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First Father, call'd by thee I come thy guide
To the garden of bliss, thy seat prepar'd.
So saying, by the hand he took me rais'd,
And over fields and waters, as in air
Smooth sliding without step, last led me up
A woody mountain; whose high top was plain,
A circuit wide, inclos'd, with goodliest trees
Planted, with walks, and bow'rs, that what I
[tree
Of earth before scarce pleasant seem'd. Each
Loaden with fairest fruit, that hung to th' eye
Tempting, stirr'd in me sudden appetite
To pluck and eat: whereat I wak'd, and found
Before mine eyes all real, as the dream
Had lively shadow'd: Here had new begun
My wand'ring, had not he who was my guide
Up hither, from among the trees appear'd,
Presence divine. Rejoicing, but with awe,
In adoration at his feet I fell

Submiss he rear'd me, and whom thou

:

sought'st I am,

Said mildly, Author of all thou seest
Above, or round about thee, or beneath.
This Paradise I give thee, count it thine
To till and keep, and of the fruit to eat :
Of every tree that in the garden grows
Eat freely with glad heart; fear here no dearth;
But of the tree whose operation brings
Knowledge of good and ill, which I have set
The pledge of thy obedience and thy faith,
Amid the garden by the tree of life,

Remember that I warn thee, shun to taste,
And shun the bitter consequence: for know,
The day thou eat'st thereof, my sole command
Transgress'd, inevitably thou shalt die,
From that day mortal, and this happy state
Shalt lose, expell'd from hence into a world
Of woe and sorrow. Sternly he pronounc'd
The rigid interdiction, which resounds
Yet dreadful in mine ear, though in my choice
Not to incur; but soon his clear aspect
Return'd, and gracious purpose thus renew'd.
Not only these fair bounds, but all the earth
To thee and to thy race I give; as lords
Possess it, and all things that therein live,
Or live in sea, or air, beast, fish, and fowl.
In sign whereof each bird and beast behold
After their kinds; I bring them to receive
From thee their names, and pay thee feälty
With low subjection; understand the same
Of fish within their wat'ry residence,
Not hither summon'd, since they cannot change
Their element to draw the thinner air.
As thus he spake, each bird and beast behold
Approaching two and two, these cow'ring low
With blandishment, each bird stoop'd on his
wing.

I nam d them, as they pass'd, and understood Their nature, with such knowledge God indued

My sudden apprehension: but in these
I found not what methought I wanted still;
And to the heav'nly vision thus presum'd.

O by what name, for thou above all these, Above mankind, or ought than mankind higher,

Surpassest far my naming, how may I
Adore thee, Author of this universe,

And all this good to man? for whose well being
So amply, and with hands so liberal
Thou hast provided all things: but with me
I see not who partakes. In solitude
What happiness, who can enjoy alone,
Or all enjoying, what contentment find?
Thus I presumptuous; and the vision bright,
As with a smile more brighten'd, thus reply'd.
What call'st thou solitude? Is not the earth
With varions living creatures, and the air
Replenish'd, and all these at thy command
To come and play before thee? Know'st thou
[know,
Their language and their ways? They also
And reason not contemptibly; with these
Find pastime, and bear rule; thy realm is
large.

not

So spake the universal Lord, and seem'd
So ord'ring. I with leave of speech implor'd,
And humble deprecation thus reply'd.

Let not my words offend thee, heav'nly

Power,

My Maker, be propitious while I sprak.
Hast thou uot made me here thy substitute,
And these inferior far beneath me set?
Among unequals what society
Can sort, what harmony and true delight?
Which must be mutual, in proportion due
Giv'n and receiv'd; but in disparity
The one intense, the other still remiss
Cannot snit well with either, but soon prove
Tedious alike: of fellowship I speak
Such as I seek, fit to participate.
All rational delight, wherein the brute
Cannot be human consort; they rejoice
Each with their kind, lion with lioness;
So fitly them in pairs thou hast combin'd;
Much less can bird with beast, or fish with

fowl

So well converse, nor with the ox the ape;
Worse then can man with beast, and least of
all.
[pleas'd.
Whereto th' Almighty answer'd not dis-
A nice and subtle happiness I see
Thou to thyself proposest, in the choice
Of thy associates, Adam, and wilt taste
No pleasure, though in pleasure, solitary.
What think'st thou then of me, and this my

state?

