Her, whom the surges of the all-strangling deep

Can bring no pang like this. Fly! fly! Being gone, 't will be less difficult to die. Japh. Oh say not so!

Father! and thou, archangel, thou! Surely celestial mercy lurks below That pure severe serenity of brow:

Let them not meet this sea without a shore, Save in our ark, or let me be no more!

Noah. Peace, child of passion, peace! 950 If not within thy heart, yet with thy tongue Do God no wrong!

Live as he wills it - die, when he ordains,
A righteous death, unlike the seed of Cain's.
Cease, or be sorrowful in silence; cease
To weary Heaven's ear with thy selfish

plaint.

Japh. Ay, father! but when they are gone, And we are alone,

Floating upon the azure desert, and The depth beneath us hides our own dear land,

And dearer, silent friends and brethren, all

Buried in its immeasurable breast, Who, who, our tears, our shrieks, shall then command?

Can we in desolation's peace have rest? Oh God! be thou a God, and spare 970 Yet while 't is time! Renew not Adam's fall: Mankind were then but twain, But they are numerous now as are the waves And the tremendous rain,

Whose drops shall be less thick than would their graves,

Were graves permitted to the seed of Cain.

Noah. Silence, vain boy! each word of thine 's a crime.

Angel! forgive this stripling's fond despair.
Raph. Seraphs! these mortals speak in
passion: Ye!
Who are, or should be, passionless and pure,
May now return with me.

980

Sam. It may not be: We have chosen, and will endure. Raph. Say'st thou ?

Aza. He hath said it, and I say, Amen! Raph. Again!

Then from this hour,

Shorn as ye are of all celestial power,
And aliens from your God,

Farewell!

989

Japh. Alas! where shall they dwell? Hark, hark! Deep sounds, and deeper still, Are howling from the mountain's bosom: There's not a breath of wind upon the hill, Yet quivers every leaf, and drops each blossom:

Earth groans as if beneath a heavy load.
Noah. Hark, hark! the sea-birds cry!
In clouds they overspread the lurid sky,
And hover round the mountain, where be-
fore

He riseth, but his better light is gone; And a black circle, bound

1000

Sam. But ours is with thee; we will bear ye far

1040

To some untroubled star, Where thou, and Anah, shalt partake our lot :

And if thou dost not weep for thy lost earth,

Our forfeit heaven shall also be forgot. Anah. Oh! my dear father's tents, my place of birth,

And mountains, land, and woods! when ye are not,

Who shall dry up my tears?

Aza. Thy spirit-lord. Fear not; though we are shut from heaven, Yet much is ours, whence we cannot be driven.

Raph. Rebel! thy words are wicked, as thy deeds