Of Chaos far remov'd ; lest fierce extremes

Again the Almighty spake, . Let there be lights Contiguous might distemper the whole frame: High in the expanse of Heaven, to divide And Heaven he named the Firmament: so even The day from night and let them be for signs And morning chorus sung the second day.

For seasons, and for days, and circling years; - The Earth was form’d, but in the womb as yet And let them be for lights, as I ordain Of waters, embryon immature involv'd,

Their office in the firmament of Heaven, Appear'd not: over all the face of Earth

To give light on the Earth ;' and it was so. Main ocean flow'd, not idle; but, with warm And God made two great lights, great for their use Prolific humor softening all her globe,

To Man, the greater to have rule by day, Fermented the great mother to conceive, The less by night, altern; and made the stars, Satiate with genial moisture; when God said, And set them in the firmament of Heaven • Be gather'd now ye waters under Heaven To illuminate the Earth, and rule the day Into one place, and let dry land appear.'

In their vicissitude, and rule the night, Immediately the mountains huge appear

And light from darkness to divide. God saw, Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave Surveying his great work, that it was good : Into the clouds; their tops ascend the sky: For of celestial bodies first the Sun So high as heav'd the tumid hills, so low

A mighty sphere he fram'd, unlightsome first, Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep, Though of ethereal mould: then form'd the Moon Capacious bed of waters: thither they

Globose, and every magnitude of stars, Hasted with glad precipitance, uprollid,

And sow'd with stars the Heaven, thick as a field : As drops on dust conglobing from the dry: of light by far the greater part he took, Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct,

Transplanted from her cloudy shrine, and plac'd For hæste ; such flight the great command impressid In the Sun's orb, made porous to receive On the swift floods : as armies at the call

And drink the liquid light; firm to retain Of trumpet (for of armies thou hast heard) Her gather'd beams, great palace now of light. Troop to their standard; so the watery throng, Hither, as to their fountain, other stars Wave rolling after wave, where way they found, Repairing, in their golden urns draw light, If steep, with torrent rapture, if through plain, And hence the morning-planet gilds her horns; Soft-ebbing; nor withstood them rock or hill; By tincture or reflection they augment But they, or under ground, or circuit wide Their small peculiar, though from human sight With serpent error wandering, found their way, So far remote, with diminution seen. And on the washy ooze deep channels wore ; First in his east the glorious lamp was seen, Easy, ere God had bid the ground be dry,

Regent of day, and all the horizon round All but within those banks, where rivers now Invested with bright rays, jocund to run Stream, and perpetual draw their humid train. His longitude through Heaven's high road ; the grey The dry land, Earth ; and the great receptacle Dawn, and the Pleiades, before him danc'd, Of congregated waters, he callid Seas :

Shedding sweet influence : less bright the Moon, And saw that it was good; and said, Let the Earth But opposite in levellid west was set Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding seed, His mirror, with full face borrowing her light And fruit-tree yielding fruit after her kind, From him; for other light she needed none Whose seed is in herself upon the Earth.'

In that aspect, and still that distance keeps He scarce had said, when the bare Earth, till then Till night; then in the east her turn she shines, Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorn'd,

Revolv'd on Heaven's great axle, and her reign Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad With thousand lesser lights dividual holds, Her universal face with pleasant green;

With thousand thousand stars, that then appear'd Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flower'd Spangling the hemisphere: then first adorn'd Opening their various colors, and made gay With their bright luminaries that set and rose, Her bosom, smelling sweet: and, these scarce blown, Glad evening and glad morn crown'd the fourth day. Forth flourish'd thick the clustering vine, forth crept “And God said, Let the waters generate The swelling gourd, up stood the corny reed Reptile with spawn abundant, living soul: Embattled in her field, and the humble shrub, And let fowl fly above the Earth, with wings And bush with frizzled hair implicit: last

Display'd on the open firmament of Heaven.' Rose, as in dance, the stately trees, and spread And God created the great whales, and each Their branches hung with copious fruit, or gemm'a Soul living, each that crept, which plenteously Their blossoms: with high woods the hills were The waters generated by their kinds ; crown'd,

And every bird of wing after his kind; With tufts the valleys, and each fountain side; And saw that it was good, and bless'd them, saying, With borders long the rivers: that Earth now • Be fruitful, multiply, and in the seas, Seem'd like to Heaven a seat where gods might And lakes, and running streams, the waters fill: dwell,

