"Valirian goth home, and ſint Cecilie
Withinne his chaumbre with an aungel stonde,
This aungel had of roses and of lillie
Corounes two, the which he bar in honde.
"The lilies, symbolical of virgin purity; the roses, of victory over death. In the third, the executioner holds her by one hand as she kneels on the floor of her bath-room, which is seen in the background, the steam still rising in it after the ineffectual attempt to roast her to death. With his sword raised he is about to strike the first of the three blows which failed to cut off her head.