University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

Summit of the Mount of Vision, exhibiting a spacious flowery mead surrounded by cedars. In the midst, the Tree of Life; beneath which, personated by an angel, appears Mary, as a child, in a raiment of blue and gold, seated on a throne with steps of sapphire, crowned, and sceptre in hand.
Enter Adam and Eve.
EVE
(clasping Mary's feet.)
O most Immaculate Maid,
Virgin ineffable! Pure child of God!
Transcendent marvel of the universe!
Beauty and glory of the human race!
Effacing all the shame of womankind!
See at thy feet poor miserable Eve;
And hear the parents to their daughter sue
For pardon and for peace. O joy of joys!
Felicity unhoped! to see thy face,
Who shalt repair the ruin that I made;
Else irremediable. By Eva's crime
Came sin, came death, came deathly slavery
To Satan and to sin; but Eva's daughter,
Bridging the cruel gulf her mother made,
Opens to all mankind a second path
To Paradise and life's immortal Tree.
Hail, second Eve, far better than the first!
Hail, Virgin pre-elect! Virgin conceived
In Adam's nature, not in Adam's sin;
That so to all mankind thou mightest be
A new beginning of new life in Him
Who comes through thee for Adam to atone.
Hail, Archetype of all that loveliest is,
Sweetest, most perfect, best, and heav'nliest!
Of whom our Eden but a figure was.
Lily of incorruption! Life in death!
Abyss of grace! remember that from us
Thou didst that elemental substance take
Wherewith thou shalt—O marvel infinite!
The Incorporeal with corporeal clothe,
And on the uncreated Word bestow
A second nature's origin, so becoming
Mother of God, and Empress of the world!
Remember that to our sad fall thou owest
Thy peerless glory; and with gracious eye
Look down upon thy parents here before thee,
Here as they kneel, most lovely and beloved:
And stretch thy gentle hand, and wipe away
Their mournful tears; and lift them up again;
And whisper in their hearts eternal peace.

MARY
(rising, and kissing Eve on the forehead).
Hail, parents dear!
O weep no more, and cease your piteous sighs;
And praise with me the goodness of our God;
His heights unsearchable
Of wisdom and of love;
Who on His lowly handmaid gazed;
And her from empty nothing raised;
And chose her in His grace to be
Mother of Immortality;
Mother of His Eternal Son:
Not for her own sake alone,
But for the sake of you and all mankind;
For whom, in His omniscient mind,
Before the worlds were made, this mercy He design'd.
Who, pitying our first Parents' fall,
And in their fate the fate of all,
The penalty their guilt had earn'd
Hath into greater glory turn'd;
And deign'd to crush the serpent's head
Beneath a feeble maiden's tread.
Now therefore, parents dear,
Lament no more; but, with a joyful heart,
Ascend these steps, and sit beside your child;
And know that ye are here most opportunely,
To aid her in receiving with due grace
The glad Procession now upon its way;
Coming, with songs of triumph jubilant,
To offer thanks in Sion this fair morn
In homage of that love, which, in the depth
Of everlasting ages, fix'd on her
Its pitying gaze; and chose her from the mass
Of old corruption, and predestined her,
And called her in the plenitude of times,
To be the mother of the Son of God
In whom alone is all redemption found.

[She embraces our first Parents; and taking them by the hand, makes them sit down on the uppermost step of the throne, Adam on her right, and Eve on her left.
A mirage, as before, representing Athens and sea-coast.

PRIESTS.
Hail, thou first-begotten Daughter
Of th' Almighty Father's love;
Temple of eternal glory,
Pure and spotless turtle-dove;
Mistress of the earth and skies,
Choicest bud of Paradise!

VIRGINS.
Hail to her, whose deep foundations
On the holy hills are laid;
Joy of endless generations,
Loved before the worlds were made;
Treasure of believing souls
While the wheel of ages rolls!

PRIESTS.
Garden of divinest odours;
Roseate shell of purest ray,
Where the priceless pearl of heaven
Waited its appointed day,
Nestling in repose sublime
Down beneath the wave of time!

VIRGINS.
Cloud of supramundane splendour,
Cloud, that in its awful womb
Bears the Father's hidden lightning,
Bears the thunderbolt of doom;
O'er the world in mighty power
Comes to shed the Spirit's shower!

PRIESTS.
Who can count the starry jewels
Set in Mary's crown of light?
Who can estimate her greatness?
Who can guess her glory's height?
What can measure its extent
Save the depth of God's descent?

VIRGINS.
Hail, O Queen of nature's kingdoms,
Queen of Angels, hail to thee!
Greater none have been before thee,
Greater none shall ever be:
Hail, divine Receptacle
Of th' Incomprehensible!

PRIESTS.
Thee the God of worlds foreseeing
In thy dignity supreme,
Loved thee, chose thee, gave thee being,
Set thee in salvation's scheme;
Then with all perfections deck'd,
As His Mother pre-elect.

VIRGINS.
Thine shall be a lot surpassing
All that is of glory known
In the earth or in the heavens,—
Thine, but not for thee alone;
God, in whom thy life began,
Made thee for Himself and man.

PRIESTS.
God and man in thee uniting,
Death in thee by life o'ercome;
Creature with Creator blending,
Man remoulded in thy womb;—
Such, O peerless Child, shall be
Thy prolific history.

VIRGINS.
Fount of wonders ever flowing!
Glory of the sea and sky!
How for thee th' eternal mansions
Waiting yearn and yearning sigh
Envying earth the moments slow
That detain thee here below.

PRIESTS.
Bird of Paradisal beauty,
Silver Dove with wings of gold,
Pity thy dear native Heaven,
And thy fragrant plumes unfold;
Quickly, quickly, speed thy flight
Up to crystal realms of light.

PRIESTS AND VIRGINS TOGETHER.
There for poor unhappy mortals
Thy immortal Son implore,
There in beatific glory
Reign with Him for evermore;
Through the ages all along
Theme of sempiternal song!