_From a design by Michael Angelo. See 790._
The naked figure, typical of the human race, and reclining against a
slippery globe,--with the world, we may say, before him,--is awakening,
at the sound of a trumpet from above from the dream of life to the
lasting realities of eternity. It may be the sound of the "last trump"
or the call to a "new life" that comes before. Behind his seat are
several masks, illustrating the insincerity or duplicity of a world
in which "all is vanity"; and around him are visions of the tempting
and transitory hopes, fears, and vices of humanity. On the right sits
a helmed warrior, moody and discomfited; his arms hang listlessly and
his face is unseen--hidden perhaps from the cruelty of War. Above
him are battling figures--emblematic of Strife and Contention. A
little detached from this group is a son dragging down his parent by
the beard--"bringing his grey hair with sorrow to the grave." On the
other side sits Jealousy, gnawing a heart; and above are the sordid
hands of Avarice clutching a bag of gold. On the left hand Lust and
Sorrow are conspicuous; Intemperance raises a huge bottle to his lips;
and Gluttony turns a spit (see Landseer's _Catalogue of the National
Gallery_, 1834, p. 41). Thus all around the figure of Human Life there
wait--
The ministers of human fate
And black Misfortune's baleful train!...
These shall the fury Passions tear,
The vultures of the mind,
Disdainful Anger, pallid Fear,
And shame that sculks behind;
Or pining Love shall waste their youth,
Or Jealousy, with rankling tooth,
That inly gnaws the secret heart;
And Envy wan, and faded Care,
Grim-visag'd comfortless Despair,
And Sorrow's piercing dart.
GRAY: _Ode on a distant prospect of Eton College_.