Seem I to thee sufficiently possess'd Of happiness, or not? Who am alone

From all eternity, for none I know
Second to me or like, equal much less.
How have I then with whom to hold converse
Save with the creatures I have made, and those
To me inferior, infinite descents
Beneath what other creatures are to thee?

He ceas'd, I lowly answer'd. To attain
The heighth and depth of thy eternal ways
All human thoughts come short, Supreme of
things;

Thou in thyself are perfect, and in thee
Is no deficience found: not so is man,
But in degree the cause of his desire
By conversation with his like to help,

Or solace his defects. No need that thou
Shouldst propagate, already infinite,
And through all numbers absolute, though

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Thus I imbolden'd spake, and freedom us'd Permissive, and acceptance found, which gain'd This answer from the gracious voice divine.

Thus far to try thee, Adam, I was pleas'd,
And find thee kuowing not of beasts alone,
Which thou had rightly nam'd, but of thyself,
Expressing well the spirit within thee free,
My image, not imparted to the brute,
Whose fellowship therefore unmeet for thee
Good reason was thou freely shoul'dst dislike
And be so minded still; I, e'er thou spak'st,
Knew it not good for man to be alone,
And no such company as then thou saw'st
Intended thee, for trial only brought,

To see how thou could'st judge of fit and meet:
What next I bring shall please thee, be assur'd,
Thy likeness, thy fit help, thy other self,
Thy wish exactly to thy heart's desire.

He ended, or I heard no more, for now
My earthly by his heav'nly overpower'd
Which it had long stood under, strain'd to th'
heighth

In that celestial colloquy sublime,
As with an object that excels the sense
Dazzled and spent, sunk down, and sought
repair

Of Sleep, which instantly fell on me, call'd

By Nature as in aid, and elos'd mine eyes.
Mine eyes he clos'd, but open left the cell
Of fancy my internal sight, by which
Abstract as in a trance methought I saw,
Though sleeping, where I lay, and saw the
shape

Still glorious before whom awake I stood:
Who stooping open'd my left side, and took
From thence a rib, with cordial spirits warm,
And life blood streaming fresh; wide was the
wound,

But suddenly with flesh fill'd up and heal'd :
The rib he form'd and fashion'd with his hands;
Under his forming hands a creature grew
Manlike, but different sex, so lovely fair,
That what seem'd fair in all the world, seem'd

DOW

Mean, or in her summ'd up, in her contain'd
And in her looks, which from that time infus'd
Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before
And into all things from her air inspir'd
The spirit of love and amorous delight.
She disappear'd, and left me dark; I wak'd
To find her, or for ever to deplore

Her loss, and other pleasures all abjure:
When out of hope, behold her, not far off,
Such as I saw her in my dream, adorn'd
With what all Earth or Heaven could bestow
To make her amiable: on she came,
Led by her heav'aly Maker, though unseen,
And guided by his voice, nor uninform'd
Of nuptial sanctity and marriage rius:
Grace was in all her steps, Heav'n to her eye,
In every gesture diguity and love.
I overjoy'd could not forbear aloud..

This turn bath made amends; thou hast
fulfill'd

Thy words, Creator bounteous and benige,
Giver of all things fair, but fairest this
Of all thy gifts, nor enviest. I now see
Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, myscif
Before me; Woman is her name, of Man
Extracted; for this cause he shall forego
Father and mother, and to his wife adhere;
And they shall be one flesh, one keart, one soul.
She heard me thus, and though divinely
brought,

Yet innocence and virgin modesty,

Her virtue and the couscience of her worth, That would be woo'd, and not unsough be

won,

Not obvious, not obtrusive, but retir'd,
The more desirable, or to say all,
Nature herself, though pure of siuful thought,
Wrought in her so, that seeing me, she turn'd;
I follow'd her, she what was honor knew,
And with obsequious majesty approv'd
My pleaded reason. To the nuptial bower
I led her blushing like the Moru: all Heav'n,

