Page:Omniana 2.djvu/228

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218
OMNIANA.

In the left corner are three young ladies putting their heads out of the water; one is leaning upon the top of a wheel, and one half hiding her face behind what we verily mistook for an umbrella, till upon closer consideration we found reason lo suspect that it might be part of Neptune's car. We had forgotten the flags which are above Neptune, between him and the gentlewoman with wings. But what is all this in comparison with "the wreck of matter and the crash of worlds" which is quietly going on in the back-ground, just under that gentlewoman's feet, within the compass of two square barley corns, and without discomposing either lady or child, fish, flesh, man, horse, or devil!

The famous representation of Dr. Burney with his harpsichord in the Thames, appears perfectly reasonable and convenient when compared with this accumulation of incongruities. Why will painters thus wantonly abase their pre-