I have seen Branwell's
profile; it is what would be generally esteemed very handsome; the
forehead is massive, the eye well set, and the expression of it fine and
intellectual; the nose too is good; but there are coarse lines about the
mouth, and the lips, though of handsome shape, are loose and thick,
indicating self-indulgence, while the slightly retreating chin conveys an
idea of weakness of will. His hair and complexion were sandy. He had
enough of Irish blood in him to make his manners frank and genial, with a
kind of natural gallantry about them. In a fragment of one of his
manuscripts which I have read, there is a justness and felicity of
expression which is very striking. It is the beginning of a tale, and
the actors in it are drawn with much of the grace of characteristic
portrait-painting, in perfectly pure and simple language which
distinguishes so many of Addison's papers in the "Spectator." The
fragment is too short to afford the means of judging whether he had much
dramatic talent, as the persons of the story are not thrown into
conversation. But altogether the elegance and composure of style are
such as one would not have expected from this vehement and ill-fated
young man. He had a stronger desire for literary fame burning in his
heart, than even that which occasionally flashed up in his sisters'.
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