6 LOVES MEINIE. 



be immediately recognized. And the effect of the 

 painter's conscious deference, and of the equally 

 conscious pride of the boys, as they stood to be 

 painted, has been somewhat to shorten the power of 

 the one, and to abase the dignity of the other. And 

 thus, in the midst of my admiration of the youths' 

 beautiful faces, and natural quality of majesty, set 

 off by all splendours of dress and courtesies of art, 

 I could not forbear questioning with myself what the 

 true value was, in the scales of creation, of these fair 

 human beings who set so high a value on themselves; 

 and, — as if the only answer, — the words kept repeat- 

 ing themselves in my ear, " Ye are of more value 

 than many sparrows." 



2. Passeres, arpovOoi,, — the things that open their 

 wings, and are not otherwise noticeable ; small birds 

 of the land and wood ; the food of the serpent, of 

 man, or of the stronger creatures of their own kind, — 

 that even these, though among the simplest and 

 obscurest of beings, have yet price in the eyes of 

 their Maker, and that the death of one of them 

 cannot take place but by His permission, has long 

 been the subject of declamation in our pulpits, and 

 the ground of much sentiment in nursery education. 

 But the declamation is so aimless, and the senti- 

 ment so hollow, that, practically, the chief interest 

 of the leisure of mankind has been found in the 



