disgrace of defeat , and use the means of a just defence .
No . XL . —THE COUNTENANCE A FAITHFUL INDEX OP THE MIND IN EMOTIONS OF ANGER . Quamvis tegatur proditur vultu fervor—SENECA . THE human face divine being naturally imprinted with the ingenuous attributes of unsophisticated nature , betrays , in its efforts to conceal themthe strong emotions of the mindwhatever the exciting
, , passion—be it grief or anger . How anxious the solicitude—such is the weakness of human nature—to appear amiable , and secure the good opinion of mankind , under some goading provocation ; making men averse to discover any symptom of anger , irritable as the cause may be , although the unnatural attempt to hide their rising choler , and preserve a calmness of aspect , distorts the visage , indexing the smothered fire within . For the ferment of human passions produces a tremulous
sensation throughout the whole corporeal framework , like the trembling of the earth ' s wust , when nature ' s hidden powers are in agitation ; and in no part of the body is its operation more conspicuously displayed than in the countenance of man . ' Allien any violent concussion of nature shakes the bowels of the earth , the vibration is simultaneously communicated to the surface , making her invisible commotion perceptibly terrible to its alarmed
inhabitants . And similarly— " Animus cujusque sermone frontis revelatur . " The criminal calendar abounds with instances of the remarkable agency of the look in the examination and conviction of a culprit , whose eye , if guilty , generally shrinks from the scrutinizing gaze of the court , whilst the entire face at once becomes suffused with the blush of
conscious delinquency . AVe see , therefore , how impossible it is to prevent the images of tlie mind developing themselves to observation by any supposed self-command over the features of the face . For such is the intimate analogy between the mind and the muscular organs , that the workings of the one by the other , is almost as accurately told as the machinery of the clock points to the hour on the dial-plate . In sculpture , portrait-painting , the histrionic art , the secret which
obtains excellence and eminence , is to convey in the lineaments of the face , those passions which personally distinguished the characters represented by the labours ofthe chisel , the pallet , or the actor . The taute raeatvow is equally illustv & tive of the sentiments impressed upon us , by regarding the countenance . In the lion , we behold a nobleness of nature ; in the tiger , cunning and ferocity ; in the ox , patience ; in the ass , dullness ; in the dog , faithfulness and sagacity ; in the cat , slyness and caution . The winged animals , the insect tribe , and the finny inhabitants of the waters , mig ht all be brought to prove the fascinating power of the face over the universal judgment of mankind .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Didactics; Or, Short Moral Essays Of Universal Adaptation.
blood , and creating untold misery . It carries in its train devastation and despair . It leaves behind woe—woe—woe ! The mind may picture to itself the terrors of war , but the immediate approach of the " flaming torch and destroying sword , " quickly banishes all fanciful timidity in a realizing sense of impending danger , and the necessity for action would we escape the disgrace of defeat , and use the means of a just defence .
No . XL . —THE COUNTENANCE A FAITHFUL INDEX OP THE MIND IN EMOTIONS OF ANGER . Quamvis tegatur proditur vultu fervor—SENECA . THE human face divine being naturally imprinted with the ingenuous attributes of unsophisticated nature , betrays , in its efforts to conceal themthe strong emotions of the mindwhatever the exciting
, , passion—be it grief or anger . How anxious the solicitude—such is the weakness of human nature—to appear amiable , and secure the good opinion of mankind , under some goading provocation ; making men averse to discover any symptom of anger , irritable as the cause may be , although the unnatural attempt to hide their rising choler , and preserve a calmness of aspect , distorts the visage , indexing the smothered fire within . For the ferment of human passions produces a tremulous
sensation throughout the whole corporeal framework , like the trembling of the earth ' s wust , when nature ' s hidden powers are in agitation ; and in no part of the body is its operation more conspicuously displayed than in the countenance of man . ' Allien any violent concussion of nature shakes the bowels of the earth , the vibration is simultaneously communicated to the surface , making her invisible commotion perceptibly terrible to its alarmed
inhabitants . And similarly— " Animus cujusque sermone frontis revelatur . " The criminal calendar abounds with instances of the remarkable agency of the look in the examination and conviction of a culprit , whose eye , if guilty , generally shrinks from the scrutinizing gaze of the court , whilst the entire face at once becomes suffused with the blush of
conscious delinquency . AVe see , therefore , how impossible it is to prevent the images of tlie mind developing themselves to observation by any supposed self-command over the features of the face . For such is the intimate analogy between the mind and the muscular organs , that the workings of the one by the other , is almost as accurately told as the machinery of the clock points to the hour on the dial-plate . In sculpture , portrait-painting , the histrionic art , the secret which
obtains excellence and eminence , is to convey in the lineaments of the face , those passions which personally distinguished the characters represented by the labours ofthe chisel , the pallet , or the actor . The taute raeatvow is equally illustv & tive of the sentiments impressed upon us , by regarding the countenance . In the lion , we behold a nobleness of nature ; in the tiger , cunning and ferocity ; in the ox , patience ; in the ass , dullness ; in the dog , faithfulness and sagacity ; in the cat , slyness and caution . The winged animals , the insect tribe , and the finny inhabitants of the waters , mig ht all be brought to prove the fascinating power of the face over the universal judgment of mankind .