Page:Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Lamb, etc., being selections from the Remains of Henry Crabb Robinson.djvu/25

 INTRODUCTION youngest son cherished no illusions about his own personal appearance. Thus he comments upon Strutt's portrait of him in 1820: "It has merit and is in some respects a good likeness, but it caricatures my peculiarities... As I dislike my own external appearance, I was not pleased with this representation of myself... I am... offended by the unpleasant expression which, though not uglier than my own, is ugly in a different way." Similarly when, in 1829, Goethe sends him to one Schmeller, to have a portrait taken, he describes this as being "a head in crayons, frightfully ugly, and very like," or when he sits to Ewing for his bust, this "has great merit, for it is a strong likeness without being disgusting." The account of H. C. R.'s ugliness is confirmed from less prejudiced sources, and may therefore be credited. Thus Bagehot writes of him in his admirable essay (Literary Studies, vol. ii): "His face was pleasing from its animation, its kindness, and its shrewdness, but the nose was one of the most slovenly which nature had ever turned out, and the chin of excessive length, with portentous power of extension... Mr. Robinson... made a very able use of the chin at a conversational crisis, and just at the point of a story pushed it out, and then very slowly drew it in again, so that you always knew when to laugh, and the oddity of the gesture helped you in laughing." Again, Miss Fenwick, Wordsworth's friend, whites to Henry Taylor, January 26, 1839, that there was "a series of ugliness in quick succession, one look more ugly than the one which preceded it, particularly when he is asleep. He is always asleep when he is not talking .. On which occasions little Willy [Wordsworth's grandson] contemplates him with great interest and often inquires 'What kind of face has Mr. Robinson?' 'A very nice face' is the constant answer; then a different look comes, and another inquiry of, 'What kind of a face was that?' 'A nice face too.' What an odd idea he must have of nice faces."

According to his own account H. C. R. was indolent, lacked concentration, and was a poor lawyer who was incapable of mastering legal theory, though he often obtained deserved credit xv