Bending to look on me: I started back ;
It started back: but pleas'd I soon return'd;
Pleas'd it return'd as soon; with answering looks
Of sympathy' and love. There I had fix'd
Mine eyes till now, and pin'd with vain desire,
Had not a voice thus warn'd me: 'What thou seest,
What there thou seest, fair creature, is thyself;
With thee it came and goes: but follow me,
And I will bring thee where no shadow stays
Thy coming, and thy soft embraces; he
Whose image thou art: him thou shalt enjoy,
Inseparably thine, to him shalt bear
Multitudes like thyself, and thence be call'd
Mother of human race.' What could I do
But follow straight, invisibly thus led?
Till I espied thee, fair indeed, and tall
Under a platane; yet, methought, less fair,
Less winning soft, less amiably mild,
Than that smooth wat'ry image: back I turn'd;
Thou following cried'st aloud, 'Return, fair Eve,
Whom fliest thou? Whom thou fliest, of him thou art,
His flesh, his bone; to give thee being I lent
Out of my side to thee, nearest my heart,
Substantial life, to have thee by my side
Henceforth an individual solace dear;
Part of my soul, I seek thee; and thee claim,
My other half.'-With that, thy gentle hand
Seiz'd mine; I yielded; and from that time see
How beauty is excell'd by manly grace,
And wisdom which alone is truly fair."

So spake our general mother; and with eyes
Of conjugal attraction unreprov'd,
And meek surrender, half embracing lean'd
On our first father: half her swelling breast
Naked met his, under the flowing gold
Of her loose tresses hid. He in delight
Both of her beauty and submissive charms,
Smil'd with superior love; as Jupiter
On Juno smiles, when he impregns the clouds,
That shed May flowers; and press'd her matron lip

With kisses pure: aside the Devil turn'd
For envy, yet with jealous leer malign

Eyed them askance: and to himself thus plain'de "Sight hateful, sight tormenting! Thus these two

Imparadis'd in one another's arms,
(The happier Eden!) shall enjoy their fill
Of bliss on bliss: while I to hell am thrust,
Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,
Among our other torments not the least,
Still unfulfill'd with pain of longing, pines.
Yet let me not forget what I have gain'd
From their own mouths: all is not theirs it seems;
One fatal tree there stands, of knowledge call'd,
Forbidden them to taste. Knowledge forbidden?
Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord
Envy them that? Can it be sin to know?
Can it be death? And do they only stand
By ignorance? Is that their happy state,
The proof of their obedience and their faith?
O fair foundation laid whereon to build
Their ruin! Hence I will excite their minds
With more desire to know, and to reject
Envious commands, invented with design
To keep them low, whom knowledge might exalt
Equal with gods. Aspiring to be such,
They taste and die; what likelier can ensue?
But first with narrow search I must walk round
This garden, and no corner leave unspied;
A chance but chance may lead where I may meet
Some wand'ring spirit of heaven, by fountain side
Or in thick shade retir'd, from him to draw
What further would be learn'd. Live while ye may,
Yet happy pair! Enjoy, till I return,
Short pleasures; for long woes are to succeed!"
So saying his proud step he scornful turn'd,

But with sly circumspection, and began,
Through wood, through waste, o'er hill, o'er dale,

his roam.

Meanwhile in utmost longitude, where beaven
With earth and ocean meets, the setting sun

Slowly descended; and with right aspect

It was a rock

Against the eastern gate of Paradise
Levell'd his evening rays.
Of alabaster, pil'd up to the clouds,
Conspicuous far; winding with one ascent
Accessible from earth, one entrance high:
The rest was shaggy cliff, that overhung
Still as it rose, impossible to climb.
Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat,
Chief of th' angelic guards, awaiting night.
About him exercis'd heroic games
Th' unarmed youth of heaven; but nigh at hand
Celestial armoury, shields, helms, and spears,
Hung high with diamond flaming, and with gold.
Thither came Uriel, gliding through the even
On a sunbeam, swift as a shooting star
In autumn thwarts the night, when vapours fir'd
Impress the air, and shows the mariner
From what point of his compass to beware
Impetuous winds: he thus began in haste:

"Gabriel! to thee thy course by lot hath given
Charge, and strict charge, that to this happy place
No evil thing approach, or enter in.
This day, at height of noon came to my sphere
A spirit; zealous, as he seem'd, to know
More of th' Almighty's works: and chiefly man,
God's latest image. I describ'd his way,
Bent all on speed, and mark'd his airy gait:
But, in the mount that lies from Eden north,
Where he first lighted, soon discern'd his looks
Alien from heaven, with passions foul obscur'd;
Mine eye pursued him still, but under shade
Lost sight of him. One of the banish'd crew,
I fear, bath ventur'd from the deep, to raise
New troubles; him thy care must be to find."

