Milton has personized them.
J. Richardson.
||Per`son`nel" (?), n. [F. See Personal.] The body of persons employed
||in some public service, as the army, navy, etc.; -- distinguished
||from matÈriel.
Per*spec"tive (?), a. [L. perspicere, perspectum, to look through; per
+ spicere, specere, to look: cf. F. perspectif; or from E. perspective,
n. See Spy, n.] 1. Of or pertaining to the science of vision; optical.
[Obs.] Bacon.
2. Pertaining to the art, or in accordance with the laws, of
perspective.
Perspective plane, the plane or surface on which the objects are
delineated, or the picture drawn; the plane of projection; --
distinguished from the ground plane, which is that on which the objects
are represented as standing. When this plane is oblique to the
principal face of the object, the perspective is called oblique
perspective; when parallel to that face, parallel perspective. --
Perspective shell (Zoˆl.), any shell of the genus Solarium and allied
genera. See Solarium.
Per*spec"tive, n. [F. perspective, fr. perspectif: cf. It. perspettiva.
See Perspective, a.] 1. A glass through which objects are viewed.
[Obs.] "Not a perspective, but a mirror." Sir T. Browne.
2. That which is seen through an opening; a view; a vista. "The
perspective of life." Goldsmith.
3. The effect of distance upon the appearance of objects, by means of
which the eye recognized them as being at a more or less measurable
distance. Hence, aÎrial perspective, the assumed greater vagueness or
uncertainty of outline in distant objects.
AÎrial perspective is the expression of space by any means
whatsoever, sharpness of edge, vividness of color, etc.
Ruskin.
4. The art and the science of so delineating objects that they shall
seem to grow smaller as they recede from the eye; -- called also linear
perspective.