If you conſider the matter of it, it is light, partaking much of Air and Fire (that are the moſt active and nobleſt Elements) but it hath little of earthly dregs and gravity.
Consider the figure it is wholly wound and orbicular, or at leaſt Ovall, that is next unto it. The ſubſtance of it is thin, tranſparent, ſubtile, and though ſometimes by the abundance of plunder and prey, it becomes ſo cram'd, that it growes as great as a Walnut, and (if Cardan erre not) as great as a Sparrow ſometimes, yet if you ſee it hanging in its Web, againſt the light, it ſhines all through like a Chryſolite, and makes reflexion of beams moſt gratefull to the eye.
…and when ſhe flicks aloft with her feet caſt every way, ſhe exactly repreſents a painted Starre. As if Nature had appointed not only to make it round like the Heavens, but with rays like the Stars, as if they were alive. The skin of it is so ſoft, ſmooth, poliſhed and neat, that ſhe precedes the ſofteſt skin'd Mayds, and the daintieſt and moſt beautifull Strumpets, and is ſo clear that you may almoſt ſee your face in her as in a Glaſſe; ſhe hath fingers that the moſt gallante Virgins deſire to have theirs like to them, long, ſlender, round, of exact feeling, that there is no man, nor any Creature that can compare with her:
ſhe hath feet not numberleſſe, as the Scolopendræ, nor is ſhe without feet, as ſome Inſects are, nor hath only ſix feet, aſ thoſe that want wings have, but eight feet, which number is next to the moſt perfect number, as all men know. Theſe legs alſo are made in a ſeſquitertiall proportion, which is moſt admirable and venerable; ſo that thought the latter feet be alwayes ſhorter then the former, yet they hold ſtill their proportion.
… In this Spider there is no poyſon nor hurt, for if it bite it is without harm, and it is rather tickling then painfull. … I know not what it was that made Pennius ſo frighted when he thought of eating them; for he knew a Noble Engliſh Lady, and Phaerus a Phyſician, that did often eat them without any hurt at all. For the truth is, Spiders are free from poyſon, and are very good for ones health.
But becauſe it seems ſo horrid a Creature to ſome people, that the very ſight of it makes them fly from it, I rather attribute that to their melancholy apprehenſion, tenderneſſe and diſtemper, than to the ill form of the Spider. Nature hath uſe no leſſe elegant and bounty in the Spider, then ſhe hath done in the Butter-fly, and Flie, and it is no light diſeaſe of the minde to diſdain ſo beautifull a work, and to be afraid of a Creature that weaves ſo curiouſly.
Laſtly God hath given a wonderfull diſpoſition and nature of the skin to ſo wonderfull a body; for it doth not only once a year (as Vipers do) but every Moneth if ſhe be well fed ſhe changeth her skin, and recovers a new one that is more curious.
Alſo it is of ſo excellent a temper, and ſo frugall in its diet, that in a wholeſome place, where ſhe can get any provision, ſhe will live alwayes.
From The Theater of Insects, 1658; p1065
According to this bestiary, I have very beautiful hands.
Vivian's analysis