TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF ELLESMERE. MY LORD, I KNEW you to be a friend and lover of learning, and, therefore, I sought the honour of dedicating these pages to your Lordship. I beg to thank you for the permission, and may observe, another fact emboldened me to seek that favour,-viz., the circumstance of your Lordship being President of a Literary Society of which I have the honour of being Vice-President. I have endeavoured to preserve the substance and spirit of the subject, and yet write in an untechnical manner; but you will not be surprised, that in this attempt I have met difficulties I have only partially surmounted. Permit me to express my deep respect for your Lordship, and to subscribe myself, Your Lordship's Very obedient humble servant, JOSEPH TURNLEY. MANOR HOUSE, NORWOOD. 13th Feb. 1856. The Language of the Eye. CHAPTER I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE EYE. THIS world is a state of probation, in which, by the faithful exercise of the mind, we may gain a glance of some of the beauty of the world to come, of which things present have many similitudes fully distinguishable by the ingenuous philosopher, as evidences of some great truths. Perhaps there is no part of our nature so much engaged in detecting, evincing, and developing the beautiful as the eye. This is the guard ever waiting at the gates of the palace of the brain. This is the privileged officer, who is allowed to bear the important missions between the worlds of action and reflection. This organ is the faithful mirror which reflects the drama of time and things, for the information of the unseen divinities inhabiting materialism: its shape and action, its place and power, are all most interesting subjects of consideration, and shall have their share of our attention. We shall endeavour to pourtray some parts and powers of this mystic inlet to the brain; but who can say how the cattle on ten thousand hills, the varied hues of the myriad beauties of creation and art, are permitted to place their B |