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That durst dislike his reign, and, me preferring,
His utmost power with adverse power oppos'd,
In dubious battle on the plains of heaven,

And shook his throne! What though the field be lost?
All is not lost! the unconquerable will,

And study of revenge; immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield;
And what is else not to be overcome?
That glory never shall his wrath or might
Extort from me! To bow and sue for grace
With suppliant knee, and deify his power,
Who, from the terror of this arm so late
Doubted his empire! that were low indeed!
That were an ignominy, and shame beneath
This downfall! since, by fate, the strength of gods
And this empyreal substance cannot fail :
Since, through experience of this great event,
In arms not worse, in foresight much advanc'd,
We may with more successful hope resolve
To wage by force or guile eternal war,
Irreconcilable to our grand foe,

Who now triumphs, and in the excess of joy,
Sole reigning, holds the tyranny of heaven !"

Milton.

On the Being of a God.

RETIRE; the world shut out;-thy thoughts call Imagination's airy wing repress;

[home!

Lock up thy senses ;-let no passion stir ;-
Wake all to Reason ;-let her reign alone:-
Then, in thy soul's deep silence, and the depth
Of Nature's silence, midnight, thus inquire,
As I have done; and shall inquire no more.
In Nature's channel, thus the questions run.

What am I? and from whence?-I nothing know,
But that I am; and, since I am, conclude
Something eternal; had there e'er been nought,
Nought still had been: eternal there must be.

But what eternal ?-Why not human race,
And Adam's ancestors without an end?-
That's hard to be conceiv'd; since every link
Of that long-chain'd succession is so frail;
Can every part depend, and not the whole?
Yet grant it true, new difficulties rise;
I'm still quite out at sea, nor see the shore.
Whence earth, and these bright orbs ?-eternal too?
Grant matter was eternal; still these orbs
Would want some other father; much design
Is seen in all their motions, all their makes;
Design implies intelligence, and art:

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That can't be from themselves-or man; that art
Man scarce can comprehend could man bestow?
And nothing greater, yet allow'd, than man?.
Who, motion, foreign to the smallest grain,
Shot through vast masses of enormous weight?
Who bade brute matter's restive lump assume
Such various forms, and gave it wings to fly?
Has matter innate motion? then each atom,
Asserting its indisputable right

To dance, would form a universe of dust:

Has matter none? Then whence these glorious forms,
And boundless flights, from shapeless, and repos'd?
Has matter more than motion? Has it thought,
Judgment, and genius? Is it deeply learned
In mathematics? Has it fram'd such laws,
Which, but to guess, a Newton made immortal ?—
If art, to form, and counsel, to conduct—
And that with greater far than human skill,
Resides not in each block;-a GODHEAD reigns.---
And, if a God there is, that God how great!

Young.

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Satan described, with his Speech to the Infernal Spirits.

THUS far these beyond

Compare of mortal prowess, yet observ'd
Their dread commander; he, above the rest
In shape and gesture proudly eminent,

Stood like a tow'r; his form had not yet lost
All her original brightness, nor appear'd
Less than Archangel ruin'd, and the excess
Of glory obscur'd: as when the sun new risen,
Looks through the horizontal misty air,
Shorn of his beams; or from behind the moon
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds
On half the nations, and with fear of change
Perplexes monarchs. Darken'd so, yet shone
Above them all th' Archangel; but his face
Deep scars of thunder had entrench'd, and care
Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows
Of dauntless courage and considerate pride,
Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast
Signs of remorse and passion, to behold
The fellows of his crime, the followers rather,
(Far other once beheld in bliss) condemn'd
For ever now to have their lot in pain;
Millions of Spirits for his fault amerc'd
Of Heav'n, and from eternal splendours flung,
For his revolt, yet faithful how they stood,
Their glory wither'd: as when Heaven's fire
Hath scath'd the forest oaks, or mountain pines,
With singed top their stately growth, though bare,
Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepar'd
To speak: whereat their doubled ranks they bend
From wing to wing, and half enclose him round
With all his peers: attention held them mute,
Thrice he assay'd; and thrice, in spite of scorn,
Tears, such as Angels weep, burst forth; at last
Words, interwove with sighs, found out their way.

"O Myriads of immortal Spirits! O Powers
Matchless! but with the Almighty; and that strife
Was not inglorious, though the event was dire,
As this place testifies, and this dire change,
Hateful to utter; but what pow'r of mind,
Foreseeing or presaging, from the depth
Of knowledge past or present, could have fear'd
How such united strength of Gods, how such
As stood like these, could ever know repulse?
For who can yet believe, though after loss,
That all these puissant legions, whose exile

Hath emptied Heav'n, shall fail to re-ascend,
Self-rais'd, and re-possess their native seat?
For me be witness all the host of Heav'n,
If counsels different or danger shunn'd
By me have lost our hopes. But he who reigns
Monarch in Heav'n, till then as one secure
Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute,
Consent or custom, and his regal state

Put forth at full, but still his strength conceal'd,
Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall.
Henceforth his might we know, and know our own,
So as not either to provoke, or dread

New war provok'd; our better part remains
To work in close design, by fraud or guile,
What force effected not; that he no less
At length from us may find, who overcomes
By force hath overcome but half his foe.
Space may produce new worlds; whereof so rife
There went a fame in Heav'n, that he ere long
Intended to create, and therein plant

A generation, whom his choice regard
Should favour equal to the sons of Heav'n;
Thither if but to pry, shall be perhaps
Our first irruption, thither or elsewhere;
For this infernal pit shall never hold
Celestial Spirits in bondage, nor th' abyss
Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts
Full counsel must mature. Peace is despair'd,
For who can think submission? War, then, war,
Open or understood, must be resolved!"

2

Milton.

Our young friends will please turn their attention to the description which Milton has here given of Satan, which is considered grand. The obscurity, in which the Archangel is involved, notwithstanding the similes which Milton has employed for giving us some idea of his greatness, is particularly worthy of notice.

Pandemonium.

HIGH on a throne of royal state, which far
Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Showers, on her kings barbaric, pearl and gold,
Satan exalted sat, by merit rais'd

To that bad eminence: and, from despair
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires
Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue

Vain war with heaven; and, by success untaught,
His proud imaginations thus display'd:

"Powers and dominions, deities of heaven-
For, since no deep within her gulph can hold
Immortal vigour, though oppress'd and fallen,
I give not heaven for lost-from this descent,
Celestial virtues rising will appear

More glorious and more dread than from no fall,
And trust themselves to fear no second fate.

Me, though just right, and the fix'd laws of heaven,
Did first create your leader; next, free choice,
With what besides, in council or in fight,
Hath been achiev'd of merit; yet this loss,
Thus far at least recover'd, hath much more
Establish'd in a safe unenvied throne,

Yielded with full consent. The happier state
In heaven, which follows dignity, might draw
Envy from each inferior; but who here
Will envy whom the highest place exposes
Foremost to stand against the Thunderer's aim,
Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share
Of endless pain? Where there is then no good
For which to strive, no strife can grow up there
From faction: for none sure will claim in hell
Precedence; none, whose portion is so small
Of present pain, that with ambitious mind
Will covet more. With this advantage then.
To union, and firm faith, and firm accord,
More than can be in heaven, we now return
To claim our just inheritance of old,
Surer to prosper than prosperity

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