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Pasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung.
"The grassy clods now calved; now half appear'd
The tawny lion, pawing to get free

His hinder parts, then springs, as broke from bonds,
And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the ounce,
The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole

Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw
In hillocks the swift stag from under ground
Bore up his branching head: scarce from his mould
Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved
His vastness: fleeced the flocks and bleating rose,
As plants: ambiguous between sea and land
The river-horse, and scaly crocodile.

"At once came forth whatever creeps the ground,
Insect or worm: those waved their limber fans
For wings, and smallest lineaments exact
In all the liveries deck'd of summer's pride,
With spots of gold and purple, azure and green;
These as a line their long dimension drew,
Streaking the ground with sinuous trace; not all
Minims of nature; some of serpent-kind,
Wondrous in length and corpulence, involved
Their snaky folds, and added wings.

The parsimonious emmet, provident

"First crept

Of future; in small room large heart enclosed;
Pattern of just equality perhaps

Hereafter, joined in her popular tribes

Of commonalty: swarming next appear'd

The female bee, that feeds her husband drone

Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells

With honey stored: the rest are numberless,

And thou their natures know'st, and gav'st them names,
Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown

The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field,
Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes
And hairy mane terrific, though to thee
Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.

"Now heaven in all her glory shone, and roll'd
Her motions, as the great first Mover's hand
First wheel'd their course: earth in her rich attire
Consummate lovely smiled; air, water, earth,

By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walk'd,

Frequent; and of the sixth day yet remain'd:
There wanted yet the master-work, the end
Of all yet done; a creature, who, not prone
And brute as other creatures, but endued
With sanctity of reason, might erect

His stature, and upright with front serene
Govern the rest, self-knowing; and from thence
Magnanimous to correspond with heaven,

But grateful to acknowledge whence his good
Descends; thither with heart, and voice, and eyes,
Directed in devotion, to adore

And worship God supreme, who made him chief
Of all His works: therefore the Omnipotent
Eternal Father (for where is not He
Present?) thus to His Son audibly spake :
"Let us make now man in our image, man
In our similitude, and let them rule
Over the fish and fowl of sea and air,

Beast of the field, and over all the earth,

And every creeping thing that creeps the ground.'
This said, He form'd thee, Adam, thee, O man,
Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breathed
The breath of life; in His own image He
Created thee, in the image of God
Express; and thou becam❜st a living soul.
Male He created thee; but thy consort

Female, for race; then bless'd mankind, and said,
‘Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth;
Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold
Over fish of the sea, and fowl of the air,
And every living thing that moves on the earth.'
"Wherever thus created, (for no place

Is yet distinct by name,) thence, as thou knowest,
He brought thee into this delicious grove,
This garden, planted with the trees of God,
Delectable both to behold and taste;

And freely all their pleasant fruit for food

Gave thee: all sorts are here that all the earth yields, Variety without end; but of the tree

Which, tasted, works knowledge of good and evil, Thou may'st not; in the day thou eat'st, thou diest; Death is the penalty imposed; beware,

And govern well thy appetite; lest Sin

Surprise thee, and her black attendant Death.
"Here finish'd He, and all that He had made
View'd, and, behold, all was entirely good;
So even and morn accomplish'd the sixth day:
Yet not till the Creator, from His work
Desisting, though unwearied, up return'd,
Up to the heaven of heavens, His high abode ;
Thence to behold this new-created world,
The addition of His empire, how it show'd
In prospect from His throne, how good, how fair,
Answering His great idea. Up He rode,
Follow'd with acclamation, and the sound
Symphonious of ten thousand harps, that tuned
Angelic harmonies: the earth, the air

Resounded, (thou remember'st, for thou heard'st,)
The heavens and all the constellations rung,
The planets in their station listening stood,
While the bright pomp ascended jubilant.
"Open, ye everlasting gates!' they sung;
'Open, ye heavens, your living doors; let in
The great Creator from His work return'd
Magnificent, His six days' work, a world;
Open, and henceforth oft; for God will deign
To visit oft the dwellings of just men,
Delighted; and with frequent intercourse
Thither will send His winged messengers
On errands of supernal grace.'

66
"So sung

The glorious train ascending: He through heaven,
That open'd wide her blazing portals, led

To God's eternal house direct the way;

A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold,
And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear,
Seen in the galaxy, that milky way,

Which nightly, as a circling zone, thou seest
Powder'd with stars.

"And now on earth the seventh Evening arose in Eden, for the sun

Was set, and twilight from the east came on,
Forerunning night; when at the holy mount
Of heaven's high-seated top, the imperial throne
Of Godhead fix'd for ever firm and sure,
The Filial Power arrived, and sat Him down

With His great Father; for He also went
Invisible, yet stay'd, (such privilege

Hath Omnipresence,) and the work ordain'd,
Author and End of all things; and, from work
Now resting, bless'd and hallow'd the seventh day,
As resting on that day from all His work,
But not in silence holy kept: the harp
Had work and rested not; the solemn pipe,
And dulcimer, all organs of sweet stop,
All sounds on fret by string or golden wire,
Temper'd soft tunings, intermix'd with voice
Choral or unison: of incense clouds,
Fuming from golden censers, hid the mount.
"Creation and the six days' acts they sung:
'Great are Thy works, Jehovah! infinite

Thy power! What thought can measure Thee, or tongue
Relate Thee? Greater now in Thy return
Than from the giant angels: Thee that day
Thy thunders magnified; but to create
Is greater than created to destroy.

Who can impair Thee, Mighty King, or bound
Thy empire? Easily the proud attempt
Of spirits apostate, and their counsels vain,
Thou hast repell'd: while impiously they thought
Thee to diminish, and from Thee withdraw
The number of Thy worshippers. Who seeks
To lessen Thee, against his
purpose serves

To manifest the more Thy might his evil

Thou usest, and from thence creat'st more good.
"Witness this new-made world, another heaven
From heaven-gate not far, founded in view
On the clear hyaline, the glassy sea;
Of amplitude almost immense, with stars
Numerous, and every star perhaps a world
Of destined habitation; but Thou know'st
Their seasons: among these the seat of men,
Earth with her nether ocean circumfused,
Their pleasant dwelling-place.

"Thrice happy men,

And sons of men, whom God hath thus advanced!

Created in His image, there to dwell

And worship Him; and in reward to rule
Over His works on earth, in sea, or air,

And multiply a race of worshippers,
Holy and just thrice happy, if they know
Their happiness, and persevere upright!'

"So sung they, and the empyrean rung
With halleluiahs: thus was the Sabbath kept.-
And thy request think now fulfill'd, that ask'd
How first this world and face of things began,
And what before thy memory was done
From the beginning; that posterity,

Inform'd by thee, might know: if else thou seek'st Aught not surpassing human measure, say.”

LYCIDAS.

YET Once more, O ye laurels, and once more,
Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere,
I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude;
And, with forced fingers rude,

Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.
Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear,
Compels me to disturb your season due ;
For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,
Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer.
Who would not sing for Lycidas? He knew
Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.
He must not float upon his watery bier
Unwept, and welter to the parching wind,
Without the meed of some melodious tear.
Begin, then, sisters of the sacred well,
That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring,
Begin, and somewhat loudly sweep the string;
Hence with denial vain, and coy excuse:

So may some gentle muse

With lucky words favour
And, as he passes, turn,

my destined urn;

And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud.
For we were nursed upon the self-same hill,
Fed the same flock, by fountain, shade, and rill.
Together both, ere the high lawns appear'd
Under the opening eye-lids of the morn,
We drove a-field, and both together heard

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