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400
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THE DIAMOND
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" Like a diamond which shines On the dark wealth of mines, A spell is treasured but for thee alone. Down, down! "
Moore
illustrates the wisdom of pleasure in a line thus: " The diamond sleeps
within the mine." And of the complaint of grief an old writer says:
" Such were the accents as might wound, And teare a diamond rock in twaine."
Generally
diamonds are thought to be more appropriate to age than youth; a more
fitting adornment for the matron than the maid, but some of the poets
appear to think otherwise; among these, Moore, who in his " Loves of
the Angels " says:
"
Then first Were diamonds from the night Of earth's dark centre brought
to light And made to grace the conquering way Of proud young beauty
with their ray."
To the wooer of a daughter of the Muse, Emerson gives this warning in his " Woodnotes ":
" But if with gold she bind her hair, And deck her breast with diamond, Take off thine eyes, thy heart forbear."
Though
the idea is metaphorical, it expresses also a feeling very general
among the people of the Occident, that the self-assertive gem is out of
place upon the person of youth, though a glorious and fitting crown for
more mature beauty.
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