THE SIX OF SPADES. 201 



water-side, the willow weeps, as by the rivers of 

 Babylon tbe reed is shaken by the wind. The pas- 

 siflora, protected in winter, has shown in the heat of 

 summer those wondrous emblems of the passion upon 

 that old stone cross. I need make no comment upon 

 these things. There is neither speech nor language, 

 but their voices are heard among them. Indeed, I 

 should fear that I had already sermonized too much, 

 did I not know that your heart is with my heart, and 

 loves these sacred thoughts. How could I be here 

 did I not feel myself with those who forget not 

 Jerusalem in their mirth -with Christian gardeners, 

 who hear " the voice of the Lord God, walking in the 

 garden," and speaking to them, not in wrath, as to 

 the first gardener, of Paradise Lost, but, in all the 

 tenderness of redeeming love, of Paradise Regained. 