And let the fowl be multiplied on the Earth.' Or wander with delight, and love to haunt Forthwith the sounds and seas, each creek and bay, ller sacred shades: though God had yet not raind With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals Upon the Earth, and man to till the ground Of fish that with their fins, and shining scales, None was; but from the Earth a dewy mist Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft Went up, and water'd all the ground, and each Bank the mid sea : part single, or with mate, Plant of the field; which, ere it was in the Earth, Graze the sea-weed their pasture, and through groves God made, and every herb, before it grew Of coral stray; or, sporting with quick glance, On the green stem: God saw that it was good : Show to the Sun their wav'd coats dropt with gold, So even and morn recorded the third day. Or, in their pearly shells at ease, attend

soon

64

Moist nutriment; or under rocks their food At once came forth whatever creeps the ground, In jointed armor watch: on smooth the seal, Insect or worm: those wav'd their limber fans And bended dolphins play: part huge of bulk For wings, and smallest lineaments exact Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait, In all the liveries deck'd of summer's pride, Tempest the ocean: there leviathan,

With spots of gold and purple, azure and green : Hugest of living creatures, on the deep

These, as a line, their long dimension drew, Stretch'd like a promontory sleeps or swims, Streaking the ground with sinuous trace; not all And seems a moving land ; and at his gills Minims of nature ; some of serpent-kind, Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea. Wondrous in length and corpulence, involvid Meanwhile the tepid caves, and fens, and shores, Their snaky folds, and added wings. First crept 'Their brood as numerous hatch, from the egg that The parsimonious emmet, provident

Of future ; in small room large heart inclos'd ; Bursting with kindly rupture forth disclos'd Pattern of just equality perhaps Their callow young; but feather'd soon and Aedge Hereafter, join'd in her popular tribes They summ'd their pens ; and, soaring the air sub-Of commonalty: swarming next appear'd lime,

The female bee, that feeds her husband drone With clang despis'd the ground, under a cloud Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells In prospect; there the eagle and the stork With honey stor’d: the rest are numberless, On cliffs and cedar tops their eyries build : And thou their natures know'st, and gav'st them Part loosely wing the region, part more wise

names, In common, rang'd in figure, wedge their way, Needless to thee repeated : nor unknown Intelligent of seasons, and set forth

The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field,
Their aery caravan, high over seas

Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes,
Flying, and over lands, with mutual wing And hairy mane terrific, though to thee
Easing their flight; so steers the prudent crane Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.
Her annual voyage, borne on winds; the air

Now Heaven in all her glory shone, and rollid
Floats as they pass, fann'd with unnumber'd plumes : Her motions, as the great first Mover's hand
From branch to branch the smaller birds with song First wheel'd their course : Earth in her rich attire
Solac'd the woods, and spread their painted wings Consummate lovely smil'd; air, water, earth,
Till even; nor then the solemn nightingale By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walk d
Ceas'd warbling, but all night tun'd her soft lays : Frequent; and of the sixth day yet remain'd:
Others, on silver lakes and rivers, bath'd

There wanted yet the master-work, the end
Their downy breast; the swan with arched neck, Of all yet done ; a creature, who, not prone
Between her white wings mantling proudly, rows And brute as other creatures, bul endued
Her state with oary feet; yet oft they quit With sanctity of reason, might erect
The dank, and, rising on stiff pennons, tower His stature, and upright with front serene
The mid aëreal sky: others on ground

Govern the rest, sell-knowing; and from thence
Walk'd firm ; the crested cock whose clarion sounds Magnanimous 10 correspond with Heaven,
The silent hours, and the other whose gay train But grateful to acknowledge whence his good
Adorns him, color'd with the florid hue

Descends, thither with heart, and voice, and eyes Of rain bows and starry eyes. The waters thus Directed in devotion, to adore With fish replenish'd, and the air with fowl, And worship God Supreme, who made him chief Evening and morn solemniz'd the fifth day. Of all his works: therefore the Omnipotent “The sixth, and of creation last, arose

Eternal Father (for where is not he
With evening harps and matin; when God said, Present ?) thus to his Son audibly spake.
• Let the Earth bring forth soul living in her kind, u • Let us make now Man in our image, Man
Cattle, and creeping things, and beast of the Earth, In our similitude, and let them rule
Each in their kind.' The Earth obey'd, and straight Over the fish and fowl of sea and air,
Opening her fertile womb teem'd at a birth Beast of the field, and over all the Earth,
Innumerous living creatures; perfect forms, And every creeping thing that creeps the ground.'
Limb’d and full grown: out of the ground up rose, This said, he form’d thee, Adam, thee, O man.
As from his lair, the wild beast, where he wons Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breath'd
In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den ;

