never been known fo eminently. If I thought DEATH Would be the Confequence of this my Attempt, I would fuffer the worft alone, and rather die forfaken of thee, than tie thee to me with an Action, that might afterward give thee Sorrow; chiefly having fo remarkable and late an Affurance of thy true faithful, and unequall'd Love. But I feel the Event far otherwife; not DEATH, but additional Life, new Hopes, new Joys, and new Knowledge: So divine a Taste has touch'd my Senfe, that every Thing that was sweet before, feems flat and harsh to this. Tafte freely, ADAM, on my Experience, and deliver all Fear of DEATH to the Winds!

So faying, the embrac'd him, and wept tenderly for Joy; much mov'd that he had rais'd his Love to fuch a noble Height, as to incur divine Displeasure or DEATH for her Sake. In Recompence (for such a bad Compliance as his merited no better) fhe gave him with a plentiful Hand, from the Bough of that fair enticing Tree: He eat without Scruple against his better Knowledge; not deceiv'd in the leaft, but fondly overcome with Female-Charms and Enticements. The Earth trembled, as it had done before when EvE eat, and Nature gave a fecond Groan; the Sky lower'd, it thunder'd, and fome Drops fell at the compleating of the mortal original Sin; (a) X 3 while

while ADAM kept eating his Fill, and took no Thought; neither was Ev E afraid to commit her former Crime again, the more to footh him with her belov'd Society; that now both being intoxicated, as it were with new Wine, they become quite full of Mirth, and fancy that they feel Divinity within them, producing that which would make them fcorn the Earth. But that falfe Fruit first fhew'd a quite different Operation, enflaming them with carnal Defire; he began to caft lafcivious Eyes upon Eve, which Glances fhe as wantonly repaid; 'till they burnt in the finful Paffion of Luft; and AD A м thus began to exprefs it to EVE:

Now EvE, I fee that thou art of an exact and elegant Taste, which is no fmall Part of Knowledge; fince we apply and refer all different Savours to the Judgment of the Palate, which if nice, we fay is judicious; fo well haft thou made Provifion for this Day, that I yield the Praife to thee. We have loft a great Deal of Pleafure, while we abftain'd from this delightful Fruit, nor 'till now have known the true Relish of Tafte: If there be fuch a Pleasure in Things forbidden us, it might be wifh'd that for this one Tree we had been forbidden ten. But come! now we are fo well refresh'd, let us feek Paftime as cannot but be agreeable after fuch delicious Fare; for never fince the Day I faw thee firft, and wedded thee, adorn'd with all Perfection, did thy Beauty fo inflame my Sense with Defire to enjoy thee: Thou feemeft fairer to me now than ever; all which is owing to the Virtue of this Tree.

Nations; the natural Proneness of all Men to Vice and Immorality; their Averfion to Piety and Virtue, and the Perfections and Happiness of Adam and Eve, before they committed this Sin, compared with difor

HE

derly Paffions, Fear, Guilt, Shame, Confufion, Mitery, Mortality, Lofs of God's Favour, Expulfion out of Paradife, &c. St. Aufin first called it Original Sin.

HE faid thus, and did not forbear Glances or wanton Motions of amorous Intent; which were now well understood by EvE, whofe Eye darted the contagious Fire of Luft. He feiz'd her Hand, and led her (the being forward to go) to a fhady Bank, cover'd thick over-head with thick Branches; their Bed was of various Flowers: There they took their Fill of Love and Play, the Seal of their mutual Guilt, and the Solace of their Sin; 'till Sleep opprefs'd them, they being wearied with Dalliance and amorous Sport.

As foon as the Force of that fallacious Fruit was exhal'd, that with exhilarating Vapour had play'd about their Spirits, and led their inmoft Powers into Error; and groffer Sleep, bred of unkindly Fumes, and incumber'd with confcious Dreams, had now left them; they rofe up, not refresh'd, but weary as if they had not flept; and each viewing the other, foon found how their Eyes were oper'd, and their Minds how darken'd! Innocence was gone, that like a Veil had shadow'd them from knowing Evil; juft Confidence, native Righteoufnefs, and Honour, were gone from about them, and they were left naked to guilty Shame. ADAM Cover'd himself, but his Covering was ftill more Shame: So rofe SAMSON (b) from the Lap of DALILAH, (c) that Harlot he had taken from

X 4

(b) Samfon,or Shimfon, Heb. i.e. Hear the fecond Time: because the Angel was intreated to come to his Parents, a fecond Time, to let them hear of his Conception, Manner of Life and mighty Deeds. He was the Twelfth and laft of the Judges of Ifrael: Succeeded Abdon, judged that People twenty Years, and died A. M. 2887. before

Jefus Chrif, about Eleven hundred and leventeen Years.