And happy constellations on that hour
Shed their selectest influence; the Earth
Gave sign of gratulation, and each hill;
Joyous the birds; fresh gates and gentle airs
Whisper'd it to the woods, and from their wings
Flung rose, Aung odors from the spicy srub,
Disporting till the amorous bird of night
Suug spousal, and bid haste the evening star
On his hill top, to light the bridal lamp.
Thus have I told thee all my state, and brought
My story to the sum of earthly bliss
Which I enjoy, and must confess to find
lo all things else delight indeed, but such
As us'd or not, works in the mind no change,
Nor vehement desire, these delicacies

Thy cherishing, thy honoring, and thy love,
Not thy subjection: weigh with her thyself;
Then value: oft-times nothing profits more
Than self esteem, grounded on just and right
Well manag'd; of that skill the more thou
know'st,

The more she will acknowledge thee her head,
And to realities yield all her shows:
Made so adorn for thy delight the more,
So awful, that with honour thou may'st love
Thy mate, who sees when thou art seen least
wise.

But if the sense of touch whereby mankind
Is propagated seem such dear delight
Beyond all other, think the same vouchsaf'd

I mean of taste, sight, smell, herbs, fruits, and To cattle and each beast; which would not be

flowers,

Walks, and the melody of birds; but here Far otherwise, transported I behold, Transported touch; here passion first I felt, Commotion strange, in all enjoyment else Superior and unmov'd, here only weak Against the charm of Beauty's powerful glance. Or Nature fair'd in me, and left some part Not proof enough such object to sustain, Or from my side subducting, took perhaps More than enough; at least on her bestow'd Too much of ornament, in outward show Elaborate, of inward less exact.

For well I understand in the prime end Of Nature ber th' inferior, in the mind And inward faculties which most excel, In outward also her resembling less His image who made both, and less expressing The character of that dominion given O'er other creatures; yet when i approach Her loveliness, so absolute she seems And in herself complete, so well to know Her own, that what she wills to do or say Seems wisest, virtuonsest, discreetess, best; All higher knowledge'm her presence falls Degraded, Wisdom in discourse with her Loses disconntenanc'd, and like Folly shows; Authority and Reason on her wait, As one intended first, not after made Occasionally; and to consummate all, Greatness of mind, and Nobleness their seat Build in her loveliest, and create an awe About her, as a guard angelic plac'd.

To whom the angel with contracted brow.
Accuse not Nature, she hath done her part;
Do thou but thine, and be not diffident
Of Wisdom, she deserts thee not, if thou
Dismiss not her, when most thou need'st her
nigh,

By attributing overmuch to things
Less excellent, as thou thyself perceiv'st.
For what admir'st thou, what transports thee so,
An outside? fair no doubt, and worthy well

To them made common and divulg'd, if ought
Therein enjoy'd were worthy to subdue
The soul of man, or passion in him move.
What higher in her society thou find'st
Attractive, human, rational, love still;
In loving thou dost well, in passion not,
Wherein true love consists not; Love refines
The thoughts, and heart in larges, hath his seat
In reason, and is judicious, is the scale
By which to heav'nly love thou may'st ascend,
Not sunk in carnal pleasure, for which cause
Among the beasts no mate for thee was found.

To whom thus half abash'd Adam reply'd:
Neither her outside form'd so fair, nor ought
In procreation common to all kinds
(Though higher of the genial bed by far,
And with mysterious reverence I deem)
So much delights me, as those graceful acts,
Those thousand decencies that daily flow
From all her words and actions inix'd with love
And sweet compliance, which declare unfeigu
Union of mind, or in us both one soul;
Harmony to behold in wedded pair
Mo e grateful than harmonious sound to th

ear.

Yet these subject not; I to thee disclose
What inward thence I feel, not therefore foil'd,
What mect with various objects, from the sense
Variously representing; yet still free
Approve the best, and follow what I approve.
To love thou blam'st me not, for love thou
say'st
Lead'st up to Heav'n, is both the way and
[guide;
Bear with me then, if lawful what I ask}
Love not the heav'nly spirits, and how their

love

frradiance, virtual or immediate touch? Express they, by looks only, or do they mix

To whom the angel with a smile that glow'd Celestial rosy red, Love's proper hue, Answer'd. Let it suffice thee that thou know'st Us happy, and without love no happiness. Whatever pure thon in the body enjoy'st

(And pure thou wert created) we enjoy
In eminence, and obstacle And none

Of membrane, joint, or limb, exclusive bars;
Easier than air with air, if spirits embrace,
Total they mix, union of pure with pure
Desiring; nor restrain'd conveyance need
As flesh to mix with flesh, or soul with soul.
But I can now no more; the parting sun
Deyoud the Earth's green cape and verdant
isles

Hesperian sets, my signal to depart.

