O'er fea and land: him Satan thus accosts.

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665

Uriel, for thou of those sev'n Spi'rits that stand In fight of God's high throne, gloriously bright, 655 The first are wont his great authentic will Interpreter through highest Heaven to bring, Where all his fons thy embassy attend; And here are likelieft by supreme decree Like honor to obtain, and as his eye To vifit oft this new creation round; Unspeakable defire to fee, and know All these his wond'rous works, but chiefly Man, His chief delight and favor, him for whom All these his works so wondrous he ordain'd, Hath brought me from the quires of Cherubim Alone thus wand'ring. Brightest Seraph, tell In which of all the shining orbs hath Man His fixed feat, or fixed feat hath none, But all these shining orbs his choice to dwell; That I may find him, and with fecret gaze Or open admiration him behold, On whom the great Creator haft bestow'd Worlds, and on whom all these graces pour'd; That both in him and all things as is meet, The univerfal Maker we may praise;

670

675

Who justly hath driv'n out his rebel foes
To deepest Hell, and to repair that loss
Created this new happy race of Men

To ferve him better: wife are all his ways.

680

So spake the false dissembler unperceiv'd;

For neither Man nor Angel can difcern
Hypocrify, the only evil that walks

Invisible, except to God alone,

By his permissive will, through Heav'n and Earth: 685 And oft though wisdom wake, fufpicion fleeps

At wisdom's gate, and to fimplicity

Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill

Where no ill feems: which now for once beguil'd
Uriel, though regent of the fun, and held

690

The sharpeft fighted Spirit of all in Heaven;

Who to the fraudulent impoftor foul

In his uprightness answer thus return'd.

Fair Angel, thy defire which tends to know

The works of God, thereby to glorify

695

The great Work-Master, leads to no excess
That reaches blame, but rather merits praise
The more it feems excess, that led thee hither
From thy empyreal mansion thus alone,

To witness with thine eyes what some perhaps 700
Contented with report hear only' in Heaven:
For wonderful indeed are all his works,
Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all
Had in remembrance always with delight;
But what created mind can comprehend
Their number, or the wisdom infinite

705

That brought them forth, but hid their caufes deep?

I faw when at his word the formless mass,

This world's material mold, came to a heap:

Confufion heard his voice, and wild uproar

710

Stood rul'd, stood vast infinitude confin'd;

Till at his second bidding darkness sled,
Light shone, and order from disorder sprung:
Swift to their several quarters hafted then

The cumbrous elements, earth, flood, air, fire; 715

And this ethereal quinteffence of Heaven

Flew upward, spirited with various forms,

That roll'd orbicular, and turn'd to stars,
Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move;

Each had his place appointed, each his courfe;

720

The reft in circuit walls this universe.

Look downward on that globe, whose hither fide

With light from hence, though but reflected, shine;

That place is Earth the feat of Man, that light

His day, which elfe as the other hemisphere
Night would invade; but there the neighb'ring moon

725

(So call that opposite fair star) her aid
Timely' interposes, and her monthly round
Still ending, still renewing, through mid Heav'n,

With borrow'd light her countenance triform
Hence fills and empties to enlighten th' Earth,
And in her pale dominion checks the night.
That spot to which I point is Paradife,

739

Adam's abode, those lofty shades his bower.

Thy way thou canst not miss, me mine requires. 735

Thus faid, he turn'd

;

and Satan bowing low,

As to fuperior Spirits is wont in Heaven,
Where honour due and reverence none neglects,
Took leave, and tow'ard the coaft of earth, beneath,
Down from th' ecliptic, sped with hop'd success, 740
Throws his steep flight in many an aery wheel,
Nor stay'd, till on Niphates top he lights.

End of the third Book.

BOOK IV.

THE ARGUMENT.

Satan now in profpect of Eden, and nigh the place where he must now attempt the bold enterprise which he undertook alone against God and man, falls into many doubts with himself, and many passions, fear, envy, and despair: but at length confirms himself, in evil, journeys on to Paradife whose outward prospect and fituation is described, overleaps the bounds, fits in the shape of a cormorant on the tree of life, as highest in the garden, to look about him. The garden described; Satan's first sight of Adam and Eve; his wonder at their excellent form and happy ftate, but with refolution to work their fall; overhears their discourse, thence gathers that the tree of knowledge was forbidden them to eat of, under penalty of death; and thereonintends to found his temptation by feducing them to tranfgrefs: then leaves them a while to know further of their state by some other means. Mean while Uriel defcending on a fun beam warns Gabriel, who had in charge the gate of Paradise, that fome evil Spirit had escaped the deep, and passed at noon by his sphere in the shape of a good Angel down to Paradise, discovered after by his furious gestures in the mount. Gabriel promises to find him ere morning. Night coming on, Adam and Eve discourse of going to their rest: their bower defcribed; their evening worship. Gabriel drawing forth his hands of night-watch to walk the round of Paradise, appoints two ftrong Angels to Adam's bower, left the evil Spirit should be there doing Some harm to Adam or Eve sleeping; there they find him at the ear of Eve, tempting her in a dream, and bring him, though unwilling, to Gabriel; by whom questioned, he Scornfully answers, prepares resistance, but hindred by a fign from Heaven, flies out of Paradise.

he who faw

FOR that warning voice, which
Th' Apocalyps heard cry in Heav'n aloud,

0
Then when the Dragon, put to second rout,

Came furious down to be reveng'd on men,
"Woe to th' inhabitants on earth!" that now,
While time was, our first parents had been warn'd
The coming of their fecret foe, and scap'd,
Haply scap'd his mortal snare: for now
Satan, now first infiam'd with rage, came down,
The tempter ere th' accufer of mankind,
To wreck on innocent frail man his lofs
Of that first battel, and his flight to hell:
Yet not rejoicing in his fpeed, though bold
Far off and fearless, nor with cause to boaft,
Begins his dire attempt, which nigh the birth
Now rolling boils in his tumultuous breast,
And like a devilish engine back recoils
Upon himself; horror and doubt distract
His troubled thoughts, and from the bottom ftir
The Hell within him; for within him Hell
He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell
One step no more than from himself can fly
By change of place: now confcience wakes despair
That slumber'd, wakes the bitter memory
Of what he was, what is, and what must be
Worfe; of worse deeds worse sufferings must ensue,
Sometimes tow'ards Eden, which now in his view
Lay pleasant, his griev'd look he fixes sad;
Sometimes tow'ard Heav'n and the full-blazing fun,
Which now fat high in his meridian tow'r:
Then much revolving, thus in fighs began.

O thou that with furpaffing glory crown'd,
Look'ft from thy fole dominion like the God
Of this new world; at whose fight all the stars
Hide their diminish'd heads; to thee I call,
But with no friendly voice, and add thy name,
O fun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams,
That bring to my remembrance from what state
I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere;

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