The breath of life ; in his own image he
Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walk'd : Created thee, in the image of God
The cattle in the fields and meadows green : Express ; and thou becam'st a living soul.
Those rare and solitary, these in flocks

Male he created thee ; but thy consórt
Pasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung. Female, for race; then bless'd mankind, and said,
The grassy clods now calv'd; now half appeard • Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth;
The tawny lion, pawing to get free

Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold His hinder parts, then springs, as broke from bonds, Over fish of the sea, and fowl of th' air, And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the ounce, And every living thing that moves on th’ Earth.' The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole

Wherever thus created, for no place Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw Is yet distinci by name, thence, as thou know'st, In hillocks : the swift stag from under ground He brought thee into this delicious grove, Bore up his branching head ; scarce from his mould This garden, planted with the trees of God, Behemoth, biggest born of Earth, upheav'd Delectable both to behold and taste; His vastness : fleec'd the flocks and bleating rose, And freely all their pleasant fruit for food As plants : ambiguous between sea and land Gave thee; all sorts are liere that all tho Esrik The river-horse, and scaly crocodile.

yield,

Variety without end; but of the tree,

Thou hast repellid; while impiously they thought Which, tasted, works knowledge of good and evil, Thee to diminish, and from thee withdraw Thou may'st not; in the day thou eat'st, thou diest; The number of thy worshippers. Who seeks Death is the penalty imposed; beware,

To lessen thee, against his purpose serves And govern well thy appetite ; lest Sin

To manifest the more thy might: his evil Surprise thee, and her black attendant Death.' Thou usest, and from thence creat'st more good

“ Here finish'd he, and all that he had made Witness this new-made world, another Heaven View'd, and behold all was entirely good; From Heaven-gate not far, founded in view So even and morn accomplish'd the sixth day: On the clear hyaline, the glassy sea ; Yet not till the Creator from his work

Of amplitude almost immense, with stars Desisting, though unwearied, up return'd, Numerous, and every star perhaps a world Up to the Heaven of Heavens, his high abode ; Of destin'd habitation; but thou know'st Thence to behold this new-created world,

Their seasons : among these the seat of men, The addition of his empire, how it show'd

Earth, with her nether ocean circumfus'd, In prospect from his throne, how good, how fair, Their pleasant dwelling-place. Thrice happy men, Answering his great idea. Up he rode

And sons of men, whom God hath thus advanc'd! Follow'd with acclamation, and the sound

Created in his image there to dwell
Symphonious of ten thousand harps, that tun'd And worship him; and in reward to rule
Angelic harmonies; the Earth, the air

Over his works, on earth, in sea, or air,
Resounded, (thou remember'st, for thou heard'st,) And multiply a race of worshippers
The Heavens and all the constellations rung, Holy and just : thrice happy, if they know
The planets in their station listening stood, Their happiness, and persevere upright"
While the bright pomp ascended jubilant.

So sung they, and the empyréan rung • Open, ye everlasting gates! they sung,

With halleluiahs: thus was sabbath kept. Open, ye Heavens! your living doors; let in And thy request think now fulfill'd, that ask'd The great Creator from his work return'd

How first this world and face of things began, Magnificent, his six days' work, a world ;

And what before thy memory was done
Open, and henceforth oft; for God will deign From the beginning; that posterity,
To visit oft the dwellings of just men,

Inform’d by thee, might know: if else thou seek'st
Delighted ; and with frequent intercourse Aught not surpassing human measure, say."
Thither will send his winged messengers
On errands of supernal grace.' So sung
'The glorious train ascending: he through Heaven,

BOOK VIII.
That open'd wide her blazing portals, led
To God's eternal house direct the way;

THE ARGUMENT.
A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold
And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear, Adam inquires concerning celestial motions; is
Seen in the galaxy, that milky way,

doubtfully answered, and exhorted to search Which nightly, as a circling zone, thou seest

rather things more worthy of knowledge : Adam Powder'd with stars. And now

on Earth the assents; and, still desirous to detain Raphael, seventh

relates to him what he remembered since his own Evening arose in Eden, for the Sun

creation; his placing in Paradise ; his talk with Was set, and twilight from the east came on, God concerning solitude and fit society; his first Forerunning night; when at the holy mount

meeting and nuptials with Eve: his discourse Of Heaven's high-seated top, the imperial throne with the angel thereupon ; who, after admonitions of Godhead fix'd for ever firm and sure,

repeated, departs.
The filial Power arriv'd, and sat him down
With his great Father! for he also went The angel ended, and in Adam's ear
Invisible, yet staid, (such privilege

