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Not fo on man; him through their malice fall'n,
Father of mercie and grace, thou didst not doome
So strictly, but much more to pity encline :
No fooner did thy dear and onely fon
Perceive thee purpos'd not to doom frail man
So ftrictly, but much more to pity enclin❜d,
He to appeafe thy wrath, and end the strife
Of mercy and justice in thy face difcern'd,
Regardless of the bliss wherein he fat
Second to thee, offer'd himself to die
For man's offence. O unexampl'd love,
Love no where to be found less than divine !
Hail fon of God, faviour of men, thy name
Shall be the copious matter of my fong
Henceforth, and never shall my harp thy praise
Forget, nor from thy father's praise disjoin.

Thus they in heav'n, above the starry sphere, Their happie hours in joy and hymning fpent. Mean while upon the firm opacous globe

Of this round world, whofe first convex divides
The luminous inferior orbs, enclos'd
From Chaos and th'inroad of darkness old,
Satan alighted walks: a globe far off

It seem'd, now feems a boundlefs continent
Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of night
Starless expos'd, and ever-threatning storms

Of Chaos bluftring round, inclement skie;
Save on that fide which from the wall of heav'n
Though diftant far some small reflection gains
Of glimm❜ring air less vext with tempeft loud :
Here walk'd the fiend at large in fpacious field.

As when a vulture on Imaus bred,

Whose fnowie ridge the roving Tartar bounds,
Diflodging from a region scarce of prey

To gorge the flesh of lamb or yeanling kids
On hills where flocks are fed, flies toward the sprir
Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams;

But in his way lights on the barren plains

Of Sericana, where Chineses drive

With fails and wind their canie waggons light :
So on this windie fea of land, the fiend

Walk'd up and down alone bent on his prey,
Alone, for other creature in this place

Living or liveless to be found was none,
None yet, but ftore hereafter from the earth
Up hither like aerial vapours flew

Of all things transitory and vain, when fin
With vanity had fill'd the works of men :
Both all things vain, and all who in vain things
Built their fond hopes of glorie or lafting fame,
Or happiness in this or th'other life;

All who have their reward on earth, the fruits
Of painful fuperftition and blind zeal,
Naught feeking but the praise of men, here find
Fit retribution, empty as their deeds;
All the unaccomplisht works of nature's hand,
Abortive, monftrous, or unkindly mixt,
Diffolv'd on earth, fleet hither, and in vain,
Till final diffolution, wander here,

Not in the neighbouring moon, as some have dream'd
Thofe argent fields more likely habitants,

Tranflated faints or middle fpirits hold

Betwixt th'angelical and human kind :
Hither of ill-join'd fons and daughters born
First from the ancient world those giants came
With many a vain exploit, though then renown'd:
The builders next of Babel on the plain

Of Sennaar, and still with vain defign
New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build :
Others came fingle; he who to be deem'd
A god, leap'd fondly into Ætna flames,
Empedocles, and he who to enjoy
Plato's Elyfium, leap'd into the fea,
Cleombrotus, and many more too long,
Embryo's and idiots, eremites and friers
White, black and grey, with all their trumperie..
Here pilgrims roam, that ftray'd fo far to feek

In Golgotha him dead, who lives in heav'n;
And they who to be fure of Paradise

Dying put on the weeds of Dominic,
Or in Franciscan think to pass disguis'd;
They pass the planets feven, and pass the fixt,
And that crystalline sphere whose ballance weighs
The trepidation talkt, and that first mov'd;
And now Saint Peter at heav'n's wicket seems
To wait them with his keys, and now at foot
Of heav'n's afcent they lift their feet, when lo
A violent cross wind from either coaft

Blows them transverse ten thousand leagues awry
Into the devious air; then might ye fee
Cowles, hoods and habits with their wearers toft
And flutter'd into raggs, then reliques, beads,
Indulgences, difpences, pardons, bulls,

The fport of winds: all these upwhirl'd alofe
Fly o're the backfide of the world far off
Into a Limbo large and broad, fince call'd
The Paradife of fools, to few unknown
Long after, now unpeopl'd, and untrode ;
All this dark globe the fiend found as he pass'd,
And long he wander'd, till at last a gleam
Of dawning light turn'd thither-ward in hafte
His travell'd steps; far diftant he descries
Afcending by degrees magnificent

Up to the wall of heav'n a structure high,
At top whereof, but far more rich appear'd
The work as of a kingly palace gate
With frontispiece of diamond and gold
Imbellisht, thick with fparkling orient gemmes
The portal fhone, inimitable on earth

Py model, or by fhading pencil drawn.
The ftairs were fuch as whereon Jacob faw
Angels afcending and defcending, bands
Of guardians bright, when he from Efau fled
To Padan-Aram in the field of Luz,
Dreaming by night under the open skie,
And waking cri'd, This is the gate of heav'n.
Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood
There always, but drawn up to heav'n fometimes
Viewlefs, and underneath a bright fea flow'd
Of jafper, or of liquid pearl, whereon
Who after came from earth, failing arriv'd,
Wafted by angels, or flew o're the lake
Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds.
The stairs were then let down, whether to dare

The fiend by eafie afcent, or aggravate
His fad exclufion from the dores of blifs.
Direct against which op'nd from beneath,
Juft o're the blissful feat of Paradise,
A paffage down to th'earth, a passage wide,
Wider by far than that of after-times

Over mount Sion, and, though that were large,
Over the Promis'd Land to God fo dear,

By which, to visit oft those happy tribes,
On high behefts his angels to and fro

Pafs'd frequent, and his eye with choice regard
From Paneas the fount of Jordan's flood
To Beerfaba, where the Holy Land

Borders on Ægypt and the Arabian shore;

So wide the op❜ning feem'd, where bounds were fet
To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave.
Satan from hence now on the lower ftair
That fcal'd by steps of gold to heav'n gate
Looks down with wonder at the fudden view
Of all this world at once. As when a fcout
Through dark and defart ways with peril gone
All night; at laft by break of chearful dawn
Obtains the brow of fome high climbing hill,
Which to his eye discovers unaware
The goodly profpect of fome foreign land
Firft-feen, or fome renown'd metropolis
With gliftering fpires and pinnacles adorn'd.
Which now the rifing fun guilds with his beams,
Such wonder feiz'd, though after heaven feen,
The spirit maligne, but much more envy feiz'd
At ight of all this world beheld fo fair,

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