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LETTERS. 933
An eagle —a real golden eagle — had meanwhile from
his eyrie watched the ignoble sport. His heart revolted ;
he spread his mighty pinions and flew to the pigeon, say-
ing, “ Fear not; innocence is on your side, and I will shel-
ter you under my wings.” But when the sportsmen beheld
the royal bird spreading his wings over the pigeon, and
heard him deride their attempts, they became exceedingly
excited, and cried, “ Look here, — the eagle with the pigeon
under his wing!” and now began a more furious firing,
and the poor pigeon was worse off than before, for the last
danger was greater than the first.
In this fable you see, my dear, my kind, for me sympa-
thizing Tegnér, my idea of how matters stand with my
“ Morning Watches,” and with their radical reviewers, and
how it would be, if you, in the-criticism which you had in
view, were to undertake the defense of my work. You
say yourself, “Defiled we get, but that we are used to.”
True! and the eagle need not mind what is thrown at
him ; he has aiready soared too high to be reached by the
low-minded, and he perches in peace upon his Alpine
height. But the pigeon,—the pigeon, which is still on
the wing, which does not soar so high, she can be reached
and hit, and even if this does not much impede her flight,
her joy on the journey which she has begun, still, she can-
not with indifference behold her wings soiled by impure
hands. Oh, no, Tegnér! she must be glad the sooner the
persecution ends, and she may forget it while she is bath-
ing her plumage in some clear, purifying Bethesda water.
And has not this been offered tome? Oh, yes! I find
this Bethesda is my own conscience, in my joy at having
acknowledged the Holy One before the children of men;
I find it in the public and private acknowledgment of many
an honest and noble soul; in the certainty that in my work,
imperfect us it is, I have yet spoken words and thoughts
which shall not have been spoken in vain; which shall,
like the “ dandelion ” plant, grow all the stronger for being
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