So charming left his voice, that he awhile
Hath Omnipresence,) and the work ordain'd, Thought him still speaking, still stood fix'd to hear
Author and End of all things; and, from work Then, as new wak’d, thus gratefully replied.
Now resting, bless'd and hallow'd the seventh day “What thanks sufficient, or what recompense
As resting on that day from all his work,

Equal, have I to render thee, divine But not in silence holy kept: the harp

Historian, who thus largely hast allay'd
Had work and rested not; the solemn pipe, The thirst I had of knowledge, and vouchsafd
And dulcimer, all organs of sweet stop,

This friendly condescension to relate
All sounds on fret by string or golden wire, Things else by me unsearchable; now heard
Temper'd soft tunings, intermix'd with voice With wonder, but delight, and, as is due,
Choral or unison : of incense clouds,

With glory attributed to the high
Fuming from golden censers, hid the mount. Creator? Something yet of doubt remains,
Creation and the six days' acts they sung: Which only thy solution can resolve.
• Great are thy works, Jehovah! infinite (tongue When I behold this goodly frame, this world,
Thy power! what thought can measure thee, or Of Heaven and Earth consisting ; and compute
Relate thee? Greater now in thy return

Their magnitudes; this Earth a spot, a grain,
Than from the giant angels: thee that day An atom, with the firmament compard
Thy thunders magnified; but to create

And all her number'd stars, that seem to roll
Is greater than created to destroy.

Spaces incomprehensible, for such
Who can impair thee, Mighty King, or bound Their distance argues, and their swift return
Thy empire ? Easily the proud attempt

Diurnal,) merely to officiate light of spirits apostate, and their counsels vain, Round this opacious Earth, this punctual spot,

One day and night; in all their vast survey More plenty than the Sun that barren shines ;
Useless besides; reasoning I oft admire,

Whose virtue on itself works no effect,
How Nature wise and frugal could commit

But in the fruitful Earth; there first receiv'd,
Such disproportions, with superfluous hand His beams, unactive else, their vigor find.
So many nobler bodies to create,

Yet not to Earth are those bright luminaries
Greater so manifold, to this one use,

Officious; but to thee, Earth's habitant. For aught appears, and on their orbs impose And for the Heaven's wide circuit, let it speak Such restless revolution day by day

The Maker's high magnificence, who built Repeated; while the sedentary Earth,

So spacious, and his line stretch'd out so far, That better might with far less compass move, That man may know he dwells not in his own; Sery'd by more noble than herself, attains

An edifice too large for him to fill,
Her end without least motion, and receives, Lodg'd in a small partition; and the rest
As tribute, such a sumless journey brought Ordain'd for uses to his Lord best known
Of incorporeal speed, her warmth and light; The swiftness of those circles attribute,
Speed, to describe whose swiftness number fails." Though numberless, to his omnipotence

So spake our sire, and by his countenance seem'd That to corporeal substances could add
Entering on studious thoughts abstruse; which Eve Speed almost spiritual: me thou think'st not slow,
Perceiving, where she sat retir'd in sight,

Who since the morning-hour set out from Heaven With lowliness majestic from her seat,

Where God resides, and ere mid-day arriv'd
And grace that won who saw to wish her stay, In Eden; distance inexpressible
Rose, and went forth among her fruits and flowers, By numbers that have name. But this I urge,
To visit how they prosper'd, bud and bloom, Admitting motion in the Heavens, to show
Her nursery; they at her coming sprung,

Invalid that which thee to doubt it mov'd;
And, touch'd by her fair tendance, gladlier grew. Not that I so affirm, though so it seem
Yet went she not, as not with such discourse To thee wlio hast thy dwelling here on Earth.
Delighied, or not capable her ear

God, to remove his ways from human sense,
Of what was high: such pleasure she reserv'd, Plac'd Heaven from Earth so far, that earthly sighi,
Adam relating, she sole auditress :

If it presume, might err in things too high, Her husband the relater she preferr'd

