oons [1]; but there is no Mark of this
Faculty, except in the emblematical Way of a wise General having an
Eye to both Front and Rear, or a pious Man taking a Review and
Prospect of his past and future State at the same Time.
I must own, that the Names, Colours, Qualities, and Turns of Eyes vary
almost in every Head; for, not to mention the common Appellations of
the Black, the Blue, the White, the Gray, and the like; the most
remarkable are those that borrow their Title[s] from Animals, by
Vertue of some particular Quality or Resemblance they bear to the Eyes
of the respective Creature[s]; as that of a greedy rapacious Aspect
takes its Name from the Cat, that of a sharp piercing Nature from the
Hawk, those of an amorous roguish Look derive their Title even from
the Sheep, and we say such a[n] one has a Sheep's Eye, not so much to
denote the Innocence as the simple Slyness of the Cast: Nor is this
metaphorical Inoculation a modern Invention, for we find _Homer_
taking the Freedom to place the Eye of an Ox, Bull, or Cow in one of
his principal Goddesses, by that frequent Expression of
[Greek: Boopis potnia haerae--][2]
Now as to the peculiar Qualities of the Eye, that fine Part of our
Constitution seems as much the Receptacle and Seat of our Passions,
Appetites and Inclinations as the Mind it self; and at least it is the
outward Portal to introduce them to the House within, or rather the
common Thorough-fare to let our Affections pass in and out. Love,
Anger, Pride, and Avarice, all visibly move in those little Orbs. I
know a young Lady that cant see a certain Gentleman pass by without
shewing a secret Desire of seeing him again by a Dance in her
Eye-balls; nay, she cant for the Heart of her help looking Half a
Streets Length after any Man in a gay Dress. You cant behold a
covetous Spirit walk by a Goldsmiths Shop without casting a wistful
Eye at the Heaps upon the Counter. Does not a haughty Person shew the
Temper of his Soul in the supercilious Rowl of his Eye? and how
frequently in the Height of Passion does that moving Picture in our
Head start and stare, gather a Redness and quick Flashes of Lightning,
and make all its Humours sparkle with Fire, as Virgil finely describes
it.
--Ardentis ab ore
Scintillae absistunt: oculis micat acribus ignis. [3]
As for the various Turns of [the] Eye-sight, such as the voluntary or
involuntar
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