Page:Language of the Eye.djvu/127

Rh CHAPTER XVI.

SORROW.

eye of earthly sorrow is generally securely hidden by the lid, and directed to the ground; the brow taking the same direction. Poor Sorrow has nothing to show or boast of, it is generally its own nurse and physician. The portrait tells that all vivacity is gone, the nerves are all agitated at the root, whilst a multiplicity of sensations and impressions are all acting, and imparting to those eyes tenderness, devotion, and meditation. The rapidity with which the ideas and idealities of sorrow flow is so great, that many pass away without submitting themselves to observation. The facility with which woman receives impressions, must be suggestive of rapid change: this continual versatility in the nervous system is always operating on the eye; and, whilst it denies the existence of that steady and lengthened condensation which the eye of man pourtrays, yet there is often a graceful and fascinating mournfulness depicted in the eye, which is a true portrait of the heart: there love hovers, as the first attribute of life. Woman walks amidst hopes, fears, and troubles as a prophetess, angel, and companion; she lives to hope, and hopes to live, to find compensation for the humiliations and woes with which she is often surrounded, and too often by that one whom her heart has selected as her companion. This lady is talking to herself, we think we hear her say:—

My summer now is gone, so quickly spent,

'Tis neither mazzy dance, nor gallant love, or joy