PARABLES OF HANS ANDERSEN. 539 the author has drunk of the cup of sorrow and suffering, and reverence for all human feelings, and pity for all human infirmities. To read these through would, one would think, extract all the envy, hatred, malice, and uncharitableness from the most waspish or malicious nature; and they are full of hope and of heaven. No one could call his fancy wild, or undisciplined; it is controlled by the most righteous imagination, although he is one of those licensed wanderers into realms hidden from others. Andersen, like old Tiff, appears to be one of those who "retain a good understanding with all created nature;" to hear his creatures talk, is the most natural thing in the world, and just what we expected. Nor are we surprised, although exceedingly delighted, when he introduces us to gnomes, and nixies, and angels. Sometimes he becomes most solemn; reads to sad souls and bereaved hearts lessons such as might be uttered from the pulpit; or speaks again with a richness of language and sentiment which reveals, not words nor word-painting, but the power of perceiving all the awful and unutterable beauties and glories that nature is calculated to inspire. And then sometimes we come to a parable, in which we recognise a feeling and a knowledge of man's most sacred things. How affectionate is the frequent mention of our Lord, especially in the last work, the "Sand Hills of Jutland"! How sweet is that refrain "Our roses bloom and fade away, Our Infant Lord abides alway; So the story of the world's fairest Rose-the queen who lay at the point of death, but who might be brought back to life, could she but find the world's fairest rose, the expression of highest and purest love; and all the old and all the young came round her bringing roses, but all in vain. The rose of first love, the rose of science, the rose of maternal affection, the white rose of sorrow, then "The World's Fairest Rose I have seen at the altar of the Lord,' said the pious old Bishop. 'I have seen it beaming forth, manifesting itself, as it were the presence of an angel. A band of young maidens went up to the Holy Table to renew their baptismal covenant, the roses blushing and paling alternately on their fresh cheeks; there was one young girl standing among her companions; I saw her look up to her God with all the purity and loving devotion of her virgin soul;-then saw I the expression of the highest and purest love!"" "Blessed, thrice blessed is Piety,' said the Sage; 'still hast not even thou discovered the World's Fairest Rose."" "Then entered the chamber a child, the Queen's little son; his eyes 540 THE WORLD'S FAIREST ROSE. were glistening, and his cheeks wet with tears; open in his hands he carried a large book bound in velvet, and having large silver clasps. "Mother!' cried the child, 'oh, listen to what I have read here!' And he sat down by the bed-side and read aloud from the book; he read of Him who 'so loved the world' that He gave Himself up to death, even the death of the cross, to save sinners. 'Greater love hath no man than this!" " "And a faint rosy gleam passed over the Queen's cheek, the glance of her eye grew stronger and brighter, for from the leaves of that book she felt wafted to her the fragrance of the World's Fairest Rose, the Rose that sprang forth from the sacred Blood that was shed on Calvary. "I see it!' she exclaimed. 