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When Charlemain with all his peerage fell By Fontarabia. Thus far these beyond Compare of mortal prowess, yet observ'd Their dread commander: he, above the rest In shape and gesture proudly eminent Stood like a tower; his form had yet not loft All her original brightness, nor appear'd Less than arch-angel ruin'd, and the excess Of glory obscur'd: as when the fun new ris'n, Looks through the horizontal misty air Shorn of his beams, or from behind the moon, In dim eclips disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs. Darken'd so, yet shone Above them all th'archangel: but his face Deep scars of thunder had intrench't, and care Sat on his faded cheek, but under browes Of dauntless courage, and confiderate pride Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast Signs of remorse and passion to behold The fellows of his crime, the followers rather (Far other once beheld in bliss) condemn'd For ever now to have their lot in pain, Millions of spirits for his fault amerc't Of heav'n, and from eternal splendors flung For his revolt, yet faithful how they stood, Their glory wither'd. As when heaven's fire Hath scath'd the forrest oaks, or mountain pines, With finged top their stately growth though bare Stands on the blafted heath. He now prepar'd To speak; whereat their doubl'd ranks they bend

From wing to wing, and half inclose him round
With all his peers: attention held them mute.
Thrice he essay'd, and thrice in spight of scorn,
Tears such as angels weep, burst forth; at last
Words interwove with fighs found out their way.
O myriads of immortal spirits, O powers
Matchless, but with th'Almighty, and that strife
Was not inglorious, though th'event was dire,
As this place teftifies, and this dire change
Hateful to utter: but what power of mind,
Foreseeing or presaging, from the depth
Of knowledge past or present, could have fear'd,
How fuch united force of gods, how fuch
As stood like these, could ever know repulse ?
For who can yet believe, though after lofs,
That all these puissant legions, whose exile
Hath emptied heav'n, shall fail to re-afcend
Self-rais'd, and repossess their native feat ?
For me be witness all the hoft of heav'n,
If counsels different, or danger shun'd
By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns
Monarch in heav'n, till then as one fecure
Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute,
Consent or custom; and his regal state
Put forth at full, but ftill his strength conceal'd,
Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall.
Henceforth his might we know, and know our own
So as not either to provoke, or dread
New war, provok't; our better part remains
To work in close design, by fraud or guile,
What force effected not that he no less

At length from us may find, who overcomes
By force, hath overcome but half his foe.
Space may produce new worlds; whereof so rife
There went a fame in heav'n that he ere long

Intended to create, and therein plant
A generation, whom his choice regard
Should favour equal to the fons of heav'n :
Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps
Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere :
For this infernal pit shall never hold
Celestial spirits in bondage, nor th'abyss
Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts
Full counsel must mature: peace is despair'd,
For who can think submission? war then, war
Open or understood must be resolv'd.

He spake: and to confirm his words out-flew
Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs
Of mighty cherubim; the sudden blaze
Far round illumin'd hell: highly they rag'd
Against the highest, and fierce with grasped arms
Clasp'd on their sounding shields the din of war,
Hurling defiance toward the vault of heav'n.

There stood a hill not far, whose grifly top Belch'd fire and rowling smoak; the rest entire Shone with a glossy scurf, undoubted sign That in his womb was hid metallic ore, The work of fulphur. Thither wing'd with speed A numerous brigad hasten'd. As when bands Of pioneers with spade and pickax arm'd Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field, Or cast a rampart. Mammon led them on,

Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell From heav'n, for ev'n in heav'n his looks and thoughts Were always downward bent, admiring more The riches of heav'ns pavement, trod'n gold, Than aught divine or holy else enjoy'd In vifion beatific: by him first Men also, and by his suggestion taught, Ransack'd the center, and with impious hands Rif'd the bowels of their mother earth For treasures better hid. Soon had his crew Open'd into the hill a spacious wound, And dig'd out ribs of gold. Let none admire That riches grow in hell; that soyle may best Deserve the precious bane. And here let those Who boaft in mortal things, and wondring tell Of Babel, and the works of Memphian kings, Learn how their greatest monuments of fame, And strength and art are easily out-done By spirits reprobate, and in an hour What in an age they with incessant toil And hands innumerable scarce perform. Nigh on the plain in many cells prepar'd, That underneath had veins of liquid fire Sluc'd from the lake, a second multitude With wondrous art † founded the massie ore, Severing each kind, and scumm'd the bullion dross: A third as foon had form'd within the ground A various mould, and from the boiling cells By strange conveyance fill'd each hollow nook, As in an organ from one blast of wind

† 2d Ed. Found out the massie ore.

To many a row of pipes the found-board breaths.
Anon out of the earth a fabrick huge
Rose like an exhalation, with the found
Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet,
Built like a temple, where Pylasters round
Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid
With golden architrave; nor did there want
Cornice or freeze, with bossy sculptures grav'n,
The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon,
Nor great Alcairo such magnificence
Equal'd in all their glories, to inshrine
Belus or Serapis their gods, or feat
Their kings, when Ægypt with Affyria strove
In wealth and luxury. Th'ascending pile
Stood fixt her stately highth, and strait the dores
Op'ning their brazen folds discover wide
Within her ample spaces, o're the smooth
And level pavement: from the arched roof,
Pendant by subtle magic many a row
Of starry lamps and blazing creffets, fed
With Naptha and Asphaltus, yielded light
As from a sky. The hasty multitude
Admiring enter'd, and the work some praise
And fome the architect: his hand was known
In heav'n by many a towred structure high,
Where scepter'd angels held their residence,
And fat as princes, whom the supreme king
Exalted to fuch power, and gave to rule,
Each in his hierarchie, the orders bright.
Nor was his name unheard or unador'd
In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land

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