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CHAPTER XVII
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THE PLACE OF DIAMONDS IN LITERATURE
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THOUGH with the appropriate use of them, there is also much vulgar
display of diamonds, and an equally vulgar habit of decrying them as
vulgar on that account, writers and poets continue to refer to the gem
as one of the chief accompaniments of wealth and station, and as an
illustration of the cardinal qualities of humanity, as they have done
for ages. It is often employed also in the hyperbolical description of
the beauties of nature and of the human eye, though some poets have
found it inadequate for the latter purpose. Spencer in his 'search of
heaven and earth for something with which to compare the eyes of
chaste beauty, passes the diamond thus, " Nor to the diamond; for they
are more tender." But Moore, when he sings of charms so ensnaring that
even knowledge of the charmer's faithlessness could not prevail
against their potency, enumerates among them:
" Those eyes of hers, that floating, shine Like diamonds in some eastern river."
Thomson glorifies the gem in order to make it a second to the eyes of beauty thus:
" The lively diamond drinks thy purest rays, Collected light, compact; that polished bright,
39°
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