OLD SAXON FLOWERS. 65 
ever ensureth devoted attachment—then it was that 
they made a happy home wherever they alighted, and 
carried with them a sweet sunshine, which threw its 
brightness around the shadiest places. In old primeval 
forests they sometimes dwelt, far away from the fever 
and the fret of busy cities—they found a shelter be¬ 
neath the yellow Broom, and a couch amid the azure 
Bells of flowers; where huge sandy deserts stretched 
for miles away they pitched their tent, and in the deep 
caverns of majestic mountains, Love and Constancy 
took up their abode; they tended their cattle together 
on vast plains, and followed Summer over many a high 
hill and outstretched valley; they sojourned together 
in rude huts, whose branched walls and leafy roofs 
bore the first rough tracings of the primitive home of 
man. The feudal castle raised its grim and grated 
portcullis to receive them, and the iron archers threw 
down their tight-strung bows to welcome their ap¬ 
proach. They slept together in sheds where the hardy 
serf struggled against wrong, and laid many a night 
on the bleak hill-side, where the lonely shepherd tended 
his flock. They accompanied many a brave heart, 
that went forth reluctantly to wage war against the 
invaders of its country; and, as they conversed to- 
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