OLD SAXON FLOWERS. 
67 
the earth until the human heart becomes purified by 
Love—and a fitting habitation for them to dwell in. 
That as there is nothing in the ocean but what hath 
its representative on land, so is there no virtue upon 
earth but what is found in a purer form in Ileaven,— 
that Divine Love sends down its essence like a stream 
of light, and that all which prevents it from becoming 
in man what it is in the angels, is the perishable mor¬ 
tality in which we are clothed. 
We know not what visions the great poets may have 
seen in the earlier ages, when they described Spring as 
a beautiful maiden descending from heaven, and scat¬ 
tering flowers upon the earth. They may have caught 
glimpses of the immortal goddess as she cleaved her 
way through the sky, and hung poised for a moment 
upon the skirt of some silver cloud. In the blue and 
deepening twilight, as they went musing by the side 
of some hoary forest, they may have seen, through the 
evening shadows, eyes peering amid the dim foliage, 
as bright as the stars which hang in the bending arch 
of heaven ; for we know not what forms visit the folded 
flowers, as they bow their heads and seem to sleep 
through the still night; nor can we tell what the leaves 
say to one another when they whisper together, or 
