120 THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP. 



mournful circumstances. He remembers how it used to 

 build its nest in the narrow loopholes in the lofty stone 

 walls surrounding the outer court of the Temple, in 

 which the brazen altar was placed, and how he used, 

 while engaged in the holy services, to watch its swift 

 movements as it darted in and out, and skimmed the 

 atmosphere in its short arrowy flights. Would that he 

 could borrow its wings, that he might hasten to the 

 shrine of his devotions, and enjoy the blessed privileges 

 of the past, to which his long privation had lent a dearer 

 value ! 



The swallow, like the robin and the wren, is one of 

 the sacred birds of Christendom. It does not need to 

 build its nest within hallowed precincts to enjoy the 

 right of sanctuary. A gentle, humanizing superstition 

 has connected it with the higher mysteries of the uni- 

 verse, and brought it within the limit of a catholic bless- 

 ing. Its own beauty throws a shield of protection over 

 it ; and by rude and gentle natures alike it is regarded 

 with a feeling of veneration akin to that which pervades 

 the quaint rhymes of the " Ancient Mariner." It makes 

 its nest under the lowly cottage eaves, almost within 

 reach of eager childish hands stretched forth from the 

 dormer window ; but it is as safe and unmolested there 

 as under the porch of the rural sanctuary, whose pro- 

 found quiet is disturbed only once a week by feet of 

 reverent worshippers. Nor can we wonder at this 

 beautiful feeling which extends to a few favoured birds 

 and flowers an interest in that blessed religion which 

 guards and hallows everything that God has made, as an 



