For fuch thou art, from fin and blame entire :
Not diffident of thee do I diffuade
Thy abfence from my fight, but to avoid
'Th' attempt itself intended.
our foe.
[perfes
For he who tempts, though in vain, at least af-
The tempted with difhonour foul, fuppos'd
Not incorruptible of faith, not proof
Against temptation: thou thyself, with fcorn
And anger, wouldst resent the offer'd wrong,
Tho' ineffectual found: mifdeem not then,
If fuch affront I labour to avert

From thee alone, which on us both at once
The enemy, tho' bold, will hardly dare,
Or daring, first on me th' attempt fhall light,
Nor thou his malice and falle guile contemn;
Subtile he needs muft be, who could feduce
Angels; nor think fuperfluous others aid.
I from the influence of thy looks receive
Accefs in every virtue, in thy fight
More wife, more watchful, ftronger, if need were
Of outward ftrength; while fhame, thou looking
Shame to be overcome or over-reach'd
Would utmost vigour raife, and rais'd, unite.
Why shouldft not thou like fenfe within thee feel
When I am prefent, and thy trial choose
With me, beft witnefs of thy virtue try'd?

[on,

So fpake domeftic Adam in his care
And matrimonial love; but Eve, who thought
Lefs attributed to her faith fincere,
Thus her reply, with accent fweet, renew'd..
If this be our condition, thus to dwell
In narrow circuit ftraiten'd by a foe,
Subtile or violent, we not indued
Single with like defence, wherever met,
How are we happy, ftill in fear of harm?
But harm precedes not fin: only our foe
Tempting affronts us with his foul esteem
Of our integrity: his foul efteem

Sticks no difhononr on our front, but turns
Foul on himself; then wherefore fhunn'd or fear'd
By us? who rather double honour gain
From his furmife prov'd falfe, find peace within,
Favour from Heav'n, or witnefs from th' event.
And what is faith, love, virtue unaffay'd
Alone, without exterior help fuftain'd?
Let us not tiren fufpect our happy state
Left fo imperfect by the Maker wife,
As not fecure to fingle or combin'd.
Frail is our happiness, if this be so,
And Eden were no Eden thus expos'd..

To whom thus Adam fervently reply'd:
O Woman, beft are all things as the will
Of God ordain'd them; his creating hand
Nothing imperfect or deficient left
Of all that he created, much less man,
Or ought that might his happy state secure,
Secure from outward force; within himself
The danger lies, yet lies within his power:
Against his will he can receive no harm.
But God left free the will, for what obeys
Reason, is free, and Reason he made right,
But bid her well beware, and still erect,
Left, by some fair appearing good furpris'd,
She dictate falfe, and mifinform the will,
To do what God expressly hath forbid.

Not then miftruft, but tender love injoins,
That I fhould mind thee oft, and mind thou me.
Firm we fubfift, yet poflible to fwerve,
Since reafon not impoffibly may meet
Some fpecious object by the foe fuborn'd,
And fall into deception unaware,

Not keeping ftricteft watch, as the was warn'd.
Seek not temptation then, which to avoid
Were better, and moft likely, if from me
Thou fever not: trial will come unfought.
Wouldst thou approve thy conftancy, approve
First thy obedience; th' other who can know?
Not feeing thee attempted, who attest?
But if thou think, trial unfought may find
Us both fecurer than thus warn'd thou feem'ft,
Go;
for thy ftay, not free, absents thee more
Go in thy native innocence, rely

On what thou haft of virtue, fummon all;
For God tow'rds thee hath done his part; do thine.
So fpake the Patriarch of Mankind; but Eve
Perfifted, yet fubmifs, though last, reply'd:

