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Distended as the brow of God appeas'd,
Or serve they as a flow'ry verge to bind
The fluid skirts of that same wat❜ry cloud,
Lest it again dissolve and show'r the earth?
To whom th' archangel.

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Dext'rously thou aim'st;

So willingly doth God remit his ire,

Though late repenting him of man deprav'd, Griev'd at his heart, when looking down he saw

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His triple-colour'd bow, whereon to look,

And call to mind his covenant :

And it shall come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud : and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth, ver. 14, 16.

-day and night, Seed-time and harvest, heat and hoary frost

Shall hold their course, While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease, Gen. viii. 22.

-till fire purge all things new, Both heav'n and earth, wherein the just shall dwell.

The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat: nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, 2 Pet. iii. 12, 13.

The whole earth fill'd with violence, and all flesh
Corrupting each their way; yet those remov'd,
Such grace shall one just man find in his sight,
That he relents, not to blot out mankind,
And makes a covenant never to destroy
The earth again by flood, nor let the sea
Surpass his bounds, nor rain to drown the world
With man therein or beast; but when he brings
Over the earth a cloud, will therein set

His triple-colour'd bow, whereon to look,
And call to mind his covenant: day and night,
Seed-time and harvest, heat and hoary frost

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Shall hold their course, till fire purge all things new, 900 Both heav'n and earth wherein the just shall dwell.

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THE ARGUMENT.

THE Angel Michael continues from the flood to relate what shall succeed; then, in the mention of Abraham, comes by degrees to explain, who that Seed of the Woman shall be, which was promised Adam and Eve in the fall; his incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension; the state of the church till his second coming. Adam, greatly satisfied and recomforted by these relations and promises, descends the hill with Michael; wakens Eve, who all this while had slept, but with gentle dreams composed to quietness of mind and submission. Michael in either hand leads them out of Paradise, the fiery sword waving behind them, and the Cherubim taking their stations to guard the place.

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK XII.

As one who in his journey baits at noon,

Though bent on speed; so here th' archangel paus'd
Betwixt the world destroy'd and world restor❜d,
If Adam ought perhaps might interpose;
Then with transition sweet new speech resumes.
Thus thou hast seen one world begin and end;
And man as from a second stock proceed.
Much thou hast yet to see, but I perceive
Thy mortal sight to fail; objects divine
Must needs impair and weary human sense :
Henceforth what is to come I will relate,

1. As one &c.] In the first edition, before the last book was divided into two, the narration went on without any interruption; but upon that division in the second edition, these first five lines were inserted. This addition begins the book very gracefully, and is indeed (to apply the author's own words) a sweet transition.

11. Henceforth what is to come I will relate,] Milton, after having represented in vision the history of mankind to the first

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great period of nature, dispatches the remaining part of it in narration. He has devised a very handsome reason for the angel's proceeding with Adam after this manner; though doubtless the true reason was the difficulty which the poet would have found to have shadowed out so mixed and complicated a story in visible objects. I could wish, however, that the author had done it, whatever pains it might have cost him. To give my opinion freely, I

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