lanced mind.

CHAPTER XXIII

THOUGHTS ON EYE-GLASSES

The man who wears spectacles--I mean eye-glasses with branches fixed
behind the ears--is a serious man, a man of science, a man of
business--at all events, a man who thinks of his comfort before he
thinks of his appearance. There is no nonsense, no frivolity about him,
especially if they are framed in gold. He is a steady man, somewhat
prosaic, and even matter-of-fact. If he is a young man and wears them,
you may conclude that he means to succeed, and always look on the
serious side of life. He is no fop, no lady-killer, but a man whose
affections can be relied on, and who expects a woman to love him for the
qualities of his mind and the truthfulness of his heart.

Next to a solid gold watch and chain, a pair of gold spectacles are the
best testimony of respectability; then comes a sound umbrella.

The man who wears his eye-glasses halfway down his nose is a shrewd man
of business, who ever bears in mind that time is money. Thus placed, his
eye-glasses enable him to read a letter of introduction, and, above
them, to read and observe the character of the person who has presented
it to him. Lawyers generally wear them that way, and they seldom fail to
have their bureau so placed that they can have their backs to the
window, while their clients or callers are seated opposite in the full
light of the day.

Old gentlemen wear their eye-glasses on the tip of their noses when they
read their newspaper, because it enables them to recline in their
arm-chairs and assume a more comfortable position.

The single eye-glass was originally worn by people whose eyes were
different, in order to remedy the defective one. To-day it may be
asserted that, out of a hundred men who wear single eye-glasses,
ninety-nine see through--the other one. The single eye-glass is
tolerable in a man of a certain age who is both clever and _distingue_
looking. John Bright, with his fine white mass of hair and intelligent,
firm, yet kind expression, looked beautiful with his eye-glass on. Lord
Beaconsfield also looked well with one. To Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, with
his turned-up nose and sneering smile, and his jaw ever ready to snap,
it adds impudence.

When a man looks silly, the single eye-glass finishes him and makes him
look like a drivelling idiot. If, besides, he is very young, it gives
you an irresistible desire to smack his face or pull his nose.

The single eye-glass originat