His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread, 235
And vital virtue' infus'd, and vital warmth
Throughout the fluid mass; but downward purg'd
The black, tartareous, cold, infernal dregs,
Adverse to life : then founded, then conglob'd
Like things to like, the rest to several place 240
Disparted, and between spun out the air,
And earth felf-balanc'd on her centre hung.

Let there be light, faid God; and forth with light
Ethereal, first of things, quinteffence pure,
Sprung from the deep, and from her native east 245
To journey through the aery gloom began,
Spher'd in a radiant, cloud; for yet the sun
Was not; she in a cloudy tabernacle
Sojourn'd the while. God saw the light was good';
And light from darkness by the hemisphere 250
Divided : light the day, and darkness night
He nam’d. Thus was the first day ev'n and morn::
Nor past uncelebrated, nor unsung
By the celestial quires, when orient light
Exhaling first from darkness they beheld ; 255
Birth-day of heaven and earth; with joy and shout
The hollow universal'orb they fillid;
And touch'd their golden harps, and hymning prais'd
God and his works; Creator hin they sung,
Both when first ev'ning was, and when first morn..

Again God said, Let there be firmament 261.
Amid the waters, and let it divide
The waters from the waters : and God made
The firmament expanse of liquid, pure,
Transparent, elemental air, diffus'd

265;
In circuit to the uttermoft convex:
Of this great round : partition firm and sure,
The waters underneath from those above
Dividing: for as earth, fo he the world:

Built on circumfluous waters calm, in wide

270
Crystalline ocean, and the loud misrule
Of Chaos far remov’d, left fierce extremes
Contiguous might distemper the whole frame :
And heaven he nam'd the Firmament: ro even
And morning chorus sung the second day. 275

The earth was form’d, but in the womb as yet
Of waters, embryon immature involv'd,
Appear'd not: over all the face of earth
Main ocean flow'd ; not idle, but with warm
Prolific humour soft'ning all her globe,

280
Fermented the great mother to conceive,
Satiate with genial moisture; when God said,
Be gather'd now ye waters under heaven
Into one place, and let dry land appear.
Immediately the mountains huge appear 285
Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave
Into the clouds, their tops ascend the sky :
So high as heav'a the tumid hills, fo low
Down sunk a hollow bottom, broad and deep,
Capacious bed of waters: thither they

290 Hasted with glad precipitance, uprollid As drops on dust conglobing from the dry; Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct, For halte; fuch flight the great command impress'a On the swift floods: as armies at the call

295 Of trumpet (for of armies thou hast heard) Troop to their standard, so the wat'ry throng, Wave rolling after wave, where way they found, If steep, with torrent rapture, if through plain, Soft ebbing: nor withstood them rock or hill, 300 . But they, or under ground, or circuit wide With ferpent-error wand'ring, found their way, And on the washy oofe deep channels wore; Easy, ere God had bid the ground be dry,

Al

316

All but within those banks, where rivers now

3053 Stream, and perpetual draw their humid train. The dry land earth, and the great receptacle Of congregated waters he call’d Seas: And saw that it was good; and said, Let th' earth Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding feed, 3103 And fruit tree yielding fruit after her kind, Whose seed is in herself upon the earth, He scarce had said, when the bare earth, till them Desert and bare, unfightly, unadorn'd, Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad Her universal face with pleasant green; Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flower'd Opening their various colours, and made gay Her bosom smelling sweet: and these scarce blown, Forth flourish'd thick the clust'ring vine, forth crept. The smelling gourd, up stood the corny reed

32.13 I'mbattled in her field, and th' humble shrub, And bush with frizzled hair implicit : last Rose as in dance the stately trees, and spread Their branches hung with copious fruit, or gemm’d Their blossoms: with high woods the hills were crown'd;. With tufts the valleys, and each fountain-fide, With borders long the rivers : that earth now Seem'd like to heaven, a seat where gods might dwell Or wander with delight, and love to haunt 334 Her sacred shades: tho'God had yet not rain?d Upon the earth, and man to till the ground. None was; but from the earth a dewy mist Went up and water'd all the ground, and eachi Plant of the field, which, ere it was in th' earth, 335 God made, and every herb, before it grew On the green stem; God saw that it was good: So even and morn recorded the third day.

:

340

350

Again th’Almighty fpake, Let there be lights High in th'expanse of heaven, to divide The day from night; and let them be for signs, For seasons, and for days, and circling years; And let them be for lights, as I ordain Their office in the firmament of heaven, To give light on the earth; and it was fo. 345 And God made two great lights, great for their use To man, the greater to have rule by day, The less by night, altern; and made the Aars, And set them in the firmament of heaven, To'illuminate the earth, and rule the day In their viciflitude, and rule the night, And light from darkness to divide. God saw, Surveying his great work, that it was good : For of celestial bodies first the fun A mighty sphere he fram'd, unlightsome first, 355 Tho' of ethereal mould: then form'd the moon Globose, and every magnitude of stars, And fow'd with stars the heav'n thick as a field : Of light by far the greater part he took, Transplanted from her cloudy shrine, and plac'd 360 In the sun's orb, made porous to receive And drink the liquid light, firm to retain Her gather'd beams, great palace now of light. Hither, as to their fountain, other stars Repairing, in their golden urns draw light, 365 And hence the morning planet gilds her horns ; By tincture or reflection they augment Their small peculiar, tho' from human fight So far remote, with diminution feen. First in his east the glorious lamp was seen, 37 Regent of day, and all th’horizon round Invested with bright rays, jocund to run His longitude thro' heaven's high road; the gray

Dawn

Dawn, and the Pleiades before him danc'd,
Shedding sweet influence : less bright the moon, 375
But opposite in level'd west was fet,
His mirror, with full face borrowing her light
From him; for other light she needed none
In that afpéct; and fill that distance keeps
Till night, then in the east her turn the shines, 380
Revolv'd on heav'n's great axle, and her reign
With thousand leffer lights dividual holds,
With thousand thousand stars, that then appear'd
Spangling the hemisphere; then first adorn'd
With their bright luminaries, that set and rofs, 385
Glad evening and glad morn crown'd the fourth day.

And God said, Let the waters generate
Reptile with spawn abundant, living foul :
And let fowl fly above the earth, with wings
Display'd on th' open firmament of heaven.

390 And God created the great whales, and each Soul living, each that crept, which plenteously The waters generated by their kinds, And every bird of wing after his kind; And saw that it was good, and bless’d them, saying, Be fruitful, multiply, and in the seas, And lakes, and running streams, the waters fill; And let the fowl be multiply'd on th'earth. Forthwith the founds and seas, each creek and bay, With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals

400 Of fish, that with their fins and shining scales Glide under the green wave, in feulls that oft Bank the mid sea : part single or with mate Graze the fea-weed their pasture, and thro' groves Of coral stray; or sporting with quick glance. 405 Show to the fun their wav'd coats dropt with gold;. Or in their pearly shells at eafè, attend Moist nutriment; or under rocks their food In jointed armour watch: on smooth the seal,

And

396