To whom the winged warrior thus return'd "Uriel! No wonder if thy perfect sight, Amid the sun's bright circle, where thou sitt'st See far and wide in at this gate none pass The vigilance here plac'd, but such as come Well known from beaven; and since meridian hour No creature thence: if spirit of other sort,

So minded, have o'erleap'd these earthy bounds
On purpose, hard thou know'st it to exclude
Spiritual substance with corporeal bar.
But, if within the circuit of these walks,
In whatsoever shape, he lurk, of whom
Thou tell'st, by morrow dawning I shall know."

So promis'd he; and Uriel to his charge [rais'd,
Return'd, on that bright beam, whose point now
Bore him slope downward to the sun, now fallen
Beneath th' Azores; whether the prime orb,
Incredible how swift, had thither roll'd
Diurnal; or this less voluble earth,

By shorter flight to th' east, had left him there,
Arraying with reflected purpie' and gold
The clouds that on his western throne attend.
Now came still evening on, and twilight grey
Had in her sober livery all things clad:
Silence accompanied; for beast, and bird,
They to their grassy couch, these to their nests,
Were slunk; all but the wakeful nightingale;
She all night long her amorous descant sung;
Silence was pleas'd: now glow'd the firmament
With living sapphires; Hesperus, that led
The starry host, rode brightest; till the moon,
Rising in clouded majesty, at length,
Apparent queen, unveil'd her peerless light,
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.

When Adam thus to Eve: "Fair consort! th' hour

Of night, and all things now retir'd to rest,
Mind us of like repose; since God hath set
Labour and rest, as day and night, to men
Successive; and the timely dew of sleep,
Now falling with soft slumb'rous weight, inclines
Our eyelids. Other creatures all day long
Rove idle, unemploy'd, and less need rest;
Man hath his daily work of body, or mind,
Appointed, which declares his dignity,
And the regard of heaven on all his ways;
While other animals unactive range,
And of their doings God takes no account.
To-morrow, ere fresh morning streak the east

With first approach of light, we must be risen,
And at our pleasant labour to reform
Yon flowery arbours; yonder alleys green
Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown,
That mock our scant manuring, and require
More hands than ours to lop their wanton growth:
Those blossoms also, and those dropping gums,
That lie bestrewn, unsightly and unsmooth,
Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease:
Meanwhile, as nature wills, night bids us rest."

To whom thus Eve, with perfect beauty adorn'd:
"My author and disposer! what thou bidd'st
Unargued I obey; so God ordains:
God is thy law, thou mine: to know no more
Is woman's happiest knowledge and her praise.
With thee conversing I forget all time;
All seasons, and their change, all please alike:
Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet,
With charm of earliest birds; pleasant the sun,
When first on this delightful land he spreads
His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower,
Glist'ring with dew; fragrant the fertile earth
After soft showers: and sweet the coming on
Of grateful evening mild; then, silent night,
With this her solemn bird, and this fair moon,
And these the gems of heaven, her starry train :
But neither breath of morn, when she ascends
With charm of earliest birds; nor rising sun
On this delightful land; nor herb, fruit, flower,
Glist'ring with dew; nor fragrance after showers;
Nor grateful evening mild; nor silent night,
With this her solemn bird; nor walk by moon
Or glitt'ring starlight, without thee is sweet.
But wherefore all night long shine these? For whom
This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?"
To whom the general ancestor replied:
"Daughter of God and man, accomplish'd Eve,
These have their course to finish round the earth
By morrow evening, and from land to land
In order, though to nations yet unborn,
Minist'ring light prepar'd, they set and rise;