A Memorable Fancy - The Five Senses

Part of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

As I was walking among the fires of hell, delighted with the enjoyments of Genius, which to Angels look like torment and insanity, I collected some of their Proverbs; thinking that as the sayings used in a nation, mark its character, so the Proverbs of Hell show the nature of Infernal wisdom better than any description of buildings or garments.

When I came home: on the abyss of the five senses, where a flat sided steep frowns over the present world, I saw a mighty Devil folded in black clouds, hovering on the sides of the rock: with

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corroding fires he wrote the following sentence now percieved by the minds of men, & read by them on earth:
How do you know but ev'ry Bird that cuts the airy way, Is an immense world of delight, clos'd by your senses five?