Uriel once würn'd; whose eye pursued him down,
The way he went, and on the Assyrian mount
Saw him distigur'd, more than could befall
Spirit of happy sort : his gestures fierce
He mark'd, and mad demeanour, then alone
As he suppos'd, all unobserv'd, unseen.
80 on he faren, and to the border comes
Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,
Now nearer, crowns with her enclosures green,
As with a rural mound, the champaign head
Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides
With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild,
Access denied ; and over-head, up-grew
Insuperable highth of loftiest shade,
Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
A sylvan scene; and, as the ranks ascend
Shade above shade, a woody theatre
Of stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops
The verdurous wall of Paradise up-sprung :
Which to our general sire gave prospect large
Into his nether empire neighbouring round :
And bigher than that wall a circling row
Of goodliest trees, loaden with fa rest fruit,
Blossoms and fruits at once of golden hue,
Appear'd, with gay enamelled colours mix's :
On which the sun more glad impressid liis beams
Than in fair evening cloud, or humid bow,
When God bath shower'd the earth; so lovely

seem'd
That landscape : and of pure, now purer air
Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires
Vernal delight and joy, able to drive
All sadness but despair: now gentle gales,
Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense
Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole
Those balmy spoils. As when to them who sail
Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past
Mozambic, off at sea north-east winds blow
Sabean odours from the spicy shore

Of Araby the Blest ; with such delay [league Well pleas'd they slack their course, and many & Cheerd with the grateful smell old Ocean smiles. So entertain'd those odorous sweets the Fiend, Who came their bane : though with them better Than Asmodëus with the fishy fume

(pleas'd That drove him, though enamour'd, from the spouse Of Tobit's son, and with a vengeance sent

. From Media post to Egypt, there fast bound.

Now to the ascent of that steep savage hill Satan had journeyed on, pensive and slow; But further way found none, so thick entwin'd, As one continued brake, the undergrowth Of shrubs and tangling bushes had perplex'd All path of man or beast that pass'd that way. One gate there only was, and that look'd east On the other side: which when the arch-felon sapp, Due entrance he disdain'd; and, in contempt, At one slight bound high over-leap'd all bound Of hill or highest wall, and sheer within Lights on his feet. As when a prowling wolf, Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey Watching where shepherds pen their focks at eve In hurdled cots amid the field secure, Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the fold : Or as a thief bent to unhoard the cash Of some rich burgher, whose substantial doors, Cross-barr'd and holted fast, fear no assault, In at the window climbs, or o'er the tiles : So clomb the first grand thief into God's fold ; So since into his church lewd hirelings cliźnb. Thence up he flew, and on the tree of life, The middle tree and highest there that grew, Sat like a cormorant; yet not true life Thereby regain'd, but sat devising death To them who liv'd ; nor on the virtue thought Of that life-giving plant, but only us'd For prospect, what well us'd had been the pledge Of immortality. So little knows

Any, but wod alone, to value right The good before him, but perverts best things To worst abuse, or to their meanest use. Beneath him with new wonder now he views, To all delight of human sense expos'd, In narrow room, Nature's whole wealth, yea more, A heaven on earth : for blissful Paradise Of God the garden was, by him in the east Of Eden planted ; Eden stretch'd her line From Auran eastward to the royal towers Of great Seleucia, built by Grecian kings, Or wbere the sons of Eden long before Dwelt in Telasgar: in this pleasant soil His far more pleasant garden God ordain'd: Out of the fertile ground be caus'd to grow All trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste; And all amid them stood the tree of life, High eminent, blooming ambrosial fruit Of vegetable gold; and next to life, Our death, the tree of knowledge, grew fast by, . Knowledge of good, bought dear by knowing ill. Southward through Eden went a river large, (hiil Nor chang'd his course, but through the shaggy Pass'd underneath ingulf'd; for God had thrown That mountain as his garden-mould high rais'd Upon the rapid current, which through veins Of porous earth with kindly thirst up-drawn, Rose a fresh fountain, and with many a rill Water'd the garden; thence united fell Down the steep glade, and met the nether flood, Which from his darksome passage now appears, And now, divided into four main streams, Runs diverse, wand'ring many a famous realm And country, whereof here needs no account ; But rather to tell how, if art could tell, How from that sapphire fount the crisped brooks, Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold, With mazy error under pendant shades Ran nertar, vinizin

ch plant, and fed

Flowers worthy of Paradise, which not nice art
In beds and curious knots, but nature boons
Pour'd forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain,
Both where the morning sun first warmly smote
The open field, and where the tinpierc'd shade
Imbrown'd the noontide bowers . thus was this
A happy rural seat of varivus view; [place
Groves whose rich trees wept, odorous gums and
Others whose fruit; burnish'd with golden rind,
Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true,
If true, here only, and of delicious taste :
Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flocks
Grazing the tender herb, were interpos'd,
Or palmy hillock ; or the lowery lap
Of some irriguous valley spread her store,
Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose :
Another side, umbrageous grots and caves
Df cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine
Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps
Luxuriant ; meanwhile murmuring waters fall
Down the slope hills, dispers'd, or in a lake,
That to the fringed bank with myrtle crown'd
Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streama.
The birds their quire apply; airs, vernal airs,
Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune
The trembling leaves, while universal Pan,
Knit with the Graces and the hours in dance,
Led on the eternal Spring. Not that fair field
Of Enna, where Proserpine gathering towers,
Herself a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis
Was gather'd, which cost Ceres all that pain
To seek her through the world ; nor that swers
Of Daphne by Orontes, and the inspir'd igrovo
Castalian spring, might with this Paradise
Of Eden strive ; nor that Nyseian isle
Girt with the river Triton, where ola Cham,
Whom Gentiles Ammon call and Libyan Jove,
Hid Amalthes, and her Horid son

Young Bakit, from his riepdame Rhea's eye:
Nor where A bassin kings their issue guard.
Mount Amara, though this by some suppıs'd
'True Paradise, under the Ethiop line
By Nilus' head, enclos'd with shining rock,
a whole day's journey high, but wide remote
From this Assyrian garden, where t!ie Fiend
Saw, undelighted, all delight, all kind
Of living creatures, new to sight, and strange
Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall,
Godlike erect, with native bonour clad,
In naked majesty seem'd lords of all:
And worthy seem'd: for in their looks divine
The image of their glorious Maker shone,
Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure,
(Severe, but in true filial freedom plac'd,)
Whence true authority in men; though both
Not equal, as their sex not equal seem'd ;
For contemplation he and valour formid;
For softness she, and sweet attractive grace ;
He for God only, she for God in him.
His fair large front and eye sublime declar'd
Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks
Round from his parted forelock manly hung
Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders brond
She, as a veil, down to the slender waist
Her unadorned golden tresses wore
Diabevell’d, but in wanton ringlets wav'd,
As the vine curls her tendrils, which implied
Subjection, but requir'd with gentle sway,
And by her yielded, by him best receiv'd,
Yielded with coy submission, modest pride,
And sweet, reluctant, amorous delay.
Nor those mysterious parts were then concealed
Then was not guilty shame, dishouest shame
Of nature's works, honour dishonourable,
Sin-bred, how have ye troubled all mankind
With shows instead, mere shows of seeming pure.
And banish'd from man's life his happiert.liffe