For while I fit with thee, I feem in heav'n;
And fweeter thy difcourfe is to my ear
Than fruits of palm-tree, pleasantest to thirft
And hunger both, from labour, at the hour.
Of sweet repaft: they fatiate, and foon fill,
Though pleasant; but thy words, with grace divine
Imbu'd, bring to their sweetness no fatiety. 216
To whom thus Raphael answer'd heav'nly meek a
Nor are thy lips ungraceful, fire of men,
Nor tongue ineloquent; for God on thee
Abundantly his gifts hath alfo pour'd,
Inward, and outward both, his image fair:
Speaking or mute, all comeliness and grace
Attends thee; and each word. each motion forms
Nor lefs think, we in heav'n of thee on earth
Than of our fellow-fervant, and inquire
Gladly into the ways of God with man:
For God we fee hath honour'd thee, and fet
On man his equal love. Say therefore on;
For I that day was abfent, as befel,
Bound on a voyage uncouth and obfcure,
Far on excurfion toward the gates of hell;
Squar'd in full legion, (fuch command we had),
To fee that none thence iffued forth a spy,
Or enemy, while God was in his work;
Left he, incens'd at fuch eruption bold,
Destruction with creation might have mix'd.
Not that they durft without his leave attempt;
But us he fends upon his high behests
For ftate, as Sov'reign King, and to inure
Our prompt obedience. Faft we found, faft fhut 240
The difmal gates, and barricado'd strong;
But long ere our approaching, heard within
Noife, other than the found of dance or fong,
Torment, and loud lament, and furious rage..
Glad we return'd up to the coafts of light
Ere Sabbath-ev'ning: fo we had in charge.
But thy relation now; for I attend,
Pleas'd with thy words, no lefs than thou with mine. So fpake the godlike Pow'r, and thus our fire: For man to tell how human life began
Is hard; for who himself beginning knew?
Defire with thee ftill longer to converse
Induc'd me. As new wak'd from foundest fleep,
Soft on the flow'ry herb I found me laid
In balmy fweat, which with his beams the fun
Soon dry'd, and on the reeking moisture fed.
Strait toward heav'n my wond'ring eyes I turn'd,
And gaz'd a while the ample sky; till rais'd
By quick inftinctive motion, up I sprung,
As thitherward endeavouring, and upright
Stood on my feet. About me found I faw
Hill, dale, and fhady woods, and funny plains,
And liquid lapfe of murm'ring ftreams: by thefe,
Creatures that liv'd, and mov'd, and walk'd, or flew,
Birds on the branches warbling; all things fmil'd, 265
With fragrance and with joy my heart o'erflow'd.
Myfelf I then perus'd, and limb by limb
Survey'd; and fometimes went, and fometimes ran
With fupple joints, as lively vigour led:
But who I was, or where, or from what cause,
Knew not; to fpeak I try'd, and forthwith spake ;
My tongue obey'd, and readily could name
Whate'er I faw. Thou fun, faid I, fair light,
And thou enlighten'd earth, fo fresh and gay,
Ye hills and dales, ye rivers, woods, and plains, 275
And ye that live and move, fair creatures, tell,
Tell, if ye faw, how came I thus, how here?
Not of myfelf; by fome great Maker then,
In goodness and in pow'r pre-eminent
From whom I have that thus I move and live,
And feel that I am happier than I know.
While thus I call'd, and stray'd I knew not whither,
From whence I first drew air, and firft beheld
This happy light; when anfwer none return'd,
On a green fhady bank, profufe of flow'rs,
Penfive I fat me down; there gentle fleep
First found me, and with foft oppression seiz'd
My droufed fenfe, untroubled, though I thought 1 then was paffing to my former ftate
Infenfible, and forthwith to diffolve:
When fuddenly stood at my head a dream,
Whofe inward apparition gently mov'd
My fancy to believe I yet had being,
And liv'd. One came, methought, of shape divine,
And faid, Thy manfion wants thee, Adam, rife,
Firft man, of men innumerable ordain'd
First father; call'd by thee, I come thy guide
To the garden of blifs, thy feat prepar❜d.
