me, and the Fear that I have of Shame among the Spirits beneath, whom I feduc'd with far different Promises and other Vaunts than Submiffion, boafting, that I could overcome the Omnipotent. Ah me! little do they know how feverely I fuffer for that vain Boaft; under what Torments I groan inwardly, while they adore me, high advanced on the Throne of Hell, and diftinguifh'd with Sceptre and Diadem: (a) So much the lower ftill I fall, only fupreme in Mifery; fuch Joy does Ambition find! But fay that I could repent, and could by an Act of Grace retain my former State; how foon would Height recall high Thoughts? and how foon unfay what feign'd Submiffion had fworn! Eafe would recant Vows that were made in Pain, as violent and void; (for never can there grow a true Reconcilement, where Wounds of fo deadly Hate have pierc'd fo deep) which would but lead me on to a worfe Relapse, and a Fall ftill heavier; by which Means I fhould dearly purchase a fhort Intermiffion of my prefent Torments, bought at the Price of double Smart. My Punisher knows this, and therefore is as far from granting Peace, as I am from begging it. All Hope thus excluded, instead of us, now outcaft and exil'd, behold his new Delight, MANKIND created, and this World for him: So farewell Hope! and with Hope farewell alfo Fear! farewell Remorfe! all Good is loft to me; Evil be thou henceforth my Good! by thee at least I hold a divided Empire with the King of Heaven, and by thy Means perhaps will reign more than half; as MAN, before it is long, and this new World fhall know. WHILE

(a) Diadem; Fr. Ital. Sp. Lat. from the Gr. i. e. Binding about. What the Syrians call Mitra, the Greeks named Diadema, and the Latins Vitta, fays Scaliger. A white Fillet or Scarf, like the Turkish Turbant; wherewith the antient Princes of

Perfia, and the Priests alfo, tied a Crown about their Heads: A King's Crowns Alexander the Great brought the Use of it first into Europe, as Juftin reports. Cajar and Caligula refufed it; but Aurelian was the firft Roman Emperor that wore a Diadem.

WHILE he was thus fpeaking, the Paffions that mov'd him dimm'd his Face, and he chang'd Countenance thrice and grew pale, with Anger, Envy, and Defpair, which alter'd his borrow'd Visage and betray'd him to be a Counterfeit, if any Eye beheld him; (for heavenly Minds are always clear from fuch Diftempers) whereof he being foon aware, with an outward Calm smooth'd each Perturbation, Contriver of Fraud! and was the first that practis'd Falfhood under a faintly Outfide, to conceal deep Malice with Thoughts of deep Revenge: Yet had he not practis'd enough to deceive URIEL, whofe Eye purfu'd him down the Way he went, and faw him on the Mountain NIPHATES, disfigur'd more than could befall Spirits of happy Kind: He mark'd his fierce Gestures and mad Demeanor, fuppofing himself to be then all alone, unobferv'd and unfeen. So on SATAN journeys, and comes to the Border of EDEN, where delicious PARADISE crowns the champaign Head of a steep Wilderness with her green Înclosure, which makes a rural Fence; whofe fhrubby Sides overgrown with Thickets, wild and grotefque, deny'd all Manner of Access, and over Head grew an unfurmountable Height of loftieft Cedars, (b) Pines, Firs, and wide-spreading Palm, (c) and as the Ranks afcend

(b) Cedar; Fr. Lat. from the Gr. A very large, thick, and tall Tree, with fmall and flender Leaves. It is always green, never decays, and is deteftable to Worms; because of its bitter Sap; the Antients anointed their Books with it, to keep them from being Worm-eaten; My Lord Bacon thinks the Wood of it lafts 1000 Years found. It grows chiefly on M. Lebanon, and in the Woods of America,

Shade

Shade above Shade, made a pleasant Sylvan Scene, a woody Theatre, ftately to the View: Yet higher than their Tops, the green Inclofure and Banks of PAR ADISE fprung up; which gave to ADAM a large Profpect into his lower Empire, neighbouring round the Mount of PARADISE: And higher than that Wall appear'd a circling Row of beautiful Trees, loaden at once with Bloffoms and faireft Fruit of golden Hue, mix'd with gay enamell'd Colours, on which the Sun had left the Beauty of his Beams, more ftrongly painted than he does on a fair Evening Cloud, or on the Rainbow, when God has fent Rain upon the Earth; fo lovely did that Landscape feem: And now purer Air still meets SATAN'S Approach, which to the Heart infpires vernal Delight and Joy, able to chase away all Sadness except Defpair: Now gentle Gales difpenfe natural Perfumes, Sweets which they fan from Flowers, and betray from whence they stole them: As when to them who fail beyond the CAPE OF GOOD