With thy permiflion then, and thus forewarn'd
Chiefly by what thy own last reasoning words
Touch'd only, that our trial, when leaft fought,
May find us both perhaps far lefs prepar'd,
The willinger I go, nor much expect
A foe fo proud will firft the weaker feek;
So bent, the more fhall fhame him his repulse.
Thus faying, from her husband's hand her

hand

Soft fhe withdrew; and, like a wood-nymph light,
Oread or Dryad, or of Delia's train,
Betook her to the groves, but Delia's felf
In gate furpafs'd, and goddefs-like deport,
Tho' not as he with bow and quiver arm'd
But with fuch gard'ning tools as art, yet rude,
Guiltlefs of fire, had form'd, or Angels brought.
To Pales or Pomona, thus adorn'd,
Likeft the feem'd; Pomona, when she fled
Vertumnus, or to Ceres in her prime,
Yet virgin of Proferpina from Jove.
Her long with ardent look his eye purfu'd.
Delighted, but defiring more her stay.
Oft he to her his charge of quick return
Repeated, the to him as oft engag'd
To be return'd by noon amid the bower,
And all things in beft order to invite
Noon-tide repaft, or afternoon's repose.
O much deceiv'd, much failing, hapless Eve,
Of thy prefum'd return! event perverfe!
Thou never from that hour in Paradise
Found't either fweet repaft, or found repofe :
Such ambush hid among sweet flow'rs and shades
Waited with hellish rancour imminent
To intercept thy way, or fend thee back
Defpoil'd of innocence, of faith, of bliss.
For now, and fince first break of dawn, the Fiend;
Mere ferpent in appearance, forth was come,
And on his queft, where liklieft be might find
The only two of mankind, but in them
The whole included race, his purpos'd prey,
In bower and field he fought where any tuf
Of grove or garden plot more pleasant lay,
Their tendence or plantation for delight;
By fountain or by shady rivulet

He fought them both, but wifh'd his hap might
Eve feparate; he wish'd, but not with hope [find
Of what so seldom chanc'd, when to his wifh,
Beyond his hope, Eve separate he spies,
Veil'd in a cloud of fragrance, where the flood,
Half ipy'd, fo thick the rofes blushing round
About her glow'd, oft ftooping to support
Each flower of flender stalk, whofe head, though
gay

Carnation, purple', azure, or fpeck'd with gold,
Hung drooping unfuftain'd; them fhe upftays
Gently with myrtle band, mindlefs the while
Herfelf, tho' fairest unfupported flower,
From her best prop so far, and storm so nigh.
Nearer he drew, and many a walk travers'd
Of ftatelieft covert, cedar, pine, or palm,
Then voluble and bold, now hid, now feen
Among thick-woven arborets and flowers
Imborder'd on each bank, the hand of Eve:
Spot more delicious than those gardens feign'd,
Or of reviv'd Adonis, or renown'd
Alcinous, hoft of old Laertes' fon,

Or that, not myftic, where the Sapient king
Held dalliance with his fair Egyptian spouse.
Much he the place admir'd, the person more,
As one who long in populous city pent,
Where houses thick and fewers annoy the air,
Forth iffuing on a fummer's morn to breathe
Among the pleasant villages and farms
Adjoin'd, from each thing met conceives delight,
The smell of grain, or tedded grass, or kine,
Or dairy', each rural fight, each rural found;
If chance, with nymph-like step, fair virgin pass,
What pleasing feem'd, for her now pleases more,
She moit, and in her look fums all delight:
Such pleasure took the serpent to behold
This flowery plat, the fweet recefs of Eve
Thus carly, thus alone; her heav'nly form
Angelic, but more foft and feminine,
Her graceful innocence, her every air
Of gefture or leaft action overaw'd
His malice, and with rapine sweet bereav'd
His fierceness of the fierce intent it brought :
That space the Evil-one abstracted ftood
From his own evil, and for the time remain'd
Stupidly good, of enmity difarm'd,
Of guile, of hate, of envy, of revenge;
But the hot hell that always in him burns,
Tho' in mid Heav'n, foon ended his delight,
And tortures him now more, the more he fees
Of pleasure not for him ordain'd: then foon
Fierce hate he recollects, and all his thoughts
Of mischief, gratulating, thus excites.
Thoughts, whither have ye led me! with what
Compulfion thus transported to forget
What hither brought us! hate, not love, nor hope,
Of Paradife for Hell, hope here to taste
Of pleasure, but all pleasure to destroy,
Save what is in deftroying; other joy
To me is loft. Then let me not let pafs
Occafion, which now fmiles; behold alone
The Woman, opportune to all attempts,
Her hufband; for I view far round, not nigh,
Whole higher intellectual more I fhun,
And strength, of courage haughty, and of limb

