Who does not feel the sway of such a voice? It makes
the whole range of our capacities resound and tremble, and, when there
is positiveness enough to give an answer, calls forth most melodious
echoes.
The human eye gains, in like manner, by tune and experience. Its
substance fades, but it is only the more filled with an ethereal
lustre which penetrates the gazer till he feels as if
"That eye were in itself a soul,"
and realizes the range of its power
"To rouse, to win, to fascinate, to melt,
And by its spell of undefined control
Magnetic draw the secrets of the soul."
The eye that shone beneath the white locks of Thorwaldsen was such an
one,--the eye of immortal youth, the indicator of the man's whole
aspect in a future sphere. We have scanned such eyes closely; when
near, we saw that the lids were red, the corners defaced with ominous
marks, the orb looked faded and tear-stained; but when we retreated
far enough for its ray to reach us, it seemed far younger than the
clear and limpid gaze of infancy, more radiant than the sweetest beam
in that of early youth. The Future and the Past met in that glance,
O for more such eyes! The vouchers of free, of full and ever-growing
lives!
HOUSEHOLD NOBLENESS,
"Mistress of herself, though China fell.
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