(c) Dalilah; Heb. i. e. A Confumer. Jofephus calls her Dalale, and the Greeks Dalida, which doth not alter the Signification of the Word. A Woman that lived in the Valley of Soreck, which lies upon the Banks of the River Soreck, Heb. i. e. A Myrtle Eranch: because ma

ny

from among the PHILISTINES, and wak'd depriv'd of his Strength; fo ADAM and EVE wak'd, deftitute and bare of all their Virtue: They fat a long Time with their Countenances confus'd, as though they had been ftruck dumb; 'till ADAM, though no lefs abash'd than EVE, at length forc'd Utterance to these Words:

O EVE! it was in an ill Hour that thou gavest Ear to that falfe Serpent, whoever taught him to counterfeit MAN'S Voice; the Truth being that we are fallen, but our promis'd Rifing falfe; fince we find, that indeed our Eyes are open'd, and find that we know both Good and Evil!------ Good loft, and Evil got! ----- A very bad Fruit of Knowledge, if this be to know; this, which leaves us thus naked, void of Honour, Innocence, Faith, and Purity, our ufual Ornaments, now all defil'd and ftain'd! and evident in our Faces the Signs of foul Concupifcence; whence comes Store of Evil, even Shame, the utmost Evil; and be affur'd many leffer will attend. ----- How shall I henceforth behold the Face of GoD, or any of the Angels, fo often feen heretofore with Joy and Rapture? Those heavenly Shapes will now dazle me with the Blaze of their Brightnefs, which I am no longer able to bear. O! that I might live favage here in Solitude, hid in fome thick Shade, not to be penetrated by the Light of the Sun or Stars; where highest Trees fpread their broad Shades, and darken the Night! Cover me, ye Pines! Hide me, ye Cedars! with innumerable Boughs, where I may never fee GOD or Angel more! ----- But now let us, in this bad Condition we are in, contrive what may best serve for

ny Myrtles grew there. This Valley was about twelve Miles from Jerufalem, on the Weft, but belonged to the Philistines. Samfon's Mistress and Betrayer, Judg. 16, 4. 5. S. Chryfoftom,

the

Caffian, St. Ephrem, Pererius, Sulpitius, Severus, &c. think the was his Wife. But Jofephus, St. Ambrofe, St. Jerom, Serrarius, &c. believe otherways.

the present, to hide thofe Parts of ours each from the other, that are unfeemlieft and feem most obnoxious to Shame: Let us find fome Tree, whose broad fmooth Leaves join'd together, and girded upon our Loins, may cover all round thofe middle Parts; that this new Comer SHAME, may not continually reproach us as unclean.

ADAM Counsell'd thus, and they both went together into the thickest Wood; there they foon chofe the Fig-Tree; not that which is efteem'd for its Fruit, but fuch as at this Day (known to the INDIANS in MALABAR, (d) or DECAN, (e)) fpreads branching fo broad and long, that the bended Twigs take Root in the Ground, and grow round about the Body of the Tree, from whence they first shot forth; which makes a Shade like Rows of Pillars arch'd high over, and having Walks between; there the INDIAN Herdfmen often fhunning the Heat shelter themselves, and tend their Herds as they feed, cutting a Paffage through the thick Shade. The Leaves

A

(d) Malabar; Indian. vait Country of India, lying along the Weft Coast of the Peninfula from Cape Comorin, over against the Island of Ceylon, to Canara, on this Side of the Ganges; in Length about 180 Leagues, or 324 Miles; but no where above 100 in Breadth; and the most fruitful, temperate and populous Region in the World. It contained formerly several Kingdoms, which in the Time of Sarma Perimal, about 730 Years ago, were all fubject ago, were all fubject to one Sovereign: He embraced Muhammedanism, divided his Kingdom among his Relations, and went in Devotion to Mecca, and died there; but many of the People are Pagans ftill, and others have embraced Chriftia

nity of late, by the Miffionaries fent thither by the King of Denmark in 1706.

(e) Decan; Ind. i. e. The South. A Royal City of a Kingdom of the fame Name in India, belonging to Malabar, in many Islands, on this Side of the Ganges. It has Bengal on the Eaft, the Indian Sea on the Weft; Bifnagar on the South, and the Mogul's Country on the North. There, these broadleav'd Fig Trees grow in Abundance, which Milton hints at here the Leaves of the Bonona Tree in Peru are four or five Foot long, and about two Foot wide. Another grows there, which is about twelve Feet long and five broad, which the Natives ufe for a Table Cloth.