[fweet

Heroic built, tho' of terrestrial mould,
Foe not informidable, exempt from wound,
I not; fo much hath Hell debas'd, and pain
Infeebled me, to what I was in Heav'n.
She fair, divinely fair, fit love for gods,
Not terrible, tho' terror be in love

And beauty, not approach'd by stronger hate,
Hate stronger, under fhew of love well feign'd,
The way which to her ruin now I tend.

So fpake the enemy' of mankind, inclos'd In ferpent, inmate bad, and tow'rd Eve Addrefs'd his way, not with indented wave, Prone on the ground, as fince, but on his rear, Circular bafe of rifing folds, that tower'd Fold above fold, a furging maze, his head Crefted aloft, and carbuncle his eyes; With burnish'd neck of verdant gold, erect Amidst his circling fpires, that on the grafs Floated redundant: pleafing was his shape And lovely; never fince of ferpent kind Lovelier, not those that in Illyria chang'd Hermione and Cadmus, or the God In Epidaurus; nor to which transform'd Ammonian Jove, or Capitoline was seen, He with Olympias, this with her who bore Scipio the height of Rome. With tract oblique At first, as one who fought accefs, but fear'd To interrupt, fide-long he works his way: As when a fhip, by fkilful fteerfman wrought Nigh river's mouth, or foreland, where the wind Veers oft, as oft fo fteers and shifts her fail: So varied he, and of his tortuous train Curl'd many a wanton wreath in fight of Eve, To lure her eye; fhe, bufied, heard the found Of ruftling leaves, but minded not, as us'd To fuch difport before her through the field, From every beaft, more duteous at her call Than at Circean call the herd disguis'd. He bolder now, uncall'd before her flood, But as in gaze admiring: oft he bow'd His turret creft, and fleek enamel'd neck, Fawning, and lick'd the ground whereon fhe trod. His gentle dumb expreffion turn'd at length The eye of Eve to mark his play; he, glad Of her attention gain'd, with ferpent tongue Organic, or impulfe of vocal air, His fraudulent temptation thus began:

Wonder not, fov'reign Mistress, if perhaps
Thou canft, who art fole wonder; much less arm
Thy looks, the heav'n of mildness, with disdain,
Difpleas'd that I approach thee thus, and gaze
Infatiate; I thus fingle, nor have fear'd
Thy awful brow, more awful thus retir'd.
Faireft refemblance of thy Maker fair,
Thee all things living gaze on, all things thine
By gift, and thy celeftial beauty' adore,
With ravishment beheld, there beft beheld
Where univerfally admir'd; but here
In this inclofure wild, these beasts among,
Beholders rude, and fhallow to difcern
Half what in thee is fair, one man except,
Who fees thee'? (and what is one ?) who should
be feen

A goddess among gods, ador'd and ferv'd
By angels numberlefs, thy daily train.

So gloz'd the tempter, and his proem tun'd; Into the heart of Eve his words made way, Tho' at the voice much marvelling; at length, Not unamaz'd, fhe thus in answer spake:

What may this mean? language of man pronounc'd

By tongue of brute, and human fense express'd?
The firft at least of these I thought deny'd
To beafts, whom God, on their creation-day,
Created mute to all articulate found;
The latter I demur; for in their looks
Much reas'n, and in their actions oft appears.
Thee Serpent, fubt❜lest beast of all the field,
I knew, but not with human voice indu'd;
Redouble then this miracle, and say,
How cam'ft thou speakable of mute, and how
To me fo friendly grown above the rest
Of brutal kind, that daily are in fight?
Say; for fuch wonder claims attention due.

