His hair, which was dark and lay in masses, he wore generally rather long.

He had got into the way, when without his glasses, of half closing his eyes, because, as he said, it did him so little good to keep them open, as it only served to remind him of people's presence without giving him any more definite idea of them.

He could not, for instance, unassisted, see the play of features on a face, and, for this reason, in all important interviews he wore his glasses, giving three reasons.
1.

Utilitarian--that he could see by his opponent's face what he was driving at, and what effect his own remarks had on him.
2.

Impressional--it gave a man an "adventitious consequence." 3.