635

640

And vapour as the Libyan air adust,
Began to parch that temperate clime: whereat
In either hand th' hast'ning angel caught
Our ling'ring parents, and to the eastern gate
Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast
To the subjected plain; then disappear'd.
They looking back all th' eastern side beheld
Of Paradise, so late their happy seat,
Wav'd over by that flaming brand, the gate
With dreadful faces throng'd and fiery arms:
Some natural tears they dropp'd, but wip'd them

soon;

6-15

The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide. They, hand in hand, with wand'ring steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way.

685 vapour] Hor. Epod. iii. 15.

'Nec tantus unquam siderum insedit vapor
Siticulosæ Apuliæ.'

685 air adust] Tasso Gier. Lib. vii. 52.

Qual con le chiome sanguinose horrende Splender cometa suol per l'aria adusta.' 648 brand] Sword. Gen. i. 24. Blade, xi. 120. 640 world] Shakesp. Rich. II. act. i. sc. 3. all the world's my way.'

·

648 hand]

Richardson.

Johnson.

'A small but artful paradise they walk'd,

Bowle. Bentl. MS.

And hand in hand sad gentle things they talk'd.'

See Cowley's Davideis, p. 20.

648 wand'ring] Wearied. Careful. Social. Bentl. MS.

PARADISE REGAINED.

BOOK I.

I, WHO ere-while the happy garden sung,
By one man's disobedience lost, now sing
Recover'd Paradise to all mankind,

By one man's firm obedience fully try'd
Through all temptation, and the tempter foil'd
In all his wiles, defeated, and repuls'd,
And Eden rais'd in the waste wilderness.

5

11

Thou Spirit, who led'st this glorious Eremite Into the desert, his victorious field, Against the spiritual foe, and brought'st him thence By proof the undoubted Son of God, inspire, As thou art wont, my prompted song, else mute, And bear thro' height or depth of nature's bounds With prosperous wing full summ'd to tell of deeds Above heroic, though in secret done,

And unrecorded left through many an age, Worthy t' have not remain'd so long unsung. Now had the great Proclaimer, with a voice

7 waste] Spens. Fairy Queen, i. i. 32.

'Far hence, quoth he, in wasteful wilderness.' Dunster. 14 summ'd] Drayton's Polyolbion. Song xi.

15

'The muse from Cambria comes, with pinions summ'd and

sound.'

Todd.

25

30

More awful than the sound of trumpet, cry'd
Repentance, and heaven's kingdom nigh at hand
To all baptiz'd: to his great baptism flock'd
With awe the regions round, and with them came
From Nazareth the Son of Joseph deem'd,
To the flood Jordan; came, as then obscure,
Unmark't, unknown; but him the Baptist soon
Descry'd, divinely warn'd, and witness bore
As to his worthier, and would have resign'd
To him his heavenly office; nor was long
His witness unconfirm'd: on him baptiz'd
Heaven open'd, and in likeness of a dove
The Spirit descended, while the Father's voice
From heaven pronounc'd him his beloved Son.
That heard the adversary, who, roving still
About the world, at that assembly fam'd
Would not be last, and, with the voice divine
Nigh thunder-struck, th' exalted man, to whom
Such high attest was giv'n, a while survey'd
With wonder; then, with envy fraught and rage,
Flies to his place, nor rests, but in mid air
To council summons all his mighty peers,
Within thick clouds and dark ten-fold involv'd,
A gloomy consistory; and them amidst
With looks aghast and sad he thus bespake.

42 consistory] Virg. Æn. iii. 679.

'Concilium horrendum.'

Thyer.

42 gloomy consistory] See Dante, Il Paradiso, xxix. 67.

'Omai dintorno a questo consistorio

Puoi contemplare assai.'

35

40