54 BUTTERFLIES. 



nature to his will, of constructing the little and the 

 great alike to do his " spiriting gently," of finding 



" tong^ues in trees, books in the running brooks, 

 Sermons in stones, and good in every thing." 



As You Like It, Act II. Sc. I. 



The butterfly supplies him with many images preg- 

 nant with instruction, and grouped with an expression 

 and variety, which no artist could embody, who did 



not, like our great Poet, possess an equal knowledge 

 of the conduct and the heart of man. Thus it is in- 

 troduced in the reflection of Achilles, when the 

 Grecian lords, in " Troilus and Cressida," pass by 

 him, and " either greet him not or else disdainfully" — 



" What the declined is 



He shall as soon read in the eyes of others. 



As feel in his own fall ; for men, like butterflies. 



Show not their mealy wings but to the summer." 



Act III. Sc. III. 



"The gentle Desdemona," when beseeching the 

 senate that she might accompany the Moor to 



