Where he first lighted, foon difcern'd his looks $70
Alien from Heav'n, with paffions foul obfcur'd:
Mine eye purfu'd him ftill, but under shade
Loft fight of him; one of the banisht crew
I fear, hath ventur'd from the deep to raise
New troubles; him thy care must be to find.
To whom the winged Warriour thus return'd: Uriel, no wonder if thy perfect fight, Amid the Sun's bright circle where thou fitft, See far and wide in at this Gate none pafs The vigilance here plac'd, but fuch as come Well known from Heav'n; and fince Meridian hour No Creature thence: if Spirit of other fort,
So minded, have o'erleapt these earthie bounds
On purpose, hard thou know'st it to exclude
Spiritual fubftance with corporeal bar.
But if within the circuit of these walks,
In whatsoever fhape he lurk, of whom
Thou tell'ft, by morrow dawning I shall know.
So promis'd he, and Uriel to his charge
Return'd on that bright beam, whose point now rais'd
Bore him flope downward to the Sun now fall'n
Beneath th' Azores; whither the prime Orb,
Incredible how fwift, had thither rowl'd
Diurnal, or this lefs volubil Earth
By fhorter flight to th'Eaft, and left him there s95
Arraying with reflected Purple and Gold
The Clouds that on his Western Throne attend:
Now came ftill Evening on, and Twilight gray
Had in her fober Livery all things clad;
Silence accompanied, for Beaft and Bird
They to their graffie Couch, these to their Nefts
Were flunk, all but the wakeful Nightingale;
She all night long her amorous descant sung;
Silence was pleas'd: now glow'd the Firmament
With living Saphirs: Hesperus that led
The ftarry Hoft, rode brightest, till the Moon
Rifing in clouded Majefty, at length
Apparent Queen unvail'd her peerless light,
And o'er the dark her Silver Mantle threw.
When Adam thus to Eve: Fair Confort, th' hour
Of night, and all things now retir'd to rest
Mind us of like repofe, fince God hath fet
Labour and reft, as day and night to men
Succeffive, and the timely dew of fleep
Now falling with soft slumbrous weight inclines 615
Our eye-lids; other Creatures all day long
Rove idle unimploy'd, and lefs need reft;
Man hath his daily work of body or mind
Appointed, which declares his Dignity,
And the regard of Heav'n on all his ways;
While other Animals unactive range,
And of their doings God takes no account.
To morrow e'er fresh morning ftreak the Eaft
With firft approach of light, we must be ris'n,
And at our pleasant labour, to reform
Yon floury Arbours, yonder Allies green,
Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown,
That mock our fcant manuring, and require
More hands than ours to lop their wanton growth:
Those Bloffoms alfo, and thofe dropping Gums, 630 That lie beftrown unfightly and unsmooth,
Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with cafe; Mean while, as Nature wills, Night bids us rest. To whom thus Eve with perfect beauty adorn'd. My Author and Difpofer, what thou bidft Unargu'd I obey; fo God ordains,
God is thy Law, thou mine: to know no more
Is woman's happiest knowledge and her praise.
With thee converfing I forget all time,
All seasons and their change, all please alike.
Sweet is the breath of morn, her rifing sweet,
With charm of earliest Birds; pleasant the Sun
When first on this delightful Land he spreads
His orient Beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flour,
Gliftring with dew; fragrant the fertii Earth
645
After foft fhowers; and sweet the coming on
Of grateful Eevning mild, the filent Night
With this her folemn Bird, and this fair Moon,
And these the Gems of Heav'n, her ftarry train:
But neither breath of Morn, when the afcends 650
With charm of earliest Birds, nor rifing Sun
On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, flour,
Gliftring with dew, nor fragrance after showers,
Nor grateful Evening mild, nor filent Night,
With this her folemn Bird, nor walk by Moon 655
Or glittering Star-light without thee is fweet.
But wherefore all night long shine thefe, for whom
This glorious fight, when fleep hath shut all eyes?
To whom our general Ancestor reply'd,
Daughter of God and Man, accomplisht Eve, 660
Those have their course to finish, round the Earth,
By morrow Eevning, and from Land to Land
In order, though to Nations yet unborn,
Miniftring light prepar'd, they fet and rife;
Left total darkness fhould by Night regain
Her old poffeffion, and extinguish life
In Nature and all things, which these soft fires
Not only enlighten, but with kindly heat
Of various influence foment and warme,
Temper or nourish, or in part shed down
Their ftellar virtue on all kinds that grow
On Earth, made hereby apter to receive
Perfection from the Sun's more potent Ray.
These then, though unbeheld in deep of night, 674
Shine not in vain, nor think, though men were none,
That Heav'n would want fpectators, God want praise;
Millions of spiritual Creatures walk the Earth
Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep:
All these with ceaseless praise his Works behold
Both day and night: how often from the steep 680
Of echoing Hill or Thicket have we heard
Celestial voices to the midnight air,
Sole, or refponfive to each others note
Singing their great Creator: oft in bands
While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk,
With Heav'nly touch of inftrumental founds
In full harmonic number join'd, their songs
Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to Heaven,
Thus talking hand in hand alone they pass'd
On to their blissful Bower; it was a place
Chos'n by the fov'reign Planter, when he fram'd
All things to man's delightful ufe; the roof
Of thickelt covert was inwoven shade
Laurel and Mirtle, and what higher grew
Of firm and fragrant leaf; on either fide
Acanthus, and each odorous bufhy shrub
Fenc'd up the verdant wall; each beauteous flour, Iris all hues, Rofes, and Geflamin
Rear'd high their flourisht heads between,and wrought Mofaic; underfoot the Violet,
Crocus, and Hyacinth with rich inlay
Border'd the ground, more colour'd than with stone Of coftlieft Emblem: other Creature here
Beaft, Bird, Infect, or Worm durft enter none;
Such was their awe of Man. In fhadie Bower 705
More facred and fequefter'd, though but feign'd,
Pan or Sylvanus never flept, nor Nymph,
Nor Faunus haunted. Here in close recefs
With Flouers, Gailands, and sweet-smelling Herbs
Efpoufed Eve deckt firft her nuptial Bed,
And Heav'nly Quires the Hymenæan fung,
What day the genial Angel to our Sire
Brought her in naked Beauty more adorn'd,
More lovely than Pardera, whom the Gods
Endow'd with all their gifts, and O too like 715
In fad event, when to th' unwifer Son
Of Japhet brought by Hermes, the enfnar'd
Mankind with her fair looks, to be aveng'd.
On him who had ftole Jove's authentic fire.
|