CHAPTER VII. 

 THE SWALLOW'S NEST. 



" The swallow hath found a nest for herself, where she may lay 

 her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my 

 God." PSALM Ixxxiv. 3. 



THIS is one of the Psalms composed when the 

 Jewish King and nobles were carried away to 

 Babylon. The plaintive wail of the exile is heard in 

 each of its lines. Far away is his native land. Its moun- 

 tains are too distant to make even a faint line of purple 

 cloud at the farthest extremity of the wide plains. The 

 captive dwells with a yearning tenderness upon the 

 memories of the past, and contrasts his own helpless 

 imprisonment with the liberty which his people enjoy of 

 going on a pilgrimage to the Holy City, and taking part 

 in the services of the Temple there. He envies even 

 the birds of passage, which are free to go wherever they 

 please. The swallow especially comes up before his 

 mind, whose Hebrew name, meaning freedom, and de- 

 noting its love of liberty and the impossibility of keep- 

 ing it in captivity, has a deep significance to him in his 

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