To whom the guileful tempter thus reply'd : Emprefs of this fair world, refplendent Eve, Easy to me it is to tell thee all

What thou command'st, and right thou fhouldft be obey'd:

I was at first as other beafts that graze
The trodden herb, of abject thoughts and low
As was my food; nor ought but food difcern'd
Or fex, and apprehended nothing high:
Till on a day roving the field, I chanc'd
A goodly tree far diftant to behoid,
Loaden with fruit of fairest colours mix'd,
Ruddy and gold: I nearer drew to gaze;
When from the boughs a favoury odour blown,
Grateful to appetite, more pleas'd my sense
Than fmell of fweeteft fennel, or the teats
Of ewe or goat dropping with milk at even,
Unfuck'd of lamb or kid, that tend their play.
To fatisfy the fharp defire I had
Of tafting thofe fair apples, I refolv'd
Not to defer; hunger and thirst at once,
Powerful perfuaders, quicken'd at the scent
Of that alluring fruit, urg'd me fo keen.
About the mofly trunk i wound me foon;
For high from ground the branches would require
Thy utmost reach, or Adam's: round the tree
All other beafts that faw, with like defire
Longing and envying ftood, but could not reach
Amid the tree now got, where plenty hung
Tempting fo nigh, to pluck and eat my fill
I fpar'd not; for fuch pleasure till that hour
At feed or fountain never had I found.
Sated at length, e'er long I might perceive
Strange alteration in me, to degree
Of reafon in my inward powers, and speech
Wanted not long, tho' to this fhape retain'd.
Thenceforth to fpeculations high or deep
I turn'd my thoughts, and with capacious mind
Confider'd all things vifible in Heav'n,
Or earth, or middle, all things fair and good;
But all that fair and good in thy divine
Semblance, and in thy beauty's heav'nly ray
United I beheld; no fair to thine
Equivalent or fecond, which compell'd
Me thus, tho' importune perhaps, to come
And gaze, and worship thee of right declar'd

Sov'reign of creatures, univerfal dame.

So talk'd the fpirited fly snake; and Eve Yet more amaz'd unwary thus reply'd: Serpent, thy overpraising leaves in doubt The virtue of that fruit, in thee first prov'd: But say where grows the tree, from hence how far? For many are the trees of God that grow In Paradise, and various, yet unknown Το us, in fuch abundance lies our choice, As leaves a greater store of fruit untouch'd, Still hanging incorruptible, till men Grow up to their provifion, and more hands Help to difburden Nature of her birth.

To whom the wily adder, blithe and glad :
Emprefs, the way is ready, and not long;
Beyond a row of myrtles, on a flat,
Faft by a fountain, one small thicket past
Of blowing myrrh and balm; if thou accept
My conduct, I can bring thee thither foon.
Lead then, faid Eve. He leading swiftly roll'd
In tangels, and made intricate seem straight,
To mifchief fwift. Hope elevates, and joy
Brightens his creft. As when a wand'ring fire,
Compact of unctuous vapour, which the night
Condenfes, and the cold environs round,
Kindled, through agitation, to a flame,
Which oft, they fay, fome evil fp'rit attends
Hovering and blazing, with delufive light,
Misleads th' amaz'd night-wand'rer from his way,
To bogs and mires, and oft through pond or
pool,

There fwallow'd up and loft, from fuccour far,
So glifter'd the dire fnake, and into fraud
Led Eve, our credulous mother, to the tree
Of prohibition, root of all our woe;
Which when she saw, thus to her guide fhe spake:
Serpent, we might have spar'd our coming hi-

ther,

Fruitless to me, tho' fruit be here t'excess,
The credit of whose virtue rest with thee,
Wond'rous indeed, if cause of such effects.
But of this tree we may not tafte nor touch;
God fo commanded, and left that command
Sole daughter of his voice; the reft, we live
Law to ourselves, our reafon is our law.

