OLD SAXON FLOWERS. 
49 
and hung poised for a moment upon the shirt 
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 what wisdom is uttered by 
“ those green-robed senators of mighty woods.” 
Titania and her fairy train may yet haunt many 
a bank 
“ Whereon the wild thyme blows. 
Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows; 
Quite o’ercanopied with lush woodbine, 
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.” 
The White Water-lily is the Queen of the Waves, 
and reigns sole sovereign over the streams; and it 
was a species of Water-lily which the old Egyptians 
and ancient Indians worshipped—the most beautiful 
object that was held sacred in their superstitious 
creed—and one which we cannot look upon even 
now without feeling a delight mingled with rever¬ 
ence. No flower looks more lovely than this “ Lady 
E 
