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The Cherubim descended; on the ground
Gliding meteorous, as ev'ning mist

Ris'n from a river o'er the marish glides,

And gathers ground fast at the labourer's heel
Homeward returning. High in front advanc'd
The brandish'd sword of God before them blaz'd
Fierce as a comet; which with torrid heat,
And vapour as the Libyan air adust,
Began to parch that temperate clime: whereat
In either hand th' hast'ning angel caught
Our ling'ring parents, and to the eastern gate
Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast
To the subjected plain; then disappear'd.
They looking back, all th' eastern side beheld
Of paradise, so late their happy seat,
Wav'd over by that flaming brand, the gate
With dreadful faces throng'd and fiery arms:

630

635

640

Some natural tears they dropp'd, but wip'd them

soon;

630 glides] See Dante Il Purgat. c. v. 37.
'Vapori accesi non vid' io sì tosto

Di prima notte mai fender sereno,

645

[blocks in formation]

Splendor cometa suol per l'aria adusta.'

643 brand] Sword. Gen. i. 24. Blade, xi. 120. Bentl. MS.

Bowle.

The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide. They, hand in hand, with wand'ring steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way.

646 world] Shakesp. Rich. II. act i. sc. 3.

648 hand]

all the world's my way.' Johnson.

A small but artful paradise they walk'd,
And hand in hand sad gentle things they talk'd.'

See Cowley's Davideis, p. 20.

648 wand'ring] Wearied. Careful. Social. Bentl. MS.

PARADISE REGAINED.

PARADISE REGAINED.

BOOK I.

I, WHO ere-while the happy garden sung,
By one man's disobedience lost, now sing
Recover'd paradise to all mankind,
By one man's firm obedience fully try'd
Through all temptation, and the tempter foil'd
In all his wiles, defeated, and repuls'd,
And Eden rais'd in the waste wilderness.

Thou Spirit, who led'st this glorious Eremite
Into the desert, his victorious field,

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Against the spiritual foe, and brought'st him thence
By proof the undoubted Son of God, inspire,
As thou art wont, my prompted song, else mute,
And bear thro' highth or depth of nature's bounds
With prosperous wing full summ'd to tell of deeds
Above heroic, though in secret done,
And unrecorded left through many an age,
Worthy t' have not remain'd so long unsung.

7 waste] Spens. Fairy Queen, i. i. 32.

'Far hence, quoth he, in wasteful wilderness. Dunster. 14 summ'd] Drayton's Polyolbion. Song xi.

'The muse from Cambria comes, with pinions summ'd and sound.'

15

Todd.

VOL. II.

9

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