. No
tolerable likeness has been preserved. My father was rather above middle
height, and became stout in later years. Though not handsome, his
appearance had a marked dignity. A very lofty brow was surmounted by
masses of soft fine hair, reddish in youth, which became almost white
before he died. The eyes, often concealed by the nervous trick I have
mentioned, were rather deeply set and of the purest blue. They could
flash into visibility and sparkle with indignation or softer emotion.
The nose was the nose of a scholar, rather massive though well cut, and
running to a sharp point. He had the long flexible lips of an orator,
while the mouth, compressed as if cut with a knife, indicated a nervous
reserve. The skull was very large, and the whole face, as I remember
him, was massive, though in youth he must have been comparatively
slender.

His health was interrupted by some severe illnesses, and he suffered
much at times from headache. His power of work, however, shows that he
was generally in good health; he never had occasion for a dentist. He
was a very early riser, scrupulously neat in dress, and even fanatical
in the matter of cleanliness. He had beautiful but curiously incompetent
hands. He was awkward even at tying his shoes; and though he liked
shaving himself because, he said, that it was the only thing he could do
with his hands, and he shaved every vestige of beard, he very often
inflicted gashes. His handwriting, however, was of the very best. He
occasionally rode and could, I believe, swim and row. But he enjoyed no
physical exercise except walking, a love of which was hereditary. I do
not suppose that he ever had a gun or a fishing-rod in his hand.

And now, having outlined such a portrait as I can of our home, I begin
my brother's life.[48]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: I learn by the courtesy of Mr. James Young Stephen that
this James Stephen was son of a previous James Stephen of Ardenbraught,
whose brother Thomas was provost of Dundee and died in 1728. James
Stephen of Ardenbraught had a younger son John, who was
great-grandfather of the present Mr. Oscar Leslie Stephen. Mr. O. L.
Stephen is father of Mr. James Young Stephen, Mr. Oscar Leslie Stephen,
junior, and Sir Alexander Condie Stephen, K.C.M.G.]

[Footnote 2: My friend, Professor Bonney, kindly refers me to Conybeare
and Philips' _Outlines of Geology of England and Wales_, p. 13, where
there is an account of certain beds of lignite, or imperf