as sensitive to the faintest sound as that
of the hare; a nostril as far-scenting as that of the wild deer; a tongue
as delicate as that of the butterfly; and a touch as acute as that of the
spider. No man ever was so endowed, and no man ever will be; but all men
come infinitely short of what they should achieve were they to make their
senses what they might be made. The old have outlived their opportunity,
and the diseased never had it; but the young, who have still an undimmed
eye, an undulled ear, and a soft hand; an unblunted nostril, and a tongue
which tastes with relish the plainest fare--the young can so cultivate
their senses as to make the narrow ring, which for the old and the infirm
encircles things sensible, widen for them into an almost limitless
horizon.'

Take heed what you hear, and take heed how you hear.

CHAPTER IV--EYE-GATE

'Mine eye affecteth mine heart.'--_Jeremiah_.

'Think, in the first place,' says the eloquent author of the _Five
Gateways of Knowledge_, 'how beautiful the human eye is. The eyes of
many of the lower animals are, doubtless, very beautiful. You must all
have admired the bold, fierce, bright eye of the eagle; the large,
gentle, brown eye of the ox; the treacherous, green eye of the cat,
waxing and waning like the moon; the pert eye of the sparrow; the sly eye
of the fox; the peering little bead of black enamel in the mouse's head;
the gem-like eye that redeems the toad from ugliness, and the
intelligent, affectionate expression which looks out of the human-like
eye of the horse and dog. There are many other animals whose eyes are
full of beauty, but there is a glory that excelleth in the eye of a man.
We realise this best when we gaze into the eyes of those we love. It is
their eyes we look at when we are near them, and it is their eyes we
recall when we are far away from them. The face is all but a blank
without the eye; the eye seems to concentrate every feature in itself. It
is the eye that smiles, not the lips; it is the eye that listens, not the
ear; it is the eye that frowns, not the brow; it is the eye that mourns,
not the voice. The eye sees what it brings the power to see. How true
is this! The sailor on the look-out can see a ship where the landsman
can see nothing. The Esquimaux can distinguish a white fox among the
white snow. The astronomer can see a star in the sky where to others the
blue expanse is unbroken. The shepherd can distinguish