Nor past uncelebrated, nor unsung

By the celestial quires, when orient light
Exhaling first from darkness they beheld;

Birth-day of Heaven and Earth, with joy and shout
The hollow universal orb they fill'd,

And touch'd their golden harps, and hymning prais'd God and his works; Creator him they sung,

Both when first evening was, and when first morn. Again, God said, Let there be firmament

Amid the waters, and let it divide

The waters from the waters; and God made
The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure,
Transparent, elemental air, diffus'd

In circuit to the uttermost convex

Of this great round; partition firm and sure,
The waters underneath from those above
Dividing for as earth, so he the world
Built on circumfluous waters calm, in wide
Crystalline ocean, and the loud misrule
Of Chaos far remov'd; lest fierce extremes
Contiguous might distemper the whole frame:
And Heaven he nam'd the Firmament: So even
And morning chorus sung the second day.

The Earth was form'd, but in the womb as yet
Of waters, embryon immature involv'd,

Appear'd not over all the face of Earth
Main ocean flow'd, not idle; but, with warm
Prolifick humour softening all her globe,
Fermented the great mother to conceive,

DD

Satiate with genial moisture; when God said, Be gather'd now ye waters under Heaven Into one place, and let dry land appear. Immediately the mountains huge appear Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave Into the clouds; their tops ascend the sky: So high as heav'd the tumid hills, so low Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep, Capacious bed of waters: Thither they Hasted with glad precipitance, uproll'd, As drops on dust conglobing from the dry: Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct, For haste such flight the great command impress'd On the swift floods: as armies at the call Of trumpets (for of armies thou hast heard) Troop to their standard; so the watery throng, Wave rolling after wave, where way they found, If steep, with torrent rapture, if through plain, Soft-ebbing; nor withstood them rock or hill; But they, or under ground, or circuit wide With serpent errour wandering, found their way, And on the washy oose deep channels wore; Easy, ere God had bid the ground be dry, All but within those banks, where rivers now Stream, and perpetual draw their humid train. The dry land, Earth; and the great receptacle Of congregated waters, he call'd Seas:

And saw that it was good; and said, Let the Earth Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding seed,