the half-opened shutters, listening incredulously, at first, to the
practical application of his science to the unsuspecting individuals
below, till my derision was changed to admiration, and I was thoroughly
convinced of his power. As my friends of both sexes passed under the
ordeal, it was intensely bewitching. Hour after hour would he give, with
rapidity and correctness, the occupation and peculiarity of character
and condition of almost every individual who passed. This was not
occasional, but continuous. The marked men were not singled out, but all
were included. He was a stranger, and yet better acquainted with
the people than any of our citizens. And this was the manner of his
speaking:--

"That physician has a better opinion of himself than the people have
of him: he is superficial, and makes up in effrontery what he lacks in
qualification. The gambler yonder, with a toothpick in his mouth, has of
late succeeded in his tricks. The affairs of this kind-hearted grocer
are troubling him. Were we within a yard of that round-shouldered man
from the country, we should smell leather; for he works on his bench,
and is unmarried. Here comes an atheist who is a joker and stubborn as
a mule. There goes a man of no business at all: very probably it is the
best occupation he is fitted for, as he has no concentrativeness. The
schoolmistress crossing the street is an accomplished teacher, is
very sympathetic, and has great love of approbation. That lawyer is a
bachelor, and distrusts his own strength. This merchant should give up
the use of tobacco, and pay his notes before dinner, else he will become
a dyspeptic. Here comes a man of wealth who despises the common people
and is miserly and hypocritical; and next to him is a scamp. I think it
is Burke who says, 'When the gnawing worm is within, the impression
of the ravage it makes is visible on the outside, which appears quite
disfigured by it': and in that young man the light that was within him