the spirit, for the delicate tones of grey, and green,
and violet seem to convey to us the idea of languid sleep, and even the
hawthorn-blossoms have lost their wonted brightness, and are more like
the pale moonlight to which Shelley compared them, than the sheet of
summer snow we see now in our English fields.

The next picture is divided into six compartments, each representing a
day in the Creation of the World, under the symbol of an angel holding a
crystal globe, within which is shown the work of a day. In the first
compartment stands the lonely angel of the First Day, and within the
crystal ball Light is being separated from Darkness. In the fourth
compartment are four angels, and the crystal glows like a heated opal,
for within it the creation of the Sun, Moon, and Stars is passing; the
number of the angels increases, and the colours grow more vivid till we
reach the sixth compartment, which shines afar off like a rainbow. Within
it are the six angels of the Creation, each holding its crystal ball; and
within the crystal of the sixth angel one can see Adam's strong brown
limbs and hero form, and the pale, beautiful body of Eve. At the feet
also of these six winged messengers of the Creator is sitting the angel
of the Seventh Day, who on a harp of gold is singing the glories of that
coming day which we have not yet seen. The faces of the angels are pale
and oval-shaped, in their eyes is the light of Wisdom and Love, and their
lips seem as if they would speak to us; and strength and beauty are in
their wings. They stand with naked feet, some on shell-strewn sands
whereon tide has never washed nor storm broken, others it seems on pools
of water, others on strange flowers; and their hair is like the bright
glory round a saint's head.

The scene of the third picture is laid on a long green valley by the sea;
eight girls, handmaidens of the Goddess of Love, are collected by the
margin of a long pool of clear water, whose surface no wandering wind or
flapping bird has ruffled; but the large flat leaves of the water-lily
float on it undisturbed, and clustering forget-me-nots rise here and
there like heaps of scattered turquoise.

In this Mirror of Venus each girl is reflected as in a mirror of polished
steel. Some of them bend over the pool in laughing wonder at their own
beauty, others, weary of shadows, are leaning back, and one girl is
standing straight up; and nothing of her is reflected in the pool but a
gl