To whom the Tempter guilefully reply'd:
Indeed? hath God then faid, that of the fruit
Of all these garden trees ye shall not eat,
Yet lords declar'd of all in earth or air?

To whom thus Eve, yet finlefs. Of the fruit
Of each tree in the garden we may eat,
But of the fruit of this fair tree amidst
The garden, God hath faid, Ye fhall not eat
Thereof, nor fhall ye touch it, left ye die.
She scarce had faid, though brief, when now
more bold

The Tempter, but, with fhew of zeal and love,
To man, and indignation at his wrong,
New part puts on, and as to paffion mov'd,
Fluctuates disturb'd, yet comely and in act
Rais'd, as of fome great matter to begin.
As when of old fome orator renown'd
In Athens or free Rome, where eloquence
Flourish'd, fince mute, to fome great cause ad-
drefs'd,

Stood in himself collected, while each part,
Motion, each act won audience, e'er the tongue,
Sometimes in height began, as no delay
Of preface brooking through his zeal of right:
So ftanding, moving, or to height up grown,
The Tempter, all impaflion'd, thus began:

O facred, wife, and wisdom-giving Plant,
Mother of Science, now I feel thy power
Within me clear, not only to difcern
Things in their caufes, but to trace the ways
Of highest agents, deem'd however wife.
Queen of this univerfe, do not believe

Thofe rigid threats of death; ye fhall not die :
How should you? by the fruit? it gives you life
To knowledge; by the Threat'ner? look on me,
Me who have touch'd and tafted, yet both live,
And life more perfect have attain'd than Fate
Meant me, by vent'ring higher than my lot.
Shall that be shut to man, which to the beast
Is open? or will God incenfe his re
For fuch a petty trefpafs, and not praise
Rather your dauntlefs virtue, whom the pain
Of death denounc'd, whatever thing death be,
Deterr'd not from achieving what might lead
To happier life, knowledge of good and evil;
Of Good, how just? of evil, if what is evil
Be real, why not known, fince cafier fhunn'd:
God therefore cannot hurt you, and be just;
Not just, not God; not fear'd then, nor obey'd:
Your fear itself of death removes the fear.
Why then was this forbid? why, but to awe,
Why but to keep thee low and ignorant,
His worshippers; he knows that in the day
Ye eat thereof, your eyes that feem fo clear,
Yet are but dim, fhall perfectly be then
Open'd and clear'd, and ye shall be as gods,
Knowing both good and evil, as they know.
That ye fhall be as gods, fince I as man,
Internal man, is but proportion meet;"
I of brute human, ye of human gods,
So ye fhall die perhaps, by putting off
Human, to put on gods; death to he wish'd,
Tho' threaten'd, which no worse than this can
bring.

And what are gods, that man may not become
As they, participating god-like food?
The gods are first, and that advantage use
On our belief, that all from them proceeds:
I question it; for this fair earth I fee,
Warm'd by the fun, producing every kind,
Them nothing: if they all things, who inclos'd
Knowledge of good and evil in this tree,
That whofo eats thereof, forwith attains
Wifcom without their leave? and wherein lies
Th' offence, that man fhould thus attain to
know?

What can your knowledge hurt him, or this tree
Impart against his will, if all be his?

