nostrils, we must begin by purifying his sanctuary; we must drive the money-changers from his temple.

Art cannot flourish where a selfish spirit prevails; it lives but by the devotion of its followers. It is only a high tone of public feeling that can inspire the artist, and call forth in his mind not the enthusiasm of profession, that is only cant; but the enthusiasm of the head, which is genius, and the enthusiasm of the heart, which is virtue.

PODOLOGY; OR, THE PHYSIOGNOMY OF FEET.

"Ex pede Herculem.“

"Her small snow feet had slippers, but no stocking."

So much has been said of the indications of character, afforded by the upper parts of the human form, that I do not apprehend that I shall be denied a hearing, when I propose to shew the reasonableness of drawing similar conclusions from an inspection of the nether. To speak in plain matterof-fact phraseology, I contend that, if you may know a man from the bumps on his skull, and the wrinkles on his face, so may you from the shape and outline of his feet. But as no theory has the smallest chance of success without a name, and if it be compounded of Greek, enjoys a peculiar claim to consideration, I shall, after the manner of the craniologists and pathologists, designate my science by the title of Podology. And here, before I initiate the reader into the mysteries of my art, I ought, after the manner of certain Swiss and German system-mongers, to break into a fervid rhapsody, on the delicacy and beauty of the configuration of the human foot. But as I have the

misfortune to be born in the misty regions of this island, I shall proceed with all possible coolness and precision.

It is my conviction, and if I chose I could prove it, too, by manifold cases, that the delicate, nice, exactly developed, foot is found invariably to belong to persons of such a temper of mind as the two first epithets imply. Activity of mind, quickness, vivacity, briskness, are the characteristics which a foot, less delicate, and less fine, but accurately formed, strong and vigorous, evinces. The large, uncouth, flat foot, betrays a sluggish and indolent disposition. I have never known a flat-footed man who was not naturally lazy. The elasticity, the springiness of the foot, are but symptoms of the nature of the being whom nature has moulded. She is not so inconsistent as people generally suppose; all the parts are congruous, and bear their due relation to the whole. The painter would do what nature does not do, as well as what would be ridiculous, if he were guilty of what the poet is pleased to instance;

Humano capiti cervicem pictor equinam
Jungere si velit et varias inducere plumas
Undique collatis membris: ut turpiter atrum
Desinat in piscem mulier formosa supernè:

which leads me, according to the old argumentative language, to the case of the mermaid. With regard to this creature, the craniologists and I come fairly to issue; and when I allege that the nether, and they that the upper parts bear the sway, I am content that the matter be determined by the habits of the mermaid. Pray does not her fishy tail keep her in the water, maugre all the humanity she possesses from the waist upwards? I cannot conceive a more decisive argument against the domination assumed by the parts which chance to be uppermost. Let me, however, tell their partisans, that ascendency has two senses; and that it is not always those who are highest that are chief, as the sailor

who ascended in quest of the place of honour, to the one shilling gallery of the play-house, discovered. But to reWho is there, having eyes to look upon the fat ankles of some peasants, that does not recognise in that fatness a symptom, as well as type, of their mental hebetude? On the contrary; I can plainly discern, in the capacious, full-grown, and well-formed foot, the clearest indications of a vigorous and masculine understanding: what eloquence in the bold sinew, in the strong tendon; what firmness exhibited by the sound, hearty brawn-no flabbiness, no superfluous flesh; nothing to impede the free use of the member! Can such a foot be given to a sluggard?

But it is not merely the intellectual qualities which may be inferred from the feet; they speak the passions also. How much may be guessed from the swollen vein, the quick pulse beating through each artery; the quick, feverish vibration of each digit,-five of those digits at once, like so many vanes being given by nature to mark the emotions of their owner! Compare such a foot with the firmly-composed foot of a resolved and calm spirit. How evident the contrast! People may talk of the quivering lip and inflamed eye, as indications of angry passion, but I should be glad to know what they are to a stamp of the foot! How trivial the impression made by all the contortions of which the face is capable, or by the utmost changes of complexion, pale, scarlet, livid, yellow, and all, compared with the electrifying effect of a vigorous stamp of the foot! And as an infliction of our displeasure, need I add, that scowls and frowns; nay, the fiercest words of that pugnacious member, the tongue, are nothing to what can be done by a certain judicious application of the toe! The superiority of the foot is sufficiently manifest from the sense which men entertain of the indignity endured in having that august member trodden upon: you may shoulder people as much

as you will without offence; nay, I have seen two heads come into collision, without producing any other consequences than obliging and polite apologies from their respective owners; but who has trod upon another's foot-the toe or the heel, I care not which-with impunity? I may, perhaps, be told, the foot is sensitive-that argues for me: the noblest parts are all, always, the most easily injured.

The dignity and eminence of the foot may be evidenced in another way. Let me ask, who are the properest men in London; the handsomest fellows; the best fed, and the most splendidly apparelled? who but the footmen! Can it be denied, that the footmen carry more lace on their backs than their masters wear even in their courtdresses. None go so fine, none seem so daintily tended, as the men of the foot; whom it is a clear misnomer, to entitle the lads of the shoulder-knot, an appendage which, being shared with the military, cannot form their distinction. But pray, will Doctor Gall tell us, what an headsman is? Is not an headsman no better than an executioner, the vile object of our abhorrence and scorn! How aptly does this diversity illustrate the pre-eminent dignity of the foot! Nor can I fail to remark, that the sure and infallible criterion by which any suspected stranger in black relieves himself from the imputation of being the Devil, is by shewing his feet. How else is it possible to distinguish his Satanic majesty? Other kings wear crowns: you may look to their heads; but he knows better, and bears below the symbols of sovereignty. The fauns and satyrs are always painted with hoofs: why, the learned reader knows: but the fact shews how much the ancients inferred from the feet. In China, a lady's foot is contracted to the "shortest-span;" because that sagacious people well know how naturally men's eyes turn upon women's feet; and minuteness and beauty being, according to the metaphysicians, nearly allied in our conceptions, they

seek to secure the first, in hope it will draw after it the second. But why don't they direct themselves, as some savages have done, (craniologists, no doubt,) to compressing the head? because they know no man cares for a woman's head. Thus the Chinese are with me; and so are the Spaniards. In Spain, a woman shrouds her feet as she would her bosom: she may be said to blush in her feet: she knows their importance.

the

But as now-a-days people will cover their feet, it behoves me to shew that the character may be discovered through shoes, boots, and sandals, as, I must confess, the hat does furnish occasionally, intimations of the character and office of the wearer, upon whose head it rests. And here my task is easy. A life-guardsman's jack boots bespeak wars and perils, not less than his helmet and its plume, which last, I might fairly protest against; or, at all events, claim that the spurs of my hero shall be taken into account. But as my case is abundantly strong without, and as the spur bellicose, spur venatic, the spur bucolic, (or grazier's spur) the spur clerical (be it sole on the heel of a Welsh parson, or two-fold and shining on the heels of a prelate:) the spur ambulative (without a rowel) and the spur dandycal, are so clearly distinguishable, and mark so clearly the character, age, and profession, of the wearer,-each decimal of the eighth of an inch in the length of the shaft or the rowel varying the complexion of the spur,—that I conceived it would be taking an unfair advantage to aid my boots and shoes with them. I am strong enough without. Indeed it is only necessary to state the species of boots, to raise in the mind of the reader the corresponding notion of them. Who can mistake a jockey boot for a Wellington? or confound, among jockey boots, the well-worn, brown-topped, veteran jockey boot of a country member, with the spick-and-span creamcoloured boot of an hebdomadal fop? It requires, I admit,