So faying, by the hand he took me rais'd;
And over fields and waters, as in air,
Smooth fliding without ftep, laft led me up
A woody mountain, whofe high top was plain,
A circuit wide, inclos'd, with goodlieft trees
Planted, with walks, and bow'rs, that what I faw 305
Of earth before searce pleasant seem'd. Each tree
Loaden with faireft fruit, that hung to th' eye
Tempting, ftirr'd in me fudden appetite
To pluck and eat; whereat I wak'd, and found
Before mine eyes all real, as the dream
Had lively fhadow'd. Here had new begun
My wand'ring, had not he who was my guide
Up hither, from among the trees appear'd,
Prefence divine! Rejoicing, but with awe,
In adoration at his feet I fell
Submiss he rear'd me,' and Whom thou fought'ft I am,
Said mildly, Author of all this thou feest
Above, or round about thee, or beneath.
This Paradife I give thee; count it thine
To till and keep, and of the fruit to eat :
Of every tree that in the garden grows
Eat freely with glad heart; fear here no dearth:
But of the Tree whofe operation brings
Knowledge of good and evil, which I have set
The pledge of thy obedience and thy faith,
Amid the garden by the Tree of Life,
Remember what I warn thee! fhun to taste,
And fhun the bitter confequence for know,
The day thou eat't thereof, my fole command
Tranfgrefs'd, inevitably thou fhalt die,
From that day mortal; and this happy state
Shalt lofe, expell'd from hence into a world
Of wo and forrow. Sternly, he pronounc'd
The rigid interdiction, which refounds
Yet dreadful in mine ear, though in my choice
Not to incur; but foon his clear afpect
Return'd, and gracious purpose thus renew'd:
Not only these fair bounds, but all the earth
To thee and to thy race I give; as lords
Poffefs it, and all things that therein live,
Or live in fea, or air, beat, fish, and fowl.
In fign whereof, each bird and beast behold
After their kinds: I bring them to receive
From thee their names, and pay thee fealty
With law fubjection: underftand the fame
L. 323. But of the Tree, &c.] This being the great hinge on which the whole poem turns, Milton has marked it ftrongly. But of the Free-Remember what I warn thee---he dwells, expatiates upon it, from 1. 323. to 1. 336. repeating, enforcing, fixing every word: it is all nerve and energy. Richardson.
Of fish within their wat❜ry refidence,
Not hither fummon'd, fince they cannot change
Their element, to draw the thinner air.
As thus he fpake, each bird and beaft behold
Approaching two and two; thefe cow'ring low
With blandifhment, each bird ftoop'd on his wing.
I nam'd them as they pafs'd, and understood
Their nature; with fuch knowledge God endu'd
My fudden apprehenfion. But in these
I found not what methought I wanted ftill;
And to the heavenly vifion thus prefum'd:
O by what name, for thou above all these,
Above mankind, or ought than mankind higher,
Surpaffeft far my naming; how may 1
Adore thee, Author of this universe,
And all this good to man? for whofe well-being
So amply, and with hands fo liberal,
Thou haft provided all things: but with me
I fee not who partakes. In folitude
What happiness, who can enjoy alone,
Qr all enjoying, what contentment find?
Thus I prefumptuous; and the vifion bright,
As with a smile more brighten'd, thus reply'd:
What call'st thou folitude? Is not the earth
With various living creatures, and the air,
Replenish'd, and all thefe at thy command
To come and play before thee? Know'ft thou not
Their language and their ways? they also know,
And reason not contemptibly: with these
Their language and their ways?] That brutes have a kind of language among themselves, is evident and undeniable. There is a treatise in French of the languages of brutes: and our author fuppofes that Adam understood this language, and was of fuperior knowledge to any of his defcendants; and befides was affifted by inspiration, with fuch knowledge God endued his fudden apprehenfion. He is faid by the school divines to have exceeded Solomon himself in knowledge. Newton.
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