rough a kind or an unkind
passion, to mistake so grossly concerning things so exterior and
palpable, how much more are we likely to err respecting those nicer
and less perceptible hints of character in a face whose detection
constitutes the triumph of the physiognomist!

To revert to those bestowers of unmerited deformity, the framers of
advertisements for the apprehension of delinquents, a sincere desire
of promoting the end of public justice induces me to address a word
to them on the best means of attaining those ends. I will endeavor to
lay down a few practical, or rather negative, rules for their use,
for my ambition extends no further than to arm them with cautions
against the self-defeating of their own purposes:--

1. Imprimis, then, Mr. Advertiser! If the culprit whom you are
willing to recover be one to whom in times past you have shown
kindness, and been disposed to think kindly of him yourself, but he
has deceived your trust, and has run away, and left you with a load
of debt to answer for him,--sit down calmly and endeavor to behold
him through the spectacles of memory rather than of present conceit.
Image to yourself, before you pen a tittle of his description, the
same plausible, good-looking man who took you in, and try to put away
from your mind every intrusion of that deceitful spectre which
perpetually obtrudes itself in the room of your former friend's known
visage. It will do you more credit to have been deceived by such a
one; and depend upon it, the traitor will convey to the eyes of the
world in general much more of that first idea which you formed
(perhaps in part erroneous) of his physiognomy, than of that
frightful substitute which you have suffered to creep in upon your
mind and usurp upon it; a creature which has no archetype except in
your own brain.

2. If you be a master that have to advertise a runaway apprentice,
though the young dog's faults are known only to you, and no doubt his
conduct has been aggravating enough, do not presently set him down as
having crooked ankles. He may have a good pair of legs, and run away
notwithstanding. Indeed, the latter does rather seem to imply the
former.

3. If the unhappy person against whom your laudable vengeance is
directed be a thief, think that a thief may have a good nose, good
eyes, good ears. It is indispensable to his profession that he be
possessed of sagacity, foresight, vigilance; it is more than
probable, then, that he is endued w