There is such a blessed calm in every feature! and the eyes, beaming with a kind of internal light, look straight out of the picture--not at you or me--not at any thing belonging to this world,--but through and through the universe. The unearthly Child is a sublime vision of power and grandeur, and seems not so much supported as enthroned in her arms, and what fitter throne for the Divinity than a woman's bosom full of innocence and love? The expression in the face of St. Barbara, who looks down, has been differently interpreted: to me she seems to be giving a last look at the earth, above which the group is raised as on a hovering cloud. St. Sixtus is evidently pleading in all the combined fervour of faith, hope, and charity, for the congregation of sinners, who are supposed to be kneeling before the picture--that is, for _us_--to whom he points. Finally, the cherubs below, with their upward look of rapture and wonder, blending the most childish innocence with a sublime inspiration, complete the harmonious whole, uniting heaven with earth. While I stood in contemplation of this all-perfect work, I felt the impression of its loveliness in my deepest heart, not only without the power, but without the thought or wish to give it voice or words, till some lines of Shelley's--lines which were not, but, methinks, ought to have been, inspired by the Madonna--came, uncalled, floating through my memory-- Seraph of Heaven! too gentle to be human, Veiling beneath that radiant form of woman All that is insupportable in thee, Of light, and love, and immortality! Sweet Benediction in the eternal curse! Veil'd Glory of this lampless universe! Thou Harmony of Nature's art! I measure The world of fancies, seeking one like thee, And find--alas! mine own infirmity![32]