drum-beat echoed over the smooth meadow. Only the sound of the brook
of Brighthopes was heard tinkling and murmuring among the roots of the
grasses and flowers; and far off a cadence of song drifted down from
the inner courts of the Palace of the King.

Then another angel began to speak, and made answer to Michael. He,
too, was tall and wore the look of power. But it was power of the
mind rather than of the hand. His face was clear and glistening, and
his eyes were lit with a steady flame which neither leaped nor fell.
Of flame also were his garments, which clung about him as the fire
enwraps a torch burning where there is no wind; and his great wings,
spiring to a point far above his head, were like a living lamp before
the altar of the Most High. By this sign I knew that it was the
archangel Uriel, the spirit of the Sun, clearest in vision, deepest
in wisdom of all the spirits that surround the throne.

"I hold not the same thought," said he, "as the great archangel
Michael; nor, though I desire the same end which he desires, would I
seek it by the same way. For I know how often power has been given to
the good, and how often it has been turned aside and used for evil.
I know that the host of Heaven, and the very stars in their courses,
have fought on the side of a favoured nation; yet pride has followed
triumph and oppression has been the first-born child of victory.
I know that the deliverers of the people have become tyrants over
those whom they have set free, and the fighters for liberty have been
changed into the soldiers of fortune. Power corrupts itself, and might
cannot save.

"Does not the Prince Michael remember how the angel of the Lord led
the armies of Israel, and gave them the battle against every foe,