Thy dove is shelter’d in the ark;
The heavens are silent all and dark,
Dark as thy fate,—or where,
Through horrid rifts, some streaks of light appear,
They bode a dreadful flood
Of fire and blood.”
The following is from the twenty-fifth stanza, and is meant to be descriptive of Mary’s admission into heaven. The extract is inserted with reluctance; but, in delineating character, faults as well as virtues must be noted:—
“How was heaven moved at her arrival there!
With how much more than usual art and care,
The angels, who so oft to earth had gone,