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The fmelling Gourd, up ftood the Corny Reed
Embattell'd in her Field: and the humble Shrub,
And Bufh with frizl'd Hair implicit : last
Rofe as in Dance the ftately Trees, and spread
Their Branches hung with Copious Fruit; or gem'd
Their Bloffoms: with high Woods the Hills were
(crown'd,

With Tufts the Valleys, and each Fountain fide,
With Borders long the Rivers. That Earth now
Seem'd like to Heav'n,a Seat where Gods might dwell
Or wander with Delight, and love to haunt
Her Sacred Shades: though God had yet not rain'd
Upon the Earth, and Man to Till the Ground
None was, but from the Earth a dewy Mift
Went up and water'd all the Ground, and each
Plant of the Field, which e're it was in th' Earth
God made, and every Herb, before it grew
On the green Stem; God faw that it was Good.
So Ev'n and Morn recorded the third Day.

LXXXIII.

Of the Sun, Moon, and Stars:

A Gain th' Almighty pake: let there be Lights
High in th' expanfe of Heav'n to divide

The Day from Night; and let them be for Signs,
For Seafons, and for Days, and circling Years,
And let them be for Lights as I ordain
Their Office in the Firmament of Heav'n
To give Light on the Earth; and it was fo.

And God made Two great Lights, great for their use
To Man, the greater to have Rule by Day,
The lefs by Night altern and made the Stars,

A

And fet them in the Firmament of Heav'n
T'illuminate the Earth; and Rule the Day
In their Viciffitude, and Rule the Night,
And Light from Darkness to divide. God faw,
Surveying his great Work, that it was Good :
For of Celestial Bodies firft the Sun

A mighty Sphere he fram'd, unlightsome first,
Though of Ethereal Mold: then form'd the Moon
Globofe, and every magnitude of Stars

And fow'd with Stars the Heav'n thick as a Field:
Of Light by far the greater Part he took,
Tranfplanted from her cloudy Shrine, and plac'd
In the Sun's Orb, made porous to receive
And drink the liquid Light, firm to retain
Her gather'd Beams, great Palace now of Light.
Hither as to their Fountain other Stars
Repairing in their Golden Urns draw Light,
And hence the Morning Planet guilds her Horns;
By Tincture or Reflection they augment
Their fmall peculiar, though from humane Sight
So far remote, with Dimunition feen.
Firft in his Eaft the Glorious Lamp was feen,
Regent of Day, and all th' Horizon round
Invested with bright Rays, jocund to run

His Longitude through Heav'ns high Road; the grey
Dawn, and the Pleiades before him danc'd
Shedding fweet Influence: lefs bright the Moon,
But oppofite in level'd Weft was fet

His mirrour, with full Face borrowing her Light
From him, for other Light fhe needed none
In that Afpeft, and ftill that Distance keeps
Till Night, then in the Eaft her Turn fhe Shines;
Revolv'd on Heav'ns great Axle; and her Reign
"With Thousand leffer Lights dividual holds,
With thousand thousand Stars that then appear'd
Dangling the Hemifphere; then first adorn'd

With the bright Luminaries that fit, and rofe,
Glad Evening and glad Morn crown'd the fourth day.

LXXXIV.

Of FISH.

AND God faid, let the Waters generate
Reptile with Spawn abundant, living Soul:
And let Fowl fly above the Earth, with Wings.
Difplay'd on th open Firmament of Heav'n.
And God created the great Whales, and each
Soul Living, each that crept, which plenteously
The Waters generated by their Kinds,
And every Bird of Wing after his Kind;
And faw that it was Good, and blefs'd them, faying
Be fruitful, multiply, and in the Seas

And Lakes, and running Streams the Waters fill;.
And let the Fowl he multiply'd on th' Earth,
Forthwith the Sounds and Seas, each Creek and Bay
With Frie innumerable Swarm, and Shoals
Of Fish that with their Finns and fhining Scales
Glide under the Green Wave, in Sculls that oft
Bank the mid Sea: part fingle or with Mate
Graze the Sea-Weed their Pafture, and thro' Groves
Of Coral ftray, or fporting with quick Glance
Shew to the Sun their wav'd Coats dropt with Gold,
Or in their Pearly Shells at eafe, attend

Moift Nutriment, or under Rocks their Food
In joynted Armour watch: on fimooth the Seal
And bended Dolphins play: part huge of bulk
Wallowing unweildie, enormous in their Gate
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 (pouts out a Sea.

ME

LXXXV.

Of the Birds.

Ean while the Tepid Caves,and Fens and Shores
Their Brood as numerous Hatch, from th' Egg
(that foon

Burfting with kindly Rupture forth disclos'd
Their callow young, but feather'd foon and fledg'd
They fun'd their Pens, and foaring th' Air sublime
With clang defpis'd the Ground, under a Cloud-
In Profpect; there the Eagle and the Stork
On Cliffs and Cedar Tops their Eyries build:
Part loofly wing the Region, part more wife
In common, rang'd in Figure wedge their way,
Intelligent of Seafons, and fet forth

Their airy Caravan high over Seas

Flying, and over Lands with mutual Wing
Eafing their Flight; fo fteers the prudent Crane
Her annual Voyage, born on Winds: the Air
Floats, as they pafs,fann'd with unnumber'd Plumes
From Branch to Branch the fmaller Birds with Song
Solac'd the Woods, and fpread their painted Wings
Till Ev'n, nor then the folemn Nightingale

Ceas'd Warbling, but all Night tun'd her foft lays;
Others on filver Lakes and Rivers bath'd
Their downy Breaft; the Swan with arched Neck
Between her white Wings mantling proudly, rows
Her state with Gary Feet: yet oft they quit
The Dank, and rifing on ftiff Pennons, towre
The mid Aereal Sky: Others on ground

Walk'd

Walk'd firm; the crefted Cock whofe Clarion founds
The filent Hours, and th' other whofe gay Train
Adorns him, colour'd with the florid hue

Of Rainbows and Starr-Eyes. The Waters thus
With Fish replenish'd, and the Air with Fowl,
Ev'ning and Morn folemniz'd the fifth Day.

LXXXVI.

Of the Beasts.

'HE Sixth, and of Creation laft arofe

THE

With Evening Harps and Matin, when God faid, Let th' Earth bring forth Fowl living in her Kind, Cattel and creeping Things, and Beast of th' Earth, Each in their Kind. The Earth obey'd, and ftrait Op'ning her fertile Womb teen'd at a Birth Innumerous Living Creatures, perfect Forms, Limb'd and full grown: Out of the ground up rofe. As from his Lair, the wild Beast where he wons In Forrest wild, in Thicket, Brake or Den; Among the Trees in Pairs they rofe, they walk'd: The Cattel in the Fields and Meadows green : Those rare and folitary, these in Flocks

Pafturing at once, and in broad Herds up fprung,
The graffy Clods now calv'd, now half appear'd
The tawny Lyon, pawing to get free

His hinder Parts, then Springs as broke from Bonds,
And rampant fhakes his brinded Main; the Ounce,
The Libbard and the Tygre, as the Moal
Rifing, the crumbl'd Earth above them threw
In Hillocks: the swift Stag from under ground
Bore up his Branching Head: fcarce from his mold
Behemoth biggest Born of Earth upheav'd

His vaftnefs: Fleec'd the Flocks and bleating rofe,

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