'Never can he die who looks upon that Rose, the fairest of the earth, the Rose of Sharon!"" A beautiful little parable, and it shall be the last of the many we have cited, for with what more beautiful can we terminate our excursion into the World of Proverb and Parable than with the happy finding and fragrance of THE WORLD'S FAIREST ROSE? Abou Ben Adhem, 423. Acting, Savoir faire, clever, 437. doubt, 288; Eloquence is, 468–471. Addison quoted, 327. Adversity, Sweet are the uses of, 161-169; Advertising, a catspaw, 156. Esop, A fable from, 353. Affection, A chaplet of, 209. Africa, A Sabbath in South, 338. Age, Proverbs on old, 407, 408, 411; Poems on, 407, 408. Ahaz, The sundial of, 96. Amen, The parable of, 368-370. America, Serpent worship in, 21; Im. portance of the discovery of, 116. Andersen, Hans, Parables of, 538-540. Andromeda, Perseus delivers, 18. Action, Eloquence in, 471. Alva and the eclipse, 315. Anson, Lord, and the sailor, 430. Basket-maker, The wooden-legged, 135. Anecdotes (continued). Bezerrillo, The dog, 243. Bottles and corks, 140. Chalmers, Dr., Preaching of, 469. Charles II., 199. Child and dog, Friendship of, 231. Clerk and the dial, 100. Confidence and the guinea, 428. Cumæ, 105. Cut up? How will he, 405. Death and the dog, 238. Decades, French, 331. Decision, An instance of, 293. Devonshire, Duchess of, 208, 209. Doctor and patient, 81. Dog? Is thy servant a, 235. Dogs, 228, 231, 232, 235, 237, 238, 241. Dress, A singular, 450. Earl, A Scotch, 406. Eldon, Lord, 322. 542 Anecdotes (continued). INDEX. Evil, Returning good for, 425. Garden, Coleridge's, 359. Gotham, The men of, 104, 105. Guise, Duke of, and Henry III., 219. Hill, Rowland, and Matthew Wilkes, Horizon, Seeking the, 208. Jail, Building a, 106. Jester and queen, 60. Jeweller and thief, 147. Jockeys for me, Them's the, 485. Landseer and Sydney Smith, 235. 205. Letter, The undelivered, 105. Lowe, Mr. Chancellor, 420. Man? What shall it profit a, 207, 208. Mayor and prisoner, 184. Mazarin and his pictures, 204. Medicine, The big double, 494. Minister and king, 405. Napoleon and the dog, 242. Anecdotes (continued). Philosopher and smith, 315. Tallyrand and the king, 477. Vanities, Honour among the, 126, 127. Watch, Mystery of the, 440. Wheat, Three grains of, 10. Who's he? 211. Windows, The aldermen and the, 106. Yolk? Where is the, 150. Angel and the hermit, 176. Angelo, Michael, referred to, 136. Anguinum, or serpent's egg, 24, 25. Anlaff, The Dane, 40. Anson, Lord, and the sailor, 430. Ant, Study of the, 443. Anthony, St., Wonderful voyage of, 344. Anxious Leaf, Parable of the, 533. Apes, The Dead Sea, 323. Apollo and the Python, 17. Apologue, Thackeray's, 154; An Eastern, 456. Appearances, Proverbs about, 84, 85. INDEX. Armchair, The ass in the, 298. Ass, Lightening the load of an, 105; Assumptions, A string of, 352, 353. Atheism, Shakspeare accused of, 170; Babylons, The two (note), 24. Bacon, Lord, on wisdom,316 quoted; 532. Bag, Apply the saffron, 295. Bain, Mr., quoted, 268. Banker and Frenchman, 448, 449. Barton, Bernard, on the Sabbath, 335. Basket, All eggs in one, 137. Basket-maker, The wooden-legged, 135. Bear, The Great, 45. Beecher, Lyman, and the skunk, 109. Beehive, Darwin on the, 352. Beelzebub, A prayer to, 126. Bees, Concerning, 351-355; Fable of, Beethoven, The prayer of, 162. Bell, Peter, 390, 391. Bell, The Church-going, 335. 543 Binney, Thos., An aphorism of, 170. Birds, 305; Flight of, 308; Lessons from, Birth, Mystery of Christ's, 382, 383. Bitters, Wholesomeness of, 448. Black letter, Story of a bundle of, 151. Blomfield, Bishop, and the Duke of York, Blueskin, The story of, 138. Bo Tree, The, 32. Book, Power of a good, 116; The betting- Books, The age of, 507; Trees are, 245; Bore, A, 301. Borrow, George, quoted, 310. Bread? Will it make, 194. Breton, Prayer of, 67. Bridge, Crossing the, 518; The crazy, Brother Merry, The legend of, 517. Brown, Dr. John, on the dog, 242; on Brummell, Beau, 361, 416. Benevolence, The serpent the symbol Bryant, W. C., quoted, 310. |