Graze the sea weed their pasture, and througê

groves

Of coral stray; or sporting with quick glance,
Shew to the sun their wav'd coats dropt with gold
Or, in their pearly shells at ease, attend

Moist nutriment: or under rocks their food
In jointed armour watch: ou smooth the seal
And bended dolphins play: part huge of bulk,
Wallowing unwieldly, enormous in their gait,
Tempest the ocean: there leviathan,
Hugest of living creatures, on the deep
Stretch'd like a promontory, sleeps or swims,
And seems a moving land; and at his gills
Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea.
Meanwhile the tepid caves, and fens, and shores,
Their brood as numerous hatch, from the egg tha

soon

Bursting with kindly rupture forth disclos'd
Their callow young; but feather'd son and fledge
They summ'd their pens; and, soaring the an
sublime,

With clang despis'd the ground, under a cloud
In prospect; there the eagle, and the stork
On cliffs and cedar-tops their eyries build;
Part loosely wing the region, part more wise
In common, rang'd in figure, wedge their way,
Intelligent of seasons, and set forth

Their aery caravan, high over seas
Flying, and over lands, with mutual wing
Easing their flight; so steers the prudent crane
Her annual voyage, borne on winds; the air
Floats as they pass, fann'd with unnumber'd
plumes:

[songs From branch to branch the smaller birds with Solac'd the woods, and spread their painted wings Till even; nor then the solemn nightingale Ceas'd warbling, but all night tun'd her soft lays Others, on silver lakes and rivers, bath'd

Their downy breast; the swan with archąd neck,
Between her white wings mantling proudly, rows
Her state with oary feet; yet oft they quit
The dank, and, rising on stiff pennous, tower
The mid aëreal sky: others on ground

Walk'd firm; the crested cock whose clarion sounds
The silent hours, and the other whose gay train
Adorns him, colour'd with the florid hue
Of rainbows and starry eyes.

The waters thus

With fish replenish'd, and the air with fowl,
Evening and morn solemniz'd the fifth day.
"The sixth, and of creation last, arose
With evening harps and matin; when God said,
Let the earth bring forth soul living in her kind,
Cattle, and creeping things, and beast of the earth,
Each in their kind.' The earth obey'd, and straight
Opening her fertile womb, teem'd at a birth
Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms,
Limb'd and full grown out of the ground up rose,
As from his lair, the wild beast, where he wous
In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den ;
Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walk'd ı
The cattle in the fields and meadows green;
Those rare and solitary, these in flocks
Pasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung,
The grassy clods now calv'd; now half appear'd
The tawny lion, pawing to get free

His hinder parts, then springs, as broke from bonds,
And rampant shakes his brindel mane; the ounce,
The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole

Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw
In hillocks: the swift stag from under ground
Bore up his branching head: scarce from his mould
Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheav'd
His vastness: fleec'd the flocks and bleating rose,
As plants ambiguous between sea and land
T'he river-horse, and scaly crocodile.

At once came forth whatever creeps the ground, "Insect of werm: those ward their limber fans

For wings, and smallest lineaments exact
In all the liveries deck'd of summer's pride,
With spots of gold and purple, azure and green i
These as a line their long dimension drew,
Streaking the ground with sinuous trace; not all
Minims of nature; some of serpent-kind.
Wondrous in length and corpulence, involv'd
Their snaky folds, and added wings. First crept
The parsimonious emmet, provident

Of future; in small room large heart enclos'd;
Pattern of just equality perhaps

Hereafter, join'd in her popular tribes

Of commonalty: swarming next appear'd
The female bee, that feeds her husband drone
Deliciously, and builds her waxen ceiis

With honey stor'd: the rest are numberless,
And thou their natures knowest, and gavest them
Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown [names,
The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field,
Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes
And hairy mane terrific, though to thee
Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.

"Now heaven, in all her glory shone, and roll'd Her motions, as the great first Mover's hand First wheel'd their course: earth in her rich attire Consummate lovely smil'd; air, water, earth, By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walk'd,

Frequent; and of the sixth day yet remain'd
There wanted yet the master work, the end
Of all yet done; a creature, who, not prone
And brute as other creatures, but endued
With sanctity of reason, might erect
His stature, and upright with front serene
Govern the rest, self-knowing; and from thence
Magnanimous to correspond with heaven,

But grateful to acknowledge whence his good
Descends; thither with heart, and voice, and eyes
Directed in devotion, to adore

And worship God Supreme, who made him chief
Of all his works: therefore the Omnipotent
Eternal Father (for where is not he
Present ?) thus to his Son audibly spake :
"Let us make now man in our image, man
In our similitude, and let them rule
Over the fish and fowl of sea and air,
Beast of the field, and over all the earth,

And every creeping thing that creeps the ground.'
This said, he form'd thee, Adam, thee, O man,
Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breath'd
The breath of life; in his own image he
Created thee, in the image of God

Express; and thou becamest a living soul.
Male he created thee; but thy consort
Female, for race; then bless'd mankind, and said,
Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth;
Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold
Over fish of the sea, and fowl of the air,
And every living thing that moves on the earth.'
Wherever thus created, for no place

Is yet distinct by name, thence, as thou knowest,
He brought thee into this delicious grove,
This garden, planted with the trees of God,
Delectable both to behold and taste;

And freely all their pleasant fruit for food

Gave thee: all sorts are here that all the earth
Variety, without end; but of the tree [yields,
Which, tasted, works knowledge of good and evil,
Thou may'st not; in the day thou eat'st, thou
Death is the penalty impos'd; beware, [diest,
And govern well thy appetite; lest sin
Surprise thee, and her black attendant death.
"Here finish'd he, and all that he had made
View'd, and behold all was entirely good;
So even and morn accomplish'd the sixth day:
Yet not till the Creator, from his work
Desisting, though unwearied, up return'd,
Up to the heaven of heavens, his high abode :

Thence to behold this new-created world,
The addition of his empire, how it shew'd
In prospect from his throne, how good how fain
Answering his great idea. Up he rode
Follow'd with acclamation, and the sound
Symphonious of ten thousand harps, that tun'd
Angelic harmonies: the earth, the air
Resounded, (thou remember'st, for thou heard'st,}
The heavens and all the constellations rung,
The planets in their station listening stood,
While the bright pomp ascended jubilant.

Open, ye everlasting gates! they sung,

Open, ye heavens your living doors; let in The great Creator from his work return'd Magnificent, his six days' work, a world ; Open, and henceforth oft; for God will deign To visit oft the dwellings of just men, Delighted; and with frequent intercourse Thither will send his winged messengers On errands of supernal grace.'. So sung The glorious train ascending: he through heaven, That open'd wide her blazing portals, led To God's eternal house direct the way; A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold, And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear, Seen in the galaxy, that milky way,

Which nightly, as a circling zone, thou seest Powder'd with stars. And now on earth the Evening arose in Eden, for the sun

[seventh Was set, and twilight from the east came on, Forerunning night; when at the holy mount Of heaven's high-seated top, the imperial throne Of Godhead fix'd for ever firm and sure, The Filial Power arriv'd, and sat him down With his great Father; for he also went Invisible, yet staid, (such privilege

Hath Omnipresence,) and the work ordain'd, Author and end of all things; and, from work Now resting, bloss'd and hallow'd thò seventh daş