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Inveils him coming; yet not terrible,

That I fhould fear; nor fociably mild,
As Raphaël, that I should much confide;
But folemn and fublime, whom not to' offend,
With reverence I must meet, and thou retire.

He ended; and th' archangel foon drew nigh,
Not in his shape celeftial, but as man
Clad to meet man; over his lucid arms
A military veft of purple flow'd,
Livelier than Melibean, or the grain

Of Sarra, worn by kings and heroes old
In time of truce; Iris had dipp'd the woof;
His tarry helm unbuckled show'd him prime
In manhood, where youth ended; by his fide,
As in a glift'ring zodiac, hung the sword,
Satan's dire dread, and in his hand the spear.
Adam bow'd low; he kingly from his state
Inclin'd not, but his coming thus declar'd.

Adam, heaven's high behest no preface needs:
Sufficient that thy prayers are heard, and death,
Then due by fentence when thou didft tranfgrefs,
Defeated of his feifure many days

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Giv'n thee of grace, wherein thou mayft repent, 255
And one bad act with many deeds well done
Mayft cover; well may then thy Lord appeas'd
Redeem thee quite from Death's rapacious claim;
But longer in this Paradife to dwell

Permits not; to remove thee I am come,
And fend thee from the garden forth to till
The ground whence thou waft taken, fitter foil.
He added not; for Adam at the news
Heart-ftruck with chilling gripe of forrow ftood,
That all his fenfes bound: Eve, who unfeen
Yet all had heard, with audible lament
Discover'd foon the place of her retire.

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O unexpected ftroke, worse than of death!
Muft I thus leave thee, Paradife! thus leave
Thee, native foil, these happy walks and shades, 270
Fit haunt of gods? where I had hope to spend,
Quiet though fad, the refpite of that day

That must be mortal to us both? O flowers,
That never will in other climate grow,
My early vifitation, and my laft

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At ev'n, which I bred up with tender hand
From the first op'ning bud, and gave ye names,
Who now fhall rear ye to the fun, or rank
Your tribes, and water from th' ambrofial fount?
Thee laftly, nuptial bower, by me adorn'd 280
With what to fight or fmell was fweet, from thee
How fhall I part, and whither wander down
Into a lower world, to this obfcure

And wild? how fhall we breathe in other air

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Lefs pure, accuffom'd to immortal fruits?
Whom thus the angel interrupted mild.
Lament not, Eve, but patiently refign
What juftly thou haft loft; nor fet thy heart,
Thus over-fond, on that which is not thine:
Thy going is not lonely; with thee goes
Thy husband; him to follow thou art bound;
Where he abides, think there thy native foil.

Adam by this from the cold fudden damp
Recovering, and his scatter'd spi'rits return'd,
To Michael thus his humble words address'd.

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Celestial, whether among the thrones, or nam'd Of them the high'eft, for fnch of fhape may feem Prince above princes, gently haft thou told Thy meffage, which might elfe in telling wound, And in performing end us; what befides Of forrow, and dejection, and defpair,

Our frailty can fuftain, thy tidings bring,

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Nor knowing us nor known; and if by prayer
Inceffant I could hope to change the will
Of him who all things can, I would not ceafe
To weary him with my affiduous cries:
But prayer against his abfolute decree

Departure from this happy place, our sweet

Recefs, and only confolation left

Familiar to our eyes; all places elfe
Inhospitable' appear, and defolate,

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No more avails than breath against the wind,
Blown ftifling back on him that breathes it forth :
Therefore to his great bidding I fubmit,

This moft afflicts me, that departing hence,
As from his face I fhall be hid, depriv'd
His bleffed count'nance; here I could frequent
With worship place by place where he vouchfaf'd
Prefence divine, and to my fons relate,

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On this mount he appear'd, under this tree

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Stood vifible, among these pines his voice

I heard, here with him at this fountain talk'd;

So many grateful altars I would rear

Of graffy turf, and pile up every stone

Of luftre from the brook, in memory,

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Or monument to ages, and thereon

Offer sweet smelling gums, and fruits, and flowers:
In yonder nether world where fhall I feek
His bright appearances, or footstep trace?
For though I fled him angry, yet recall'd
To life prolong'd and promis'd race, I now
Gladly behold though but his utmost skirts
Of glory, and far off his fteps adore.

To whom thus Michael with regard benign,
Adam, thou know'ft heav'n his, and all the earth,"
Not this rock only'; his omniprefence fills
Land, fea, and air, and every kind that lives,

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Fomented

Fomented by his virtual power and warm'd:

All th' earth he gave thee to possess and rule,
No defpicable gift; furmife not then

His presence to these narrow bounds confin'd

Of Paradife or Eden; this had been,

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Perhaps, thy capital feat, from whence had spread All generations, and had hither come

From all the ends of th' earth, to celebrate
And reverence thee their great progenitor.

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But this præeminence thou' haft loft, brought down
To dwell on even ground now with thy fons:
Yet doubt not but in valley and in plain
God is as here, and will be found alike
Prefent, and of his prefence many a fign
Still following thee, ftill compaffing thee round
With goodness and paternal love, his face
Exprefs, and of his fteps the track divine.
Which that thou mayft believe, and be confirm'd 355
Ere thou from hence depart, know I am fent
To fhow thee what fhall come in future days
To thee and to thy offspring; good with bad
Expect to hear, fupernal grace contending
With finfulness of men; thereby to learn
True patience, and to temper joy with fear
And pious forrow, equally inur'd

By moderation either state to bear,

Profperous or adverfe: fo fhalt thou lead
Safeft thy life, and beft prepar'd endure-
Thy mortal paffage when it comes

Afcend

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This hill; let Eve (for I have drench'd her eyes)
Here fleep below, while thou to forefight wak'st;
As once thou flepft, while fhe to life was form’d.
To whom thus Adam gratefully reply'd
Afcend, I follow thee, fafe guide, the path
Thou lead't me', and to the hand of heav'n fubmit,

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However chaft'ning, to the evil turn

My obvious breaft, arming to overcome

By fuffering, and earn reft from labour won, 375
If fo I may attain. So both afcend

In the vifions of God: It was a hill
Of Paradife the higheft, from whofe top
The hemifphere of earth in cleareft ken
Stretch'd out to th' ampleft reach of profpect lay. 380
Not high'er that hill, nor wider looking round,
Whereon for different cause the tempter fet

Our fecond Adam in the wilderness,

To fhow him all earth's kingdoms, and their glory'.
His eye might there command wherever ftood 385
City of old or modern fame, the feat

Of mightiest empire, from the destin'd walls
Of Cambalu, feat of Cathaian Can,

And Samarchand by Oxus, Temir's throne,
To Paquin of Sinean kings, and thence
To Agra and Lahor of great Mogul,
Down to the golden Cherfonefe, or where
The Perfian in Ecbatan fat, or fince

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In Ifpahan, or where the Ruffian Czar
In Mofco, or the Sultan in Bizance,

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Turcheftan-born; nor could his eye not ken

Th' empire of Negus to his utmost port
Ercoco, and the less maritime kings,
Mombaza, and Quiloa, and Melind,
And Sofala, thought Ophir, to the realm
Of Congo, and Angola farthest fouth;
Or thence from Niger flood to Atlas mount,
The kingdoms of Almanzor, Fez, and Sus,
Morocco and Algiers, and Tremisen ;

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On Europe thence, and where Rome was to fway The world in fpi'rit perhaps he alfo faw

Rich Mexico the feat of Montezume,

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And

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