Crichton Browne
that all her family had possessed the power in a remarkable degree.
The same hereditary tendency is said to have extended, as I likewise
hear from Dr. Browne, to the last descendant of the family,
which gave rise to Sir Walter Scott's novel of `Red Gauntlet;'
but the hero is described as contracting his forehead into a
horseshoe mark from any strong emotion. I have also seen a young
woman whose forehead seemed almost habitually thus contracted,
independently of any emotion being at the time felt.
The grief-muscles are not very frequently brought into play;
and as the action is often momentary, it easily escapes observation.
Although the expression, when observed, is universally and instantly
recognized as that of grief or anxiety, yet not one person
out of a thousand who has never studied the subject, is able
to say precisely what change passes over the sufferer's face.
Hence probably it is that this expression is not even alluded to,
as far as I have noticed, in any work of fiction, with the exception
of `Red Gauntlet' and of one other novel; and the authoress
of the latter, as I am informed, belongs to the famous family
of actors just alluded to; so that her attention may have been
specially called to the subject.
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