and fidelity. And as his heart drew him higher up the ladder
of light, a strange voice from his veins spoke within him, bursting into
dazzling flowers of speech. He yearned to melt away in fragrance, to be
spread around in light, to expire in a sigh of music. As he named her
'Mirror of Justice,' 'Seat of Wisdom,' and 'Source of Joy,' he could
behold himself pale with ecstasy in that mirror, kneeling on the warmth
of the divine seat, quaffing intoxication in mighty draughts from the
holy Source.

Again he would transform her, throwing off all restraint in his frantic
love, so as to attain to a yet closer union with her. She became a
'Vessel of Honour,' chosen of God, a 'Bosom of Election,' wherein he
desired to pour his being, and slumber for ever.* She was the 'Mystical
Rose'--a great flower which bloomed in Paradise, with petals formed of
the angels clustering round their queen, a flower so fresh, so fragrant,
that he could inhale its perfume from the depths of his unworthiness
with a joyful dilation of his sides which stretched them to bursting.
She became changed into a 'House of Gold,' a 'Tower of David,' and a
'Tower of Ivory,' of inestimable richness, of a whiteness that swans
might envy, and of lofty, massive, rounded form, which he would
fain have encircled with his outstretched arms as with a girdle of
submissiveness. She stood on the distant skyline as the 'Gate of
Heaven,' a glimpse of which he caught behind her shoulders when a puff
of wind threw back the folds of her veil. She rose in splendour from
behind the mountain in the waning hour of night, like the 'Morning Star'
to help all travellers astray, like the very dawn of Love. And when he
had ascended to this height--scant of breath, yet still unsatiated--he
could only further glorify her with the title of 'Queen,' with which he
nine times hailed her, as with nine parting salutations from the censer
of his soul. His canticle died joyfully away in those last ejaculations
of triumph: 'Queen of virgins, Queen of all saints. Queen conceived
without sin!' She, ever before him, shone in splendour; and he, on
the topmost step, only reached by Mary's intimates, remained there yet
another moment, swooning amidst the subtle atmosphere around him; still
too far away to kiss the edge of her azure robe, already feeling that
he was about to fall, but ever possessed by a desire to ascend again and
again, and seek that superhuman felicity.

* Curiously enough I find