Abraham Lincoln quarterly. [Vol. 3, no. 2]

66 ABRAHAM LINCOLN QUARTERLY
silk was knotted in a large bulb, with flying ends projecting beyond the collar of his coat; his turned-down shirt-collar disclosed
a sinewy muscular yellow neck, and above that, nestling in a
great black mass of hair, bristling and compact like a ruff of
mourning pins, rose the strange quaint face and head, covered
with its thatch of wild republican hair, of President Lincoln.
The impression produced by the size of his extremities and by
his flapping and wide-projecting ears, may be removed by the
appearance of kindliness, sagacity, and the awkward bonhomie'
of his face; the mouth is absolutely prodigious; the lips, straggling
and extending almost from one line of black beard to the other,
are only kept in order by two deep furrows from the nostril to
the chin; the nose itself-a prominent organ-stands out from
the face, with an inquiring, anxious air, as though it were. sniffing for some good 'thing in the wind; the eyes, dark, full, and
deeply set, are penetrating, but full of an expression which almost amounts to tenderness; and above them projects the shaggy
brow, running into the small hard frontal space, the development
of which can scarcely be estimated accurately, owing to the irregular flocks of thick hair carelessly brushed across it. One would
say that, although the mouth was made to enjoy a joke, it could
also utter the severest sentence which the head could dictate, but
that Mr. Lincoln would be ever more willing to temper justice
with mercy, and to enjoy what he considers the amenities of life,
than to take a harsh view of men's nature and of the world, and
to estimate things in an ascetic or puritan spirit.'
I cannot refrain from adding the following tidbit which, I
am sure., shows the shrewd President's ability to flatter a very
susceptible Englishman by quoting a comparison which
must have slightly bewildered him.
Seward then took me by the hand and said,-"Mr. President, allow me to present to you Mr. Russell, of the London Times."9
On which Mr. Lincoln put out his hand in a very friendly manner, and said, "Mr. Russell, I am very glad to make your acquaintance, and to see you in this country. The London Times is one
of the greatest powers in the world,-in fact, I don't know any1"American Social History as Recorded by British Travellers, Allan Nevins,
Editor. New York, Holt, 373if.