and spreadeth. The Palm was used in the Service of God. "And ye shall take you on the "first Day the Boughs of good*ly Trees, Branches of Palm"Trees, and the Boughs of thick "Trees, and Willows of the "Brook; and ye fhall rejoyce "before the Lord your God "feven Days." And is faid to be worn in Paradise itself. Rev. 7.9. "After this I beheld, "and lo, a great Multitude, "which no Man could number, "of all Nations, and Kindreds, "and People, and Tongues, "ftood before the Throne, and "before the Lamb, clothed "with white Robes, and Palms "in their Hands." It was alfo the Sign and Reward of Victo

ry in all the Grecian Games. The Antients honoured victorious Princes with spreading of Palms and Flowers before them in their Triumphs. The Jew's received Alexander the Great, and our Redeemer, and they of Cremona, Vitellius, in this Fafhion.

(d) Mozambic, Mezambica, and the French call it Mozambique. Ethiop. A little Ifland with a chief City built upon a River of the fame Name, upon the Eaft Coaft of Africa, belonging to Zanguebar, 270Miles from Madagascar to the Weft. It is barren and unhealthful, but populous: because of the great Trade with the Portuguese, who poffefs it now.

GOOD HOPE, and are got paft MOZAMBIC, (d) North Eaft Winds blow SABEAN (e) Odours off at Sea, from the spicy Shore of ARABIA FELIX, well pleas'd with fuch Delay they flacken their Course, and the Ocean feems to fmile, chear'd with the grateful Smell; so SATAN entertain'd thefe rich' Perfumes, who came to be their Bane, though better pleas'd with them than ASMODEUS (f) was with the Smoak of the burnt Fish, that drove him (though he was fo much enamour'd that he deftroy'd feven of her Husbands) from the Wife of TOBIAS, and fent him from MEDIA (g) into the outmoft Parts of EGYPT, where the Angel RAPHAEL bound him faft.

(e) Sabean, of Saba; from Seba or Saba, the Son of Chus, the 6th Son of Cham, Gen. 10. 7. Saba is the chief City of Arabia the Happy, now Zibit, where there is a great Store of Cinnamon, Caffia, Frankincenfe, Myrrh and other fweet Spices.

(f) Afmodeus; Heb. i. e. A Destroyer or Fire. A Prince of Devils among the Rabbies. An evil Spirit, who is faid to have haunted the Houfe of Raguel; to be in Love with his Daughter Sarah, and to have deftroyed feven Husbands in the first Night

of their Marriage, Tob. 3. 8.

17.

(g) Media; Heb. from Madai the Son of Japhet, Gen. 10. 2. i. e. A Measure: because he was of a large Stature. A large Country and antient Kingdom in Afia, on the North of Perfia, near Georgia, and upon the Caf pian Sea, having Armenia and Affyria on the West. It was once Mistress of the Eastern Monarchy of the Medes, for 317 Years, but foon fell into the Perfians; then became subject to the Turks. Now Servan or Shirvan.

CHAP.

СНАР. II.

Paradife defcrib'd; Satan's first Sight of Adam and Eve, at which he is greatly furpriz'd; overhears their Difcourfe, and from thence meditates their Destruction.

N

TOW SATAN had journied on, penfive and flow, to the Afcent of that steep and inacceffible Hill, but found no further Way; the Undergrowth of Shrubs and tangling Bushes had twisted themselves fo into one Clufter, that they de ny'd a Path to whatever might affay to pafs that Way: There was only one Gate, and that look'd Eaft on the other Side, which when S AT AN faw, he disdain'd to enter properly, and in Contempt at once leap'd over all Bounds, of Hill or highest Wall, and quite within lights on his Feet: As when a prowling Wolf, driven by Hunger to feek new Haunts for his Prey, watching where the Shepherds pen their Flocks in the Sheep-Cotes at Evening, leaps over the Fence amidst the Field, and gets fecurely and with Ease into the Fold; or as a Thief with an Intention to rob fome rich Merchant (whose substantial Doors, cross-barr'd and bolted fast, cannot be broke open) climbs in at the Window, or at the Top of the House: So did this first great Thief climb into GOD's Fold; (fo do fince lewd Hirelings climb into his Church) from thence he flew up, and upon the Middle Tree in PARADISE (which was the Tree of Life, and the highest that grew there) fat like a Cormorant; yet did not thereby regain true Life, but instead of that fat devifing Death to them who liv'd; nor did he think of the Virtue of that Life-giving Plant, but only us'd to take a View of PARADISE, what well us'd had been the Pledge of Immortality. (So little does any but