Of dalliance had with thee in heav'n, and joys
Then fweet, now fad to mention, thro' dire change
Befall'n us, unforeseen, unthought of!) know
I come no enemy, but to fet free

From out this dark and dismal house of pain,
Both him, and thee, and all the heav'nly hoft
Of fpirits that (in our just pretenfes arm'd,)
Fell with us from on high from them I go
This uncouth errand fole; and one for all
My felf expofe, with lonely steps to tread
Th' unfounded Deep, and through the void im-
menfe

To fearch with wandring queft a place foretold
Should be, and, by concurring figns, e'er-now
Created, vaft and round; a place of blifs

In the pourlieues of heav'n, and therein plac'd
A race of upftart creatures to fupply
Perhaps our vacant room; though more remov'd,
Left heav'n surcharg'd with potent multitude
Might hap to move new broils. Be this, or ought
Than this more fecret, now defign'd, I hafte

To know: and this once known, shall foon return,
And bring ye to the place where Thou, and Death,
Shall dwell at eafe, and up and down unfeen
Wing filently the buxom air, imbalm'd

With odors there ye shall be fed, and fill'd
Immeasurably, all things shall be your prey.

He ceas'd, for both seem'd highly pleas'd, and
Death

Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile, to hear

His famine should be fill'd; and bleft his maw
Deftin'd to that good hour: no less rejoic'd
His mother bad, and thus befpake her fire:
The key of this infernal pit by due,
And by command of heav'n's all-pow'rful King,
I keep; by Him forbidden to unlock
These adamantine gates, against all force
Death ready ftands to interpose his dart,
Fearless to be o'ermatch'd by living might.
But what owe I to His commands above
Who hates me, and hath hither thruft me down
Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,

To fit in hateful office here confin'd,
Inhabitant of heav'n, and heav'nly-born,
Here in perpetual agony, and pain,

With terrors, and with clamors compass'd round,
Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed ?
Thou art my father, thou my author, thou
My Being gav❜ft me; whom should I obey
But thee? whom follow? thou wilt bring me foo
To that new world of light and blifs, among
The Gods who live at ease, where I shall reign
At thy right hand voluptuous, as befeems
Thy daughter, and thy darling, without end.

Thus faying, from her fide the fatal key,
Sad inftrument of all our woe! she took;
And tow'rds the gate rolling her bestial train,
Forthwith the huge portcullis high up-drew;
Which but her felf, not all the Stygian Pow'rs
Could once have mov'd; then in the key-hole turns

Th' intricate wards, and every bolt and bar
Of maffy iron, or folid rock, with ease
Unfaftens: on a fudden open fly,

With impetuous recoil, and jarring found,
Th'infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook
Of Erebus. She open'd, but to shut

Excell'd her pow'r; the gates wide open stood,
That with extended wings a banner'd hoft,
Under spread enfigns marching, might pass through
With horfe, and chariots, rank'd in loose array,
So wide they ftood! and, like a furnace mouth,
Caft forth redounding smoke, and ruddy flame.
Before their eyes in fudden view appear
The fecrets of the hoary Deep; a dark
Illimitable ocean! without bound,

Without dimension; where length, breadth, and height,

And time, and place are loft; where eldest Night And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold

Eternal anarchy, amidft the noise

Of endless wars, and by confusion stand:

For, hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champious fierce,

Strive here for mast'ry, and to battel bring
Their embryon atoms; they around the flag
Of each his faction, in their fev'ral clans,
Light-arm'd, or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or
flow,

Swarm populous, un-number'd as the fands

Of Barca, or Cyrene's torrid foil,.

Levy'd to fide with warring winds, and poise Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere He rules a moment: Chaos umpire. fits, And by decision more embroils the fray, By which he reigns : next him high arbiter Chance governs all. Into this wild abyss, (The womb of nature, and perhaps her grave) Of neither fea, nor shoar, nor air, nor fire, But all these in their pregnant causes mix'd Confus'dly, and which thus must ever fight, (Unless th' Almighty Maker them ordain His dark materials to create more worlds) Into this wