And  estimate  the  recklessness  of  license  as  the  ritrlit  attribute  of  liberty, —

But  with  the  world,  thou  friend  and  scholar,  stain  not  this  pure  name  ;

Nor  suffer  the  majesty  of  Love  to  be  likened  to  the  meanness  of  desire :

For  Love  is  no  more  such,  than  seraphs'  hymns  are  discord,

And  such  is  no  more  Love,  than  ^Etna's  breath  is  suunner.
Love  is  a  sweet  idolatry,  enslaving  all  the  soul,

A  mighty  spiritual  force,  warring  with  tlie  dullness  of  matter.
An  angel-mind  brenthed  into  a  mortal,  though  fallen,  yet  how  beautiful !

All  the  devotion  of  tiie  heart  in  all  its  deptli  and  grandeur.
Behold  that  pale  geranium,  pent  within  the  cottage  window  ;

How  yearningly  it  stretcheth  to  the  hght  its  sickly  long-stalked  leaves,

How  it  straineth  upward  to  the  sun,  coveting  liis  sweet  influences,

How  real  a  living" sacrifice  to  the  God  of  all  its  worship  !

Such  is  the  soul  that  loveth ;  and  so  the  rose-tree  of  affection

Bcndeth  its  every  leaf  to  look  on  those  dear  eyes,

Its  every  blushing  petal  basketh  in  their  light.
And  all  its  gladness,  all  its  life,  is  hanging  on  their  love.
If  die  love  of  the  heart  is  blighted,  it  buddeth  not  again  ;


104  PROVERBIAL  PHILOSOPHY.
If  that  pleasant  song  is  forgotten,  it  is  to  be  learnt  no  more :

Yet  often  will  thought  look  back,  and  weep  over  early  affection  ;

And  the  dim  notes  of  that  pleasant  song  will  be  heard  as  a  reproachful

spirit,
Moaning  in  .-Eolian  strains  over  the  desert  of  the  heart,
Where  the  hot  siroccos  of  the  world  have  withered  its  one  oasis.
OF    MARRIAGE.