Or is it envy, and can envy dwell

In heav'nly breafts? thefe, thefe and many more
Caufes import your need of this fair fruit.
Goddefs humane, reach then, and freely taste.
He ended; and his words, replete with guile,
Into her heart too eafy entrance won:
Fix'd on the fruit fhe gaz'd, which to behold

Might tempt alone, and in her ears the found
Yet rung of his perfuafive words, impregn'd
With reason, to her feeming, and with truth;
Meanwhile the hour of noon drew on, and wak'd
An eager appetite, rais'd by the smell

So favoury of that fruit, which with defire,
Inclinable now grown to touch or taste,
Solicited her longing eye; yet firft

Paufing a while, thus to herself the mus'd:

Great are thy virtues, doubtlefs, best of fruits,
Tho' kept from man, and worthy to be' admir'd,
Whose tafte, too long forborn, at first assay
Gave elocution to the mute, and taught
The tongue not made for fpeech to speak thy
praise :

Thy praise he alfo who forbids thy ufe,
Conceals not from us, naming thee the Tree
Of Knowledge, knowledge both of good and evil;
Forbids us then to tafte; but his forbidding
Commends thee more, while it infers the good
By thee communicated, and our want:
For good unknown, fure is not had, or had
And yet unknown, is as not had at all.
In plain, then, what forbids he but to know,
Forbids us good, forbids us to be wife?
Such prohibitions bind not. But if death
Binds us with after-bands, what profits then
Our inward freedom? In the day we eat
Of this fair fruit, our doom is, we fhall die!
How dies the ferpent? he hath eat'n and lives,
And knows, and speaks, and reafons, and difcerns,
Irrational till then. For us alone

Was death invented? or to us deny'd
This intellectual food, for beafts referv'd?
For beafts it seems: yet that one beaft which
first

Hath tafted, envies not, but brings with joy
The good befall'n him, author unsuspect,
Friendly to man, far from deceit or guile...
What fear I then? rather what know to fear
Under this ignorance of good and evil,
Of God or death, of law or penalty?
Here grows the cure of all, this fruit divine,
Fair to the eye, inviting to the tafte,

Of virtue to make wife: what hinders then
To reach, and feed at once both body' and mind?
So faying, her rafh hand, in evil hour,
Forth reaching to the fruit, the pluck'd, she eat :
Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her feat
Sighing through all her works, gave figns of

woe,

That all was loft. Back to the thicket flunk
The guilty ferpent, and well might; for Eve
Intent now wholly on her tafte, nought elfe
Regarded, fuch delight till then, as feem'd,
In fruit the never tafted, whether true
Or fancy'd fo, through expectation high
Of knowledge; nor was God-head from her
thought.

Greedily fhe ingorg'd without restraint,
And knew not eating death; fatiate at length,
And heighten'd, as with wine, jocund and boon,
Thus to herself the pleafingly began:

O fov'reign, virtuous, precious of all trees
In Paradife, of operation blefs'd

To fapience, hitherto obfcur'd infam'd,
And thy fair fruit let hang, as to no end
Created; but henceforth my early care,
Not without fong, each morning, and due praise,
Shall tend thee, and the fertile burden cafe
Of thy full branches offer'd free to all;
Till dieted by thee I grow mature

In knowledge, as the gods, who all things know;
Tho' others envy what they cannot give ;
For had the gift been theirs, it had not here
Thus grown. Experience, next to thee, I owe,
Beft guide; not following thee, I had remain'd
In ignorance; thou open'ft wifdom's way,
And giv't accefs, tho' fecret the retire,
And I perhaps am fecret; Heav'n is high,
High, and remote to fee from thence diftinct
Each thing on Earth and other care perhaps
May have diverted from continual watch
Our great Forbidder, fafe with all his ipies
About him. But to Adam in what fort
Shall I appear? fhall I to him make known
As yet my change, and give him to partake
Full happiness with me, or rather not,
But keep the odds of knowledge in my power
Without copartner? fo to add what wants
In female fex, the more to draw his love,
And render me more equal, and perhaps,
A thing not undefirable, fometime
Superior; for inferior who is free;

This may be well: but what if God have seen,
And death enfue? then I fhall be no more,
And Adam wedded to another Eve,
Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct;

A death to think. Confirm'd then I refolve,
Adam fhall fhare with me in blifs or woe:
So dear I love him, that with him all deaths
I could endure, without him live no life.

