into the inside of it, I saw multitudes of cells and cavities running one within another, as our historians describe the apartments of Rosamond's bower. Several of these little hollows were stuffed with innumerable sorts of trifles, which I shall forbear giving any particular account of, and shall, therefore, only take notice of what lay first and uppermost, which, upon our unfolding it, and [120 applying our microscopes to it, appeared to be a flame-colored hood. We are informed that the lady of this heart, when living, received the addresses of several who made love to her, and did not only give each of them encouragement, but made everyone she conversed with believe that she regarded him with an eye of kindness; for which reason we expected to have seen the impression of [130 multitudes of faces among the several plaits and foldings of the heart; but to our great surprise not a single print of this nature discovered itself till we came into the very core and centre of it. We there observed a little figure, which, upon applying our glasses to it, appeared dressed in a very fantastic manner. The more I looked upon it, the more I thought I had seen the face before, but [140 could not possibly recollect either the place or time; when at length one of the company, who had examined this figure more nicely than the rest, showed us plainly by the make of its face, and the several turns of its features, that the little idol which was thus lodged in the very middle of the heart was the deceased beau, whose head I gave some account of in my last Tuesday's paper. [150 As soon as we had finished our dissection, we resolved to make an experiment of the heart, not being able to determine among ourselves the nature of its substance, which differed in so many particulars from that in the heart of other females. Accordingly, we laid it into a pan of burning coals, when we observed in it a certain salamandrine quality, that made it capable of living in [160 the midst of fire and flame, without being consumed or so much as singed. As we were admiring this strange phenomenon, and standing round the From PART II A little learning is a dangerous thing; 15 Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: For works may have more wit than does 'em good, As bodies perish through excess of blood. Others for language all their care express, 105 There shallow draughts intoxicate the And value books, as women men, for brain, And drinking largely sobers us again. Fired at first sight with what the Muse imparts, 20 dress: Their praise is still-the style is excellent; The sense they humbly take upon content. most abound, Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found. In fearless youth we tempt the heights of Words are like leaves; and where they arts, While from the bounded level of our mind Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind; False eloquence, like the prismatic glass, But, more advanced, behold with strange Its gaudy colors spreads on every place; The line, too, labors, and the words move slow. Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main. Hear how Timotheus' varied lays surprise, And bid alternate passions fall and rise! 175 While, at each change, the son of Libyan Jove Now burns with glory, and then melts with love; Now his fierce eyes with sparkling fury glow, Now sighs steal out, and tears begin to flow: Persians and Greeks like turns of nature |
