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"Powdered with stars.

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"And now on earth the seventh

Evening arose in Eden, for the Sun

"Was set, and Twilight from the East came on,

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Forerunning Night; when at the holy mount

"Of Heaven's high-seated top,—the imperial throne
"Of Godhead, fixed for ever firm and sure,-
"The Filial Power arrived, and sat him down
"With his great Father; for he also went
"Invisible, yet staid, (such privilege

"Hath Omnipresence,) and the work ordained,

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"Author and End of all things; and, from work

"Now resting, blessed and hallowed the seventh day,

"As resting on that day from all his work:

"But not in silence holy kept: the harp

"Had work, and rested not; the solemn pipe, "And dulcimer, all organs of sweet stop,

"All sounds on fret, by string or golden wire,

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'Tempered soft tuning, intermixed with voice "Choral or unison: of incense clouds,

"Fuming from golden censers, hid the mount. "Creation and the six days' acts they sung:

"Great are thy works, Jehovah ! infinite

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"Thy power! What thought can measure thee, or tongue "Relate thee? Greater now in thy return

"Than from the giant Angels; thee that day
"Thy thunders magnified; but to create
"Is greater, than created to destroy.

"Who can impair thee, Mighty King! or bound

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Thy empire? easily the proud attempt

"Of Spirits apostate, and their counsels vain,

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"Thou hast repelled; while impiously they thought

"Thee to diminish, and from thee withdraw

"The number of thy worshippers. Who seeks "To lessen thee, against his purpose serves

"To manifest the more thy might: his evil
"Thou usest, and from thence createst more good.
"Witness this new-made world, another Heaven!
"From Heaven-gate not far, founded in view
"On the clear hyaline, the glassy sea;

"Of amplitude almost immense, with stars
"Numerous, and every star perhaps a world
"Of destined habitation; but thou knowst
"Their seasons: among these, the seat of Men,
"Earth with her nether ocean circumfused,

"Their pleasant dwelling-place. Thrice happy Men,
"And sons of Men, whom God has thus advanced!
"Created in his image, there to dwell

"And worship him; and, in reward, to rule
"Over his works, on earth, in sea, or air,
"And multiply a race of worshippers

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'Holy and just thrice happy, if they know "Their happiness, and persevere upright!'

"So sung they, and the empyréan rung "With halleluiahs: thus was Sabbath kept.

"And thy request think now fulfilled, that asked "How first this world and face of things began, "And what, before thy memory, was done 'From the beginning; that posterity,

"Informed by thee, might know: if else thou seekst

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Aught, not surpassing human measure, say."

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ADAM inquires concerning celestial motions; is doubtfully answered, and exhorted to search rather things more worthy of knowledge; Adam assents; and, still desirous to detain Raphael, relates to him what he remembered since his own creation; his placing in Paradise; his talk with God concerning solitude and fit society; his first meeting and nuptials with Eve; his discourse with the angel thereupon; who, after admonitions repeated, departs.

The angel ended, and in Adam's ear

So charming left his voice, that he awhile

Thought him still speaking, still stood fixed to hear;
Then, as new-waked, thus gratefully replied:

"What thanks sufficient, or what recompense

66 Equal, have I to render thee, divine
"Historian! who thus largely hast allayed
"The thirst I had of knowledge, and vouchsafed
"This friendly condescension to relate

"Things else by me unsearchable; now heard
"With wonder, but delight, and, as is due,
"With glory attributed to the high
"Creator? Something yet of doubt remains,
"Which only thy solution can resolve.

"When I behold this goodly frame, this world,
"Of Heaven and Earth consisting, and compute
"Their magnitudes; this Earth, a spot, a grain,
"An atom, with the firmament compared
"And all her numbered stars, that seem to roll
"Spaces incomprehensible, (for such
"Their distance argues, and their swift return

IO

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"Diurnal,) merely to officiate light

"Round this opacous Earth, this punctual spot,
"One day and night; in all their vast survey
“Useless besides: reasoning I oft admire,
"How Nature, wise and frugal, could commit
"Such disproportions, with superfluous hand
"So many nobler bodies to create,
"Greater so manifold, to this one use,
"For aught appears, and on their orbs impose
"Such restless revolution day by day
"Repeated; while the sedentary earth,
"That better might with far less compass move,
"Served by more noble than herself, attains
"Her end without least motion, and receives,
"As tribute,-such a sumless journey brought
"Of incorporeal speed-her warmth and light;
"Speed, to describe whose swiftness number fails."

So spake our sire, and by his countenance seemed
Entering on studious thoughts abstruse; which Eve
Perceiving, where she sat retired in sight;
With lowliness majestic from her seat,

And grace, that won who saw to wish her stay,
Rose, and went forth among her fruits and flowers,
To visit how they prospered, bud and bloom,
Her nursery; they at her coming sprung,
And, touched by her fair tendance, gladlier grew.
Yet went she not as not with such discourse
Delighted, or not capable her ear

Of what was high: such pleasure she reserved,
Adam relating, she sole auditress:

Her husband the relater she preferred

Before the angel, and of him to ask

Chose rather; he, she knew, would intermix
Grateful digressions, and solve high dispute

With conjugal caresses; from his lip

Not words alone pleased her.-O! when meet now
Such pairs, in love and mutual honour joined ?—
With goddess-like demeanour forth she went,
Not unattended; for on her, as queen,

A pomp of winning Graces waited still,

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And from about her shot darts of desire
Into all eyes, to wish her still in sight.

And Raphael now, to Adam's doubt proposed,
Benevolent and facile thus replied:

"To ask or search, I blame thee not; for Heaven
"Is as the book of God before thee set,
"Wherein to read his wondrous works, and learn
"His seasons, hours, or days, or months, or years:
"This to attain, whether Heaven move or Earth,

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Imports not, if thou reckon right; the rest

"From man or angel the great Architect
"Did wisely to conceal, and not divulge
"His secrets to be scanned by them who ought
"Rather admire; or, if they list to try

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Conjecture, he his fabric of the heavens

"Hath left to their disputes; perhaps to move "His laughter at their quaint opinions wide

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Hereafter, when they come to model Heaven "And calculate the stars; how they will wield

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"The mighty frame;-how build, unbuild, contrive,

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"Who art to lead thy offspring, and supposest

"That bodies bright and greater should not serve
"The less not bright; nor Heaven such journeys run,
"Earth sitting still, when she alone receives
"The benefit. Consider first, that great,
"Or bright, infers not excellence: the Earth,

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Though, in comparison of Heaven, so small, "Nor glistering, may of solid good contain "More plenty than the Sun that barren shines; "Whose virtue on itself works no effect, "But in the fruitful earth; there first received, "His beams, inactive else, their vigour find. "Yet not to Earth are those bright luminaries "Officious; but to thee, Earth's habitant. "And for the Heaven's wide circuit, let it speak "The Maker's high magnificence, who built

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