HAIL holy light, offspring of heav'n first-born, Or of th' eternal co-eternal beam

May I express thee unblam'd? since GOD is light, And never but in unapproached light

10

Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee,
Bright effluence of bright essence increate.
Or hear'st thou rather pure ethereal stream,
Whose fountain who shall tell? before the sun,
Before the heavens thou wert, and at the voice
Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest
The rising world of waters dark and deep,
Won from the void and formless infinite.
Thee I revisit now with bolder wing,
Escap'd the Stygian pool, though long detain'd
In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight
Through utter and through middle darkness borne,
With other notes, than to th' Orphean lyre,”

I

sung of Chaos and eternal Night,

Taught by the heav'nly Muse to venture down

15

3 God is light] See Wakef. Lucret. 1, p. 320. • Per emphasin Deus sæpissime Sol audit. Ov. Met. xv. 192. 'Ipse Dei clypeus, terrà cum tollitur imâ,

Mane rubet'

adeas notata nobis ad Virg. Georg. i. 6.'

fountain] See Lucret. 5. 282, largus item liquidi fons luminis.'

17 other notes] See Bembo Sonnetti, p. 26, con altre voce., Dante Il Parad. c. xxv. 7, Con altra voce omai, con altra vello Ritornero Poeta.'

1

The dark descent, and up to reascend,

20

30

Though hard and rare: thee I revisit safe,
And feel thy sov'reign vital lamp; but thou
Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain,
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawa ;
So thick a drop serene hath quench'd their orbs, 25
Or dim suffusion veil'd. Yet not the more
Cease I to wander where the Muses haunt
Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill,
Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief
Thee Sion, and the flowery brooks beneath,
That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow,
Nightly I visit; nor sometimes forget.
Those other two equal'd with me in fate,
So were I equal'd with them in renown,
Blind Thamyris, and blind Mæonides,
And Tiresias and Phineus prophets old.
Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move
Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird
Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid
Tunes her nocturnal note: thus with the year 40
Seasons return, but not to me returns
Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn,

25 quench'd] drench'd. Bentl. MS.

25 orbs] Val. Flacc. iv. 235. Sanguineosque rotat orbes.' See Burman's Note.

30

MS.

flowery brooks] flowing, silver, crystal, purling Beat.

35 Thamyris] Stat. Theb. iv. 183..

Mutos Thamyris damnatus in annos.

Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rɔse,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;
But cloud instead, and ever-during dark
Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways
of men
Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair
Presented with a universal blank

45

50

Of nature's works to me expung'd and ras'd,
And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.
So much the rather thou celestial light
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight.

55

60

Now had the Almighty Father from above, From the pure empyrean where he sits High thron'd above all highth, bent down his eye, His own works and their works at once to view. About him all the sanctities of heaven Stood thick as stars, and from his sight receiv'd Beatitude past utterance; on his right The radiant image of his glory sat, His only Son on earth he first beheld Our two first parents, yet the only two Of mankind, in the happy garden plac'd, Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love, Uninterrupted joy, unrival'd love,

63

49 Of] Pearce proposes to read ‘All nature's works,' and Newton agrees with him, putting a stop after blank,' but I do not understand the force of their objection to the established

text.

In blissful solitude: he then survey'd
Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there
Coasting the wall of heav'n on this side night
In the dun air sublime, and ready now

To stoop with wearied wings, and willing feet
On the bare outside of this world, that seem'd
Firm land imbosom'd without firmament,
Uncertain which, in ocean or in air.
Him God beholding from his prospect high,
Wherein past, present, future, he beholds,
Thus to his only son foreseeing spake.

70

75

80

85

Only begotten Son, seest thou what rage Transports our adversary, whom no bounds Prescrib'd, no bars of hell, nor all the chains Heap'd on him there, nor yet the main abyss Wide interrupt, can hold, so bent he seems On desperate revenge, that shall redound Upon his own rebellious head. And now Through all restraint broke loose he wings his way Not far off heav'n, in the precincts of light, Directly towards the new created world, And man there plac'd, with purpose to assay If him by force he can destroy, or worse, By some false guile pervert; and shall pervert; For man will hearken to his glozing lies, And easily transgress the sole command, Sole pledge of his obedience: so will fall

93 glozing lies] See Beaumont's Psyche, c. v. 37. With humble lies, and oaths of glozings drest.' See also B. ix. 549, so gloz'd the tempter.'

90*

.95

He and his faithless progeny. Whose fault?
Whose but his own? ingrate, he had of me
All he could have: I made him just and right,
Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.
Such I created all th' ethereal Powers

100

And Spirits, both them who stood and them who fail'd:

Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.
Not free, what proof could they have giv'n sincere
Of true allegiance, constant faith, or love,
Where only, what they needs must do, appear'd, 105
Not what they would? what praise could they re-
What pleasure I from such obedience paid, [ceive?
When will and reason, reason also is choice,
Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil'd,
Made passive both, had serv'd necessity,
Not me? They therefore, as to right belong'd,
So were created, nor can justly accuse
Their Maker, or their making, or their fate;
As if predestination over-rul'd

Their will, dispos'd by absolute decree

110

115

Or high foreknowledge: they themselves decreed Their own revolt, not I: if I foreknew, Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault, Which had no less prov'd certain unforeknown. So without least impulse or shadow of fate, 120 Or aught by me immutably foreseen,

They trespass, authors to themselves in all,

108 When God gave him reason he gave him freedom to choose; for reason is but choosing.' Milton's Areopagitica.