XXX INTRODUCTION. 



the insect and the man. The butterfly, the represen- 

 tative of the soul, is prepared in the larva for its 

 future state of glory ; and if it be not destroyed by 

 the ichneumons and other enemies to which it is 

 exposed, symbolical of the vices that destroy the 

 spiritual life of the soul, it will come to its state of 

 repose in the pupa, which is its Hades ; and at length, 

 when it assumes the imago y break forth with new 

 powers and beauty to its final glory, and the reign of 

 love. So that, in this view of the subject, well might 

 the Italian poet exclaim, 



Non v'accorgete voi, che noi siam vermi, 

 Nati a for mar 1'angelica farfalla."* 



These ideas are beautifully developed in the fol- 

 lowing little poem, in which the progress of the 

 insect is correctly depicted: 



THE BUTTERFLY'S BIRTHDAY. 



THE shades of night were scarcely fled, 

 The air was mild, the winds were still, 



And slow the slanting sunbeams spread 

 O'er wood and lawn, o'er heath and hill. 



Do you not perceive that we are caterpillars, born to form 

 the angelic butterfly ? 