And no advantage gain. What if the Sun Before the angel, and of him to ask

Be centre to the world; and other stars, Chose rather; he, she knew, would intermix By his attractive virtue and their own Grateful digressions, and solve high dispute Incited, dance about him various rounds ? With conjugal caresses; from his lip

Their wandering course now high, now low, then hid, Not words alone pleas'd her. 0! when meet now Progressive, retrograde, or standing still, Such pairs, in love and mutual honor join'd? In six thou seest; and what if seventh to these With goddess-like demeanor forth she went, The planet Earth, so stedfast though she seem, Not unattended; for on her, as queen,

Insensibly three different motions move ? A pomp of winning graces waited still,

Which else to several spheres thou must ascribe, And from about her shot darls of desire

Mov'd contrary with thwart obliquities; into all eyes, to wish her still in sight.

Or save the Sun his labor, and that swift And Raphael now, to Adam's doubt propos'd, Nocturnal and diurnal rhomb suppos'd, Benevolent and facile thus replied.

Invisible else above all stars, the wheel “ To ask or search, I blame thee not; for Heaven Of day and night; which needs not thy belief, Is as the book of God before thee set,

If Earth, industrious of herself, fetch day Wherein to read his wondrous works, and learn Travelling east, and with her part averse His seasons, hours, or days, or months, or years: From the Sun's beam meet night, her other part This to attain, whether Heaven move or Earth, Sull luminous by his ray. What if that light, Imports not, if thou reckon right; the rest Sent from her through the wide transpicuous air, From man or angel the great Architect

To the terrestrial Moon be as a star, Did wisely 10 conceal, and not divulge

Enlightening her by day as she by night His secrets to be scann'd by them who ought This Earth? reciprocal if land there, Rather admire; or, if they list to try

Fields and inhabitants : her spots thou seest Conjecturc, he his fabric of the Heavens

As clouds, and clouds may rain, and rain produce Hath leit to their disputes, perhaps to move Fruits in her soften'd soil, for some to eat His langhter at their quaint opinions wide

Allotted there: and other suns perhaps, Hereafter; when they come to model Heaven With their attendant moons, thou wilt descry And calculate the stars, how they will wield Communicating male and female light; The mighiy frame; how build, unbuild, contrive Which two great sexes animate the world, To save appearances; how gird the sphere Stord in each orb perhaps with some that live. With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er,

For such vast room in Nature un possess'd Cycle and epicycle,,orb in orb:

By living soul, desert, and desolate,
Already by thy reasoning this I guess,

Only to shine, yet scarce to contribute
Who art to lead thy offspring, and supposest Each orb a glimpse of light, convey'd so far
Thai bodies bright and greater should not serve

Down to this habitable, which returns
The less not bright, nor Heaven such journeys run, Light back to them, is obvious to dispute.
Earth sitting still, when she alone receives But whether thus these things, or whether not;
The benefit: consider first, that great

Whether the Sun, predominant in Heaven, Or bright infers not excellence: the Earth,

Rise on the Earth; or Earth rise on the Sun; Though, in comparison of lieaven, so small, He from the cast his flaming road begin ; Nor glisteriny, may of solid good contain

Or shie from west her silent course advance,

With inoffensive pace that spinning sleeps

Or enemy, while God was in his work ; On her soft axle, while she paces even,

Lest he, incens d at such eruption bold, And bears thee soft with the smooth air along; Destruction with creation might have mixd. Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid; Not that they durst without his leave attempt ; Leave them to God above ; him serve, and fear! But us he sends upon his high behests of other creatures, as him pleases best,

For state, as Sovran King; and to inure Wherever plac'd, let him dispose ; joy thou Our prompt obedience. Fast we found, fast shut, In what he gives to thee, this Paradise

The dismal gates, and barricado'd strong ;
And thy fair Eve; Heaven is for thee too high But long ere our approaching heard wiihin
To know what passes there ; be lowly wise : Noise, other than the sound of dance or song,
Think only what concerns thee, and thy being; Torment, and loud lament, and furious rage.
Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there Glad we return'd up to the coasts of light
Live, in what state, condition, or degree ;

Ere sabbath-evening: so we had in charge.
Contented that thus far hath been reveal'd But thy relation now; for I attend,
Not of Earth only, but of highest Heaven." Pleas'd with thy words no less than thou with mine.

