More of th' Almighties works, and chiefly Man
Gods latest Image: I defcrib'd his way
Bent all on speed, and markt his Aerie Gate;
But in the Mount that lies from Eden North,
Where he first lighted, foon discernd his looks 570
Alien from Heav'n, with paffions foul obscur'd:
Mine eye purfu'd him still, 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 returnd: Uriel, no wonder if thy perfet fight,
Amid the Suns bright circle where thou fitst,
See farr and wide: in at this Gate none pafs
The vigilance here plac't, but such as come
Well known from Heav'n; and fince Meridian hour
No Creature thence: if Spirit of other sort,
So minded, have oreleapt these earthie bounds
On purpose, hard thou knowft it to exclude
Spiritual substance with corporeal barr.
But if within the circuit of these walks
In whatsoever shape he lurk, of whom
Thou telft, by morrow dawning I shall know.
So promis'd hee, and Uriel to his charge
589
Returnd on that bright beam, whofe point now raifd
Bore him slope 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 shorter flight to th' East, had left him there
Arraying with reflected Purple and Gold
The Clouds that on his Western Throne attend:
Now came ftill Eevning on, and Twilight gray
Had in her fober Liverie all things clad;
Silence accompanied, for Beast and Bird,
They to thir graffie Couch, these to thir Nefts
Were flunk, all but the wakeful Nightingale;
She all night long her amorous descant fung;
Silence was pleas'd: now glow'd the Firmament
With living Saphirs: Hesperus that led
The starrie Hoft, rode brightest, till the Moon
Rifing in clouded Majestie, at length
Apparent Queen unvaild her peerless light,
And o're 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 repose, fince God hath set
Labour and rest, as day and night to men
Succeffive, and the timely dew of fleep
Now falling with soft flumbrous weight inclines
Our eye-lids; other Creatures all day long
Rove idle unimploid, and lefs need reft;
Man hath his daily work of body or mind
Appointed, which declares his Dignitie,
And the regard of Heav'n on all his waies;
While other Animals unactive range,
And of thir doings God takes no account.
To morrow ere fresh Morning streak the East
With first approach of light, we must be ris'n,
And at our pleasant labour, to reform
Yon flourie Arbors, yonder Allies green,
Our walks at noon, with branches overgrown,
That mock our scant manuring, and require
628 manuring] manoeuvring, or working with hands.
More hands then ours to lop thir wanton growth: Those Bloffoms alfo, and thofe dropping Gumms, That lie bestrowne unfightly and unsmooth, 631 Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease; Mean while, as Nature wills, Night bids us reft. To whom thus Eve with perfet beauty adornd. My Author and Disposer, what thou bidst Unargu'd I obey; fo God ordains,
God is thy Law, thou mine: to know no more
Is womans happiest knowledge and her praise.
With thee converfing I forget all time,
All seasons and thir 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 fertil earth
After foft showers; and sweet the coming on
Of grateful Eevning milde, then filent Night
With this her folemn Bird and this fair Moon,
And these the Gemms of Heav'n, her starrie 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, floure,
Gliftring with dew, nor fragrance after showers,
Nor grateful Evening mild, nor filent Night
With this her folemn Bird, nor walk by Moon,
Or glittering Starr-light without thee is fweet.
But wherfore all night long shine these, for whom
This glorious fight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?
To whom our general Ancestor repli'd.
Daughter of God and Man, accomplisht Eve, 660
Thofe have thir 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 rise;
Least total darkness should by Night regaine
Her old poffeffion, and extinguish life
In Nature and all things, which these soft fires
Not only enlighten, but with kindly heate
Of various influence foment and warme,
Temper or nourish, or in part shed down
Thir ftellar vertue on all kinds that
grow
On Earth, made hereby apter to receive
Perfection from the Suns more potent Ray.
These then, though unbeheld in deep of night,
Shine not in vain, nor think, though men were none,
That heav'n would want fpectators, God want praise;
Millions of fpiritual Creatures walk the Earth
Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep:
All these with ceafless praise his works behold
Both day and night: how often from the steep
Of echoing Hill or Thicket have we heard
Celestial voices to the midnight air,
Sole, or refponfive each to others note
Singing thir great Creator: oft in bands
While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk
With Heav'nly touch of inftrumental founds
In full harmonic number joind, thir fongs
Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to Heaven.
Thus talking hand in hand alone they pass'd
On to thir blissful Bower; it was a place
Chos'n by the fovran Planter, when he fram'd
All things to mans delightful use; the roofe
Of thickest covert was inwoven shade
Laurel and Mirtle, and what higher grew
Of firm and fragrant leaf; on either fide
Acanthus, and each odorous bufhie fhrub
Fenc'd up
the verdant wall; each beauteous flour,
Iris all hues, Rofes, and Geffamin
[wrought Rear'd high thir flourisht heads between, and Mofaic; underfoot the Violet,
Crocus, and Hyacinth with rich inlay
Broiderd the ground, more colour'd then with stone
Of costlieft Emblem: other Creature here
Beast, Bird, Infect, or Worm durft enter none;
Such was thir awe of man. In fhadier Bower
More facred and fequefterd, though but feignd,
Pan or Silvanus never flept, nor Nymph,
Nor Faunus haunted. Here in close recefs
With Flowers, Garlands, and sweet-smelling Herbs
Espoused Eve deckt first 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 then Pandora, whom the Gods
Endowd with all thir gifts, and O too like
In fad event, when to the unwifer Son
Of Japhet brought by Hermes, she enfnar'd
Mankind with her faire looks, to be aveng'd
On him who had stole Joves authentic fire.
Thus at thir fhadie Lodge arriv'd, both stood
Both turnd, and under op'n Skie ador'd
The God that made both Skie, Air, Earth & Heav'n Which they beheld, the Moons refplendent Globe And starrie Pole: Thou also mad'st the Night,
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