So faying, from the tree her step she turn'd; But firit low reverence done, as to the power That dwelt within, whofe prefence had infus'd Into the plant fciential fap, deriv'd

From nectar, drink of gods. Adam the while
Waiting defirous her return, had wove
Of choiceft flowers a garland to adorn
Her treffes, and her rural labours crown,
As reapers oft are wont their harvest queen.
Great joy he promis'd to his thoughts, and new
Solace in her return, fo long delay'd;
Yet oft his heart, divine of fomething ill,
Mifgave him; he the falt'ring measure felt
And forth to meet her went, the way she took
That morn when first they parted; by the tree
Of knowledge he must país, there he her met,
Scarce from the tree returning ; in her hand
A bough of faireft fruit, that downy smil'd,
New gather'd, and ambrofial fmell diffus'd.
To him the hafted; in her face excufe
Came prologue, and apology too prompt,

The pain of abfence from thy fight. But strange
Hath been the caufe, and wonderful to hear:
This tree is not as we are told, a tree
Of danger tasted, nor to evil unknown
Opening the way, but of divine effect

To open eyes, and make them gods who tafte;
And hath been tafted fuch; the ferpent wife,
Or not reftrain'd as we, or not obeying,
Hath eaten of the fruit, and is become,
Not dead, as we are threaten'd, but thenceforth
Indued with human voice and human fenfe,
Reafoning to admiration, and with me
Perfuafively hath fo prevail'd, that I
Have also tafted, and have alfo found
Th' effects to correfpond, opener mine eyes,
Dim erft, dilated fpirits, ampler heart,
And growing up to Godhead; which for thee
Chiefly I fought, without thee can despise.
For blifs, as thou haft part, to me is blifs,
Tedious, unfhar'd with thee, and odious foon.
Thou therefore also tafte, that equal lot
May join us, equal joy, as equal love;
Left thou not tafting, different degree
Disjoin us, and I then too late renounce
Deity for thee, when Fate will not permit.
Thus Eve with count'nance blithe her ftory
told;

But in her cheek diftemper flushing glow'd.
On the other fide, Adam, foon as he heard
The fatal trefpafs done by Eve, amaz'd,
Aftonied food and blank, while horror chill
Ran through his veins, and all his joints relax'd;
From his flack hand the garland wreath'd for Eve
Down dropt, and all the faded rofes fhed:
Specchlefs he flood and pale, till thus at length
First to himself he inward filence broke:

O fairest of Creation, laft and best

Of all God's works, creature in whom excell'd
Whatever can to fight or thought be form'd,
Holy, divine good, amiable, or sweet!
How art thou loft, how on a sudden loft,
Defac'd, deflower'd, and now to death devote?
Rather how haft thon yielded to tranfgrefs
The ftrict forbiddance, how to violate
The facred fruit forbidd'n? fome curfed fraud
Of enemy hath beguil'd thee, yet unknown,
And me with thee hath ruin'd, for with thee
Certain my refolution is to die;
How can I live without thee, how forego
Thy fweet converfe, and love fo dearly join'd,
To live again in thefe wild woods forlorn?
Should God create another Eve, and I
Another rib afford, yet lofs of thee
Would never from my heart; no no, I feel
The link of nature draw me: flesh of fieth,
Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy ftate
Mine never fhall be parted, blifs or woe.
So having faid, as one from lad datimay

drefs'd:

Haft thou not wonder'd, Adam, at my ftay? Thee I have mifs'd, and thought it long, depriv'd Thy prefence, agony of love till now Not felt, nor fhall be twice, for never more Mean I to try, what rash untry'd I fought,

Submitting to what feem'd remedilefs,

Thus in calm mood his words to Eve he turn'd:
Bold deed thou haft prefum'd, advent'rous
Eve,

And peril great provok'd, who thus haft dar d
Had it been only coveting to eye