The weal or woe in thee is plac'd; beware,
I in thy persevering shall rejoice,

And all the Blest: stand fast; to stand or fall
Free in thine on arbitrement it lies,
Perfect within, no outward aid require;
And all temptation to transgress repel.

So saying, he arose; whom Adam thus
Follow'd with bencdictions: Since to part,
Go heav'nly guest, ethereal messenger,
Sent from whose sov'reign goodness I adore.
Gentle to me and affable hath been

Be strong, live happy, and love, but first of all Thy condescension, and shall be honor'd ever Him whom to love is to obey, and keep

His great command; take heed lest passion

sway

Thy judgment to do ought, which else free will
Would not admit; thine and of all thy sons

With grateful memory: thou to mankind
Be good and friendly still, and oft return.
So parted they, the angel up to Heav'n
From the thick shade, and Adain to his bower.

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Satan having compassed the Earth, with meditated guile returns as a mist by night into Paradise, enters into the serpent sleeping. Adam and Eve in the morning go forth to their labours, which Eve proposes to divide in several places, each labouring apart: Adam consents not, alledging the danger, lest that enemy, of whom they were forwarned, should attempt her, found alone: Eve, loath to be thought not circumspect or firm enough, urges her going apart, the rather desirous to make trial of her strength; Adam at length yields: The Serpent finds her alone; his subtle approach, fiist gazing, then speaking, with much flattery extolling Eve above all other creatures. Eve, wondering to hear the Serpent speak, asks how he attained to human speech and understanding not till now, the Serpent answers, that by tasting of a certain tree in the garden he attained both to speech and reason, till then void of both: Eve requires him to bring her to that tree, and finds it to be the Tree of Knowledge forbidden: The Serpent now grown bolder, with many wiles and arguments induces her at length to eat; she pleased with the taste, deliberates a while whether to impart thereof to Adam or not, at last brings him of the fruit, relates what had persuaded ber to eat thereof: Adam at first amazed, but perceiving her lost, resolves through vehemence of love to perish with her; and extenuating the trespass, eats also of the fruit: The effects thereof in them both; they seek to cover their wakedness; then fall to variance and accusation of one another.

Να
more of talk where God or angel guest
With man, as with his friend, familiar us'd
To sit indulgent, and with him partake
Rural repast, permitting him the while
Venial discourse unblam'd; I now must change
Those notes to tragic; foul distrust, and
breach

Disloyal on the part of man, revolt,
And disobedience: on the part of Heav'n
Now alienated, distance and distate,
Anger and just rebuke, and judgment giv'n,
That brought into this world a world of woe,
Sin and her shadow Death, aud Misery
Death's harbinger: sad task, yet argument
Not less but more heroic than the wrath
Of stern Achilles on his foe pursu'd
Thrice fugitive about Troy wall: or rage
Of Turnus for Lavinia disespous'd,
Or Neptune's ire or Juno's, that so long
Perplex'd the Greck and Cytherea's son ;
If answerable still I can obtain

Of my celestial Patroness, who deigns
Her nightly visitation unimplor'd,
And dictates to me slumb'ring, or inspires
Easy my unpremeditated verse:
Since first this subject for heroic song
Pleas'd me long chesing, and beginning late;
Not sedulous by nature to indite
Wars, hitherto the only argument
Heroic deem'd, chicf mastry to dissect
With long and tedious havoc fabled knights
In battles feign'd; the better fortitude
Of Patience and heroic Martyrdom
Unsung; or to decide races and games,
Or tilting furniture, imblazon'd shields,
Impresses quaint, caparisons and steeds;
Bases and tinsel trappings, gorgeous knights
At joust and tournament, then marshal'd
fcast

Serv'd up in hall with sewers, and senesballs;
The skill of artifice or office mean,
Not that which justly gives heroic name

To person or to poem. Me of these
Nor skill'd nor studious, higher argument
Remains, sufficient of itself to raise

That nanie, unless an age too late, or cold
Climate, or years damp my intended wing
Depress'd, and much they may, if all be mine,
Not hers who brings it nightly to my ear.

The sun was sunk, and after him the star
Of Hesperus, whose office is to bring
Twilight upon the Earth, short arbiter
Twixt day and night, and now from end to end
Night's hemisphere had veil'd th' horizon

round:

When Satan who late fled before the threats
Of Gabriel out of Eden, now improv'd
In meditated fraud and malice bent

Active within beyond the sense of brute.
Thus he resolv'd, but first from inward grief
His bursting passion into plaints thus pour'd.

O Earth, how like to Heav'n, if not preferr'd
More justly, seat of worthier gods, as built
With second thoughts, reforming what was

old!

heav'ns

For what God after better worse would build?
Terrestrial Heav'n, dauc'd round by other
[lamp
That shine, yet bear their bright officious
Light above light, for thee alone, as seems
In thee concentrating all their precious beams
Of sacred influence! As God in Heav'n
Is center, yet extends to all, so thou
Centring receiv'st from all those orbs; in thee,

On man's destruction, maugre what might hap Not in themselves, all their known virtue ap.
Of heavier on himself, fearless return'd.
By night he fled, and at midnight return'd.
From compassing the Earth, cautious of day,
Since Uriel regent of the sun descry'd
His entrance, and forwarn'd the cherubim
That kept their watch; thence full of anguish
driv❜n,

The space of sev'n continued nights he rode
With Darkness, thrice the equinoctial line
He circled, four times cross'd the ear of Night
From pole to pole, traversing each colure;
On th' eighth returu'd, and on the coast averse
From entrance or cherubic watch, by stealth
Found unsuspected way. There was a place,
Now not, tho' Sin, not Time, first wrought
the change,

Where Tigris at the foot of Paradise
Into a gulf shot under ground, till part
Rose up a fountain by the Tree of Life;
In which the river sunk, aud with it rose
Satan involv'd in rising mist, then sought
Where to lie hid; sea he had search'd and land
From Eden over Pontus, and the pool
Mæotis, up beyond the river Ob;
Downward as far as antarctic; and in length
West from Orontes to the ocean barr'd

At Darien, thence to the land where flows
Ganges and Indus: thus the orb he roam'd
With narrow search, and with inspection deep,||
Consider'd every creature, which of all

pears
Productive in herb, plant, and nobler birth
Of creatures animate with gradual life
Of growth, sense, reason, all summ'd up in man.
With what delight could I have waik'd thee
round,

If I could joy in ought, sweet interchange
Of hill, and valley, rivers, woods, and plains,
Now land, now sea, and shores with forest
crown'd

Rocks, dens, and caves! but I in none of these
Find place or refuge; and the more I see
Pleasures about me, so much more I feel
Torment within me, as from the hateful siege
Of contrarics; all good to me becomes
Bane, and in Heav'n much worse would be my

state.

But neither here seek 1, no nor in Heav'n
To dwell, unless by mastering Heav'n's Su-
preme;

Nor hope to be myself less miserable
By what I seek, but others to make such
As I, though thereby worse to me redound:
For whom all this was made, all this will soon
Follow, as to him link'd in weal or woe,
In woe then; that Destruction wide may range:
To me shall be the glory sole among
Th' infernal Pow'rs, in one day to have marr'd
What he Almighty styľ'd, six nights and days
Continued making, and who knows how long

Most opportune might serve his wiles, and Before had been contriving, though perhaps

found

The serpent subtlest beast of all the field,
Hin after long debate, irresolute

Of thoughts revolv'd, his final sentence chose
Fit vessel, fittest imp of fraud, in whom
To enter, and his dark suggestions hide,
From sharpest sight: for in the wily snake,
Whatever sleights none would suspicious mark,
As from his wit and native subtlety
Proceeding, which in other beasts observ'd
Doubt might beget of diabolic power

Not longer than since I in one night freed
From servitude inglorious well nigh half
Th' angelic name, and thinner left the throng
Of his adorers: he to be aveng'd
And to repair his numbers thus impair'd,
Whether such virtue spent of old now fail'd
More Angels to create if they at least
Are his created, or to spite us more,
Determin'd to advance into our room
And creature form'd of earth, and him endow,
Exalted from so base original,

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