COUNTERFEIT FACES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8832, 19 January 1907, Page 2

COUNTERFEIT FACES.

Some Strange _)o„feles. The preacher's saying that " There is no new thing under the sun " is nowhere more forcibly exemplified than in the remarkable freaks of likeness, which Nature sometimes plays with regard to human lineaments. Who is there who can find any explanation of the strange phenomenon, who can offer any reason- - able theory to account for two persons, divided from one another by leagues, of distance, by years of association, by birth, circumstances and rank, yet so exactly counterfeiting each other in every line and feature of the face as to render it difficult for the ordinary observer to distinguish one from another? '/ These remarkable likenesses are rendered the more surprising by a few minutes' thought. What a plaetio thing the human face ie — how easily coarsened by weather, by hard living, by excess; how soon worn, lined and altered in a thousand infinitesimal ways, by grief, by. work, by the harsh hand of sickness or age ! It is therefore the more matfer for surprise that a likeness which may easily be apparent in early childhood should survive all the varying influences of circumstances and environment. DRAMATIC POSSIBILITIES. The possibilities of such likenesses to the dramatist and the novelist have been recognised from very early times, and it would not be difficult to cite scores of examples, from the Dromics and their masters of " The Comedy of Errors" (itself borrowed from a comedy by Plautus) to Rudolf Rassendyl of the "Prisoner of Zenda," while everyone can remember the trials and tribulations of the "Bab Ballads" gentleman who was like Shakespeare. The injustice by which one twin receives the whippings due to another are fruitful matter for the nursery muse; and even in prosaic real life most of U9 must have some acquaintance who plumes himself on his resemblance to this or the other distinguished personage, and renders himself more or less tiresome in consequence. , H3STOKICAL DOUBLES. Examples of historical doubles are plentiful enough, and in many instances quite as romantic as those of fiction. The story of Smardis the Magian reads like a tale from the .Arabian Nights. This man passed himself off as the brother of Cambyses, so successfully that when the king died the impostor succeeded to the royal dignities. Hie fraud was finally detected by one of his wives, who, playing with his long curls, discovered the pretended prince had no ears, as they had been cut off for some offence asrainst the law. Mark Twain, in " The Prince and the Pauper," has depicted the lot of a young kiqg's double who changes places with his royal replica. A good many attempts have been jn&de in real life to profit by an accidental likeness in most ambitious fashion, but such attempts have generally been met by the ignominy they deserved. It is not often that they have attained the dangerous Eroportions of the risings on behalf cf, ambert Simnel and of Perkin Warbeck in the reign of Henry VII,, each of whom endeavoured to pass himself off; as the murdered Prince Richard, brother to Edward V. EMBARnASSING ENCOUNTERS. A chance likeness in private life is as a rule more likely to burden its owner, with the consequences of misdeeds' which do not be**k>ng to him than to desirable pieces of good fortune, since the latter are not to be expected to go unclaimed by their rightful owners. A notable example of the real risk attached to a close personal resemblance to a stranger is the well-known case of Mr Adolf Beck, whose imprisonment for a crime of which he was innocent will be fresh in most midds. Few people, we imagine, would have the opportunity, still ite 88 the strength of K character, to refuse the good fortune which was , once offered to a servant* of a certain Count Beneventa. This man was claimed by a total stranger as his brother, and consequently as the joint heir to a nioe little property. But this stalwart person refused to forego his own identity, even, at that tempting price, and remained firm both to his poverty and his early ties. Mr Lovett King, the popular singer, once had an embaraesing experience in consequence of hi 6 resemblance to a well-known London physician. A lady suddenly "buttonholed " him in the street, and proceeded to pour forth a torrent .of information as to the ailments or a member of her family, whom Mr King's "double" had been attending. It was with difficulty that he succeeded in convincing her of his real identity. ; A JAT GOULD STORY. One of the* most amusing stories of such likenesses is that of the meeting of Jay Gould, the financier, with his counterpart.,. It was on the beach at ait American winter resort that the two men came suddenly face to face. For a while they glowered at each other in silence, "ivlr Gould, I believe?" said the millionaire's "double." "I am not quite, sure if I am," replied the other, brusquely; "I wish you wouldn't wear clothes like mine!" " Shave off your beard and I won't!" was the prompt retort. Rumour lias it that there wa© reason for the New York doctor's feeling towards his " doppel-ganger." He used to be continually stopped in the street by people anxious for "tips" on stocks and shares, and on one oocasion a volley of mysterious chaff from strangers about "that cradle" was only explain.cd when he read in the paper that " Mr Jay Gould had presented Mrs George j Gould with a cradle for her firstborn." I CONFUSION WORSE CONFOUNDED. Sir Edward Thornton, at one. time Ambassador to the United States, was etartlingly like Judge Poland, of Vermont. An acquaintance of Sir Edward's, thinking he recognised the Am- , bassador at a party in Washington, , was met with a freezing lack of recognition, and found that he had been addressing, not 'Sir Edward, but Judge i Poland, of Vermont. A few days later, : meeting the judge (as he thought) • again, he remarked: "That was an '. awkward mistake of mine, taking you > for old? Thornton." " And pray whom ■ do you take me for now?" inquired the * other. "For Judge Poland, of'Ver- ! Mont, of course." "My name is Thornton." said the other. Joking apart, however, this matter of. I doubles is in a way an impressive one. Somewhere on this earth, unseen :yetj ' perhaps never to be seen by us, may be L walking, living, loving, doing good or P ill)-- someone who wears an outer gar- [ ment of flesh' as like our own as one [. cast from the same mould is like an- [ other. Small wonder if legends have , sprung up about this phenomenon of > Nature if poets, novelists and -painters I have, found in it material for their > art. > REMARKABLE RESEMBLANCE. * Sometimes people are so proud of I their fortuitous likeness to some person • of note that they dress for the part,* ' although it is difficult to imagine what can be the pleasure derivable from receiving salutes and obeis- , ances intended for somebody else. Jones, . the Royal Academician, for instance, a I contemporary of the great Duke of »' Wellington, used to make a study of s the great soldier's ." get-up" in order > to be mistaken for him. On the other hand, especially in the caseof a strong 1 family likeness, a distinguishing mark . of some kind is eminently, desirable. " In the case of two brothers of Lord 1 Knutsford the resemblance was so confusing that their friends were deeply ; grateful to the one who mercifully put an end to the confusion by cultivating a moustache. The resemblance between „ twins often extends far deeper than outward features. Cases might be cited

of twins who, although widely separated by distance, have succumbed to disease at precisely the same hour, or even minute, of time. _____