"May not our eyes bee very well defin'd / The Looking-glass of Nature, and the minde."
— Billingsley, Nicholas (bap. 1633, d. 1709)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Robert Crofts
Date
1658
Metaphor
"May not our eyes bee very well defin'd / The Looking-glass of Nature, and the minde."
Metaphor in Context
Man's head is term'd the understanding's thrown,
The intelectual pow'rs meet there in one.
There madam Reason is enthron'd, her grace
Reignes like an Empress in the highest place.
My lady Will, resideth in the brain;
The Judgment there, there doth Minerva raigne,
Light of the Micro-cosm our eyes are, wee
The glory of the Lord by them doe see.
Three humours do belong unto our eyn,
The White, the Viteral, and the Christaline,
Six Coates, as many Musckles arteries,
Tendons, and Nerves attend upon our eyes,
May not our eyes bee very well defin'd
The Looking-glass of Nature, and the minde.
Our eyes are twinckling Lamps, what is our sight?
But Cristall-Casements for to let in light,
The Optick sinews, or the Optick strings,
Draw in the sight of sublunary things.
The eyes, our anger, and our love, do shew,
Strike fire in hatred, and in love they glow,
One while they sparkle with Idalian fire,
One while they glance; another while admire!
They bolt in boldness, and in reverence sinke,
They smile in laughter, and in greise they winke:
In love they flatter, and in wrath seeme froward,
They shew the glad, the sad, the bold, the coward,
They well can put a difference betweene
Such objects as are either foule or clean.
Our cy-lids like Appentices prevent
A world of dangers, which are incident
Unto our eyes, our eyes bright shining balls
Are Bull-wark'd round about with fleshly walls.
The intelectual pow'rs meet there in one.
There madam Reason is enthron'd, her grace
Reignes like an Empress in the highest place.
My lady Will, resideth in the brain;
The Judgment there, there doth Minerva raigne,
Light of the Micro-cosm our eyes are, wee
The glory of the Lord by them doe see.
Three humours do belong unto our eyn,
The White, the Viteral, and the Christaline,
Six Coates, as many Musckles arteries,
Tendons, and Nerves attend upon our eyes,
May not our eyes bee very well defin'd
The Looking-glass of Nature, and the minde.
Our eyes are twinckling Lamps, what is our sight?
But Cristall-Casements for to let in light,
The Optick sinews, or the Optick strings,
Draw in the sight of sublunary things.
The eyes, our anger, and our love, do shew,
Strike fire in hatred, and in love they glow,
One while they sparkle with Idalian fire,
One while they glance; another while admire!
They bolt in boldness, and in reverence sinke,
They smile in laughter, and in greise they winke:
In love they flatter, and in wrath seeme froward,
They shew the glad, the sad, the bold, the coward,
They well can put a difference betweene
Such objects as are either foule or clean.
Our cy-lids like Appentices prevent
A world of dangers, which are incident
Unto our eyes, our eyes bright shining balls
Are Bull-wark'd round about with fleshly walls.
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry); Found again
Citation
Kosmobrephia, or the Infancy of the World: With an Appendix of Gods Resting Day, Eden Garden; Mans Happiness Before, Misery After, His Fall. Whereunto Is Added, the Praise of Nothing; Divine Ejaculations; the Four Ages of the World; the Birth of Christ; Also a Century of Historical Applications; With a Taste of Poetical Fictions. Written Some Years Since by N.B. then of Eaton School; and Now Published at the Request of His Friends. (London: Printed for Robert Crofts, and are to be sold at his shop at the Crown in Chancery Lane, under Sergeants Inn, 1658).
Date of Entry
01/18/2006
Date of Review
04/16/2006
