Cec. O yes—I shall like that very well.
Pa. Here is a man standing on the summit of a steep cliff, and going to ascend a ladder which he has planted against a cloud.
Cec. Let me see!—that must be Ambition, I think.
Pa. How do you explain it?
Cec. He is got very high already, but he wants to be still higher; so he ventures up the ladder, though it is only supported by a cloud, and hangs over a precipice.
Pa. Very right. Here is now another man, hood-winked, who is crossing a raging torrent upon stepping-stones.
Cec. Then he will certainly fall in. I suppose he is one that runs into danger without considering whither he is going?
Pa. Yes; and you may call him Fool-hardiness. Do you see this hand coming out of a black cloud, and putting an extinguisher upon a lamp?
Cec. I do. If that lamp be the lamp of life, the hand that extinguishes it must be Death.
Pa. Very just. Here is an old, half-ruined building, supported by props; and the figure of Time is sawing through one of the props.