ing voices of thy fame!

And yet, blessed is it when thou takest up thine abode in a man, as God
dwelt in the world, unseen, unknown, yet everywhere great and mighty,
the Lord, before whom all creatures bow and say: 'He is here!'

Such a man will bear thee like a star upon his radiant brow; he will
never turn from thee even for the duration of a little word; he will
love men, and, like a man, walk with his brethren.

And he who guards thee not, who is willing to betray thee, to devote
thee to the idle pleasure of men--from him thou turnest sadly away,
scattering in pity a few fading flowers upon his head; he plays with the
dying bloom, and weaves his death-wreath all the days of his short life.

Thy beginning is one with that of the woman!

* * * * *

'De toutes les bouffonneries la plus serieuse est le
mariage.'--_Figaro._

Of all jests the most serious is marriage.

GUARDIAN ANGEL. Peace be to men of good will!

Blessed is he among the created who has still a heart; he may yet be
saved!

Good and true wife, reveal thyself to him; and a child be born to their
house!

He flies onward.

CHORUS OF EVIL SPIRITS. Rise! rise, spectres and phantoms! Hover near
him! Head them and lead them on, thou, the yesterday-buried idol, the
shadow of the dead love of the Poet! Bathe thyself anew in the vapors of
the ideal realm; wreathe thy mouldering brow with the fair buds of
spring; and float on before him, thou, once the beloved of the Poet!

Rise, Glory, rise! Old eagle, well stuffed and preserved in hell,
descend from thy crumbling perch, unfold thy gigantic wings whitened in
the rays of the sun, and wave them above the head, until they dazzle the
eyes of the Poet!

Come forth from our vaults, thou rotting masterpiece from the pencil of
Beelzebub, thou glowing picture of an earthly Eden, which has dizzied
the brain of so many philosophers! Get the old rents in thy canvas
reglued; the holes and cracks refilled with varnish; wrap thyself in
the magic webs of hazy clouds and glittering mists; fly to the Poet, and
unroll thyself ever before him!

And thou, Nature! surround him with mountains, cliffs, and seas; lull
him with golden dawns and crimson eves; inweave him in thy magic circle
of azure days and starry nights; O mother Nature--closely embrace the
Poet!

* * * * *

A village. A church. The Guardian Angel is seen flo