[Transcriber's Notes:] This text is derived from http://archive.org/details/maycarolspoems00veregoog Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers enclosed in curly braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where page breaks occurred in the original book. Dedicated to Fr. Richard Trout who brings his love of Christ and the Virgin Mary to life in his preaching at Corpus Christi Parish. "Thanks for the homilies." [End Transcriber's Notes:] _By the same Author._ I. THE SEARCH AFTER PEOSEEPINE, and Other Poems. 12mo 7s. 6d. J. H. and J. Parker, Oxford and London. II. POEMS (MISCELLANEOUS AND SACRED). Fcap. 8vo 4s. 6d. Burns and Lambert, London. MAY CAROLS. London: Printed by Spottiswoode & Co New-street Square. MAY CAROLS. BY AUBREY DE VERE. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, & ROBERTS. 1857. _The right of translation is reserved._ TO THE VERY REVEREND HENRY EDWARD MANNING THESE POEMS ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED {v} INTRODUCTION. The wisdom of the Church, which consecrates the fleeting seasons of Time to the interests of Eternity, has dedicated the month of May (the birthday festival, as it were, of Creation) to her who was ever destined in the Divine Counsels to become the Mother of her Creator. It belongs to her, of course, as she is the representative of the Incarnation, and its practical exponent to a world but too apt to forget what it professes to hold. The following Poems, written in her honour, are an attempt to set forth, though but in mere outline, each of them some one of the great Ideas or essential Principles embodied in that all-embracing Mystery. On a topic so comprehensive, converse statements, at one time illustrating the highest excellence compatible with mere creaturely existence, at another, the infinite distance between the chief of creatures and the Creator, may seem, at first sight, and to some eyes, contradictory, although in reality, mutually correlative. On an attentive perusal, however, that harmony which exists among the {vi} many portions of a single mastering Truth, can hardly fail to appear--and with it the scope and aim of this Poem.