namely, that if some persons stay till they are asked, they may stay till they have lost their patience; or, what is worse, they may never be asked at all? Does he consider the mortification this will occasion to a mind pregnant with wise opinions and interesting anecdotes, to an imagination teeming with novelties, and that feels itself under no very serious obligation to adhere to veracity? If he has weighed all these circumstances, and is resolutely determined to abide by the consequences, he has my liberty to assert at all times, and on all occasions, that there would upon the whole be no harm if the busy were to take care of their own affairs, and the loquacious stay till they are asked. THE PROJECTOR. N° 89. "I do not love thee, Dr. Fell. But I do not love thee, Dr. Fell." Hnow fell i THESE December 1808. HESE lines, which I have somewhere read, contain the whole essence of Physiognomy, and imply that whatever progress we endeavour to make in that science, over and above the general and vague opinion we are apt to form of a man from his countenance, is dangerous affectation, and leads to presumptuous conclusions. Whether I am exactly of this opinion, may perhaps appear from the following remarks lately made, when I was reviewing the many vast Projects presented to the publick within the last thirty years, and which have, somehow or other, been allowed to fall into oblivion. Such a review is very necessary to us Projectors, who, while we are amusing ourselves with the various productions of our inventive powers, are very ready to imagine that we are become the benefactors of the human race, Some years ago, it may be remembered, the science of Physiognomy was imported into this country by certain agents of the celebrated Lavater, who were, or seemed to be, convinced that it would prove of great and lasting advantage to the nation. But whether we were at that time too busily occupied in other pursuits, or that the world was not then sufficiently enlightened to partake of the benefits of this science, it very soon began to decline, and is, I believe, at present known only to the chosen few who soar above common talents and common acquisitions. As I was one of the first to hail the arrival of this wonderful discovery, so I was one of the first to entertain suitable sentiments of the stupid indifference of mankind, who were content to pick up each other's characters in the old slow way, of facts, and proofs, and experience, when they might have read them with certainty in their faces in a few moments. Indeed when we consider of how much we are ignorant, when we are ignorant of Physiognomy, it will ever remain a paradox, that a wise and thinking nation did not choose to cultivate a science laid down with such wonderful precision, and which promised to make every man, what no man has ever yet been, "a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." That there were some who doubted its efficacy might have naturally been expected; but that no pains should have been taken by the disciples of Lavater to remove those doubts, is wholly unaccountable. At the abovementioned time, I took the liberty to suggest a plain and simple Project, which would have removed all impediments at a very small expence, and in a manner not only the most easy, but the most honourable for their great master. This was no other, than to raise a sum of money sufficient to defray the expences of bringing over Mr. Lavater to this country, and of maintaining him handsomely. In this country, where he allows that the best faces in Europe are to be found, he might have furnished persons of all descriptions with friends, husbands, wives, servants, and every sort of connexion, merely by looking at the candidates' features, and making such a selection of foreheads, eyes, noses, mouths, and chins, as might have prevented every disappointment, and provided each applicant with the very character he wanted. It is painful to think that we must study a man's character eight or ten years before we can decide upon it, and that he may, in spite of all our researches, turn out a rogue in half the time; while our great Physiognomist could have settled the matter merely by the inspection of his face, or if he happened not to be at hand, of his portrait. Why this suggestion of mine was not attended to, they must be answerable who neglected so fair an opportunity of verifying the knowledge of the greatest Physiognomist of modern times. I am yet unwilling to believe that parsimony had any share in the rejection of my scheme; but, suspecting that it had, I was prepared with another scheme to obviate it; namely, by prevailing upon Mr. Lavater to take orders, and procuring him the first vacant Bishoprick. It is still (although, alas! too late) delightful to contemplate what a judicious choice he would have been able to make in filling up the vacant offices of his cathedral, what discernment he would have shewn at his ordinations, and what labour would have been saved to his examining chaplains. But, in truth, to what rank of life would not this science have been beneficial? In all the various appointments, for example, of Government, his Majesty, or those immediately under him, might have been enabled to make the happiest choice of persons capable of |