For  eyes  we  have  no  models  in  the  remotely  antique.
It  might  have  been,  too,  that  in  these  eyes  of  my  beloved
lay  the  secret  to  which  Lord  Verulam  alludes.  They
were,  I  must  believe,  far  larger  than  the  ordinary  eyes  of
our  own  race.  They  were  even  fuller  than  the  fullest  of
the  gazelle  eyes  of  the  tribe  of  the  valley  of  Nourjahad.
Yet  it  was  only  at  intervals — in  moments  of  intense  ex-
citement— that  this  peculiarity  became  more  than  slightly
noticeable  in  Ligeia.  And  at  such  moments  was  her
beauty — in  my  heated  fancy  thus  it  appeared  perhaps —
the  beauty  of  beings  either  above  or  apart  from  the  earth
— the  beauty  of  the  fabulous  Houri  of  the  Turk.  The
hue  of  the  orbs  was  the  most  brilliant  of  black,  and,  far
over  them,  hung  jetty  lashes  of  great  length.  The  brows,
slightly  irregular  in  outline,  had  the  same  tint.  The
"  strangeness,"  however,  which  I  found  in  the  eyes  was  of


102  LI G EI  A.
a  nature  distinct  from  the  formation,  or  the  color,  or  the
brilliancy  of  the  features,  and  must,  after  all,  be  referred
to  the  expression.  Ah,  word  of  no  meaning !  behind
whose  vast  latitude  of  mere  sound  we  intrench  our  igno-
rance of  so  much  of  the  spiritual.  The  expression  of  the
eyes  of  Ligeia !  How  for  long  hours  have  I  pondered
upon  it !  How  have  I,  through  the  whole  of  a  midsum-
mer night,  struggled  to  fathom  it !  What  was  it — that
something  more  profound  than  the  well  of  Democritus —
which  lay  far  within  the  pupils  of  my  beloved  ?  What
was  it  ?  I  was  possessed  with  a  passion  to  discover.