To whom thus Adam, clearid of doubt, replied. So spake the godlike power, and thus our sire. “ How fully hast thou satisfied me, pure

“ For Man to tell how human life began Intelligence of Heaven, angel serene!

Is hard; for who himself beginning knew? And freed from intricacies, taught to live

Desire with thee still longer to converse The easiest way; nor with perplexing thoughts Induc'd me. As new-wak'd from soundest sleep, To interrupt the sweet of life, from which Sofi on the flowery herb I found me laid, God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares, In balmy sweat; which with his bears the Sun And not molest us; unless we onrselves

Soon dried, and on the reeking moisture fed. Seek them with wandering thoughts, and notions vain. Straight toward Heaven my wondering eyes I But apt the mind or fancy is to rove

turn'd, Uncheck’d, and of her roving is no end;

And gaz'd awhile the ample sky; till, rais'd Till warnd, or by experience taught, she learn, By quick instinctive motion, up I sprung, That not to know at large of things remote

As thitherward endeavoring, and upright From use, obscure and subtle ; but to know Stood on my feet: about me round I saw That which before us lies in daily life,

Hill, dale, and shady woods, and sunny plains, Is the prime wisdom: what is more, is fume, And liquid lapse of murmuring streams; by these, Or emptiness, or fond impertinence :

Creatures that liv'd and mov'd, and walk'd, or flew; And renders us, in things that most concern, Birds on the branches warbling; all things smil'd; Unpractis'd, unprepard, and still to seek.

With fragrance and with joy my heart o’erflow'd. Therefore from this high pitch let us descend Myself I then perus’d, and limb by limb A lower flight, and speak of things at hand Survey'd, and sometimes went, and sometimes ran Useful; whence, haply, mention may arise With supple joints, as lively vigor led : Of something not unseasonable to ask,

But who I was, or where, or from what cause, By sufferance, and thy wonted favor deign'd. Knew not; to speak I tried, and forthwith spake; Thee I have heard relating what was done My tongue obey'd, and readily could name Ere my remembrance : now, hear me relate Whate'er I saw. Thou Sun,' said I, “fair light, My story, which perhaps thou hast not heard; And thou enlighten'd Earth, so fresh and gay, And day is not yet spent : till then thou seest Ye hills, and dales, ye rivers, woods, and plains, How subtly to detain thee I devise ;

And ye that live and move, fair creatures, tell, Inviting thee to hear while I relate;

Tell, if ye saw, how I came thus, how here? Fond, were it not in hope of thy reply:

Not of myself ;-by some great Maker then,
For, while I sit with thee, I seem in Heaven; In goodness and in power pre-eminent:
And sweeter thy discourse is to my ear

Tell me, how may I know him, how adore, Than fruits of palm-tree pleasantest to thirst From whom I have that thus I move and live, And hunger both, from labor at the hour

And feel that I am happier than I know.'Or sweet repast; they satiate, and soon fill, While thus I call’d, and stray'd I knew not whither, Though pleasant; but thy words, with grace divine From where I first drew air, and first beheld Imbued, bring to their sweetness no satiety.” This happy light; when answer none return'd,

To whom thus Raphael answer'd heavenly meek. On a green shady bank, profuse of flowers, “ Nor are thy lips ungraceful, sire of men, Pensive I sat me down; there gentle sleep Nor tongue ineloquent; for God on thee

First found me, and with soft oppression seiz'd Abundantly his gifts hath also pour’d

My drowsed sense, untroubled, though I thought Inward and outward both, his image fair:

I then was passing to my former state Speaking, or mute, all comeliness and grace Insensible, and forthwith to dissolve : Aitends thee; and each word, each motion, forms; When suddenly stood at my head a dream, Nor less think we in Heaven of thee on Earth Whose inward apparition gently mov'd Than of our fellow-servant, and inquire

My fancy to believe I yet had being, Gladly into the ways of God with Man:

And liv'd: one came, methought, of shape divine, For God, we see, hath honor'd thee, and set And said, “Thy mansion wants thee, Adam; rise, On Man his equal love : say therefore on; First man, of men innumerable ordain'd For I that day was absent, as befell,

First father! call'd by thee, I come thy guide Bound on a voyage uncouth and obscure,

To the Garden of Bliss, thy scat prepar'd.'
Far on excursion toward the gates of Hell; So saying, by the hand he took me, rais’d,
Sanard in full legion (such command we had) And over fields and waters, as in air
To see that none thence issued forth a spy, Smooth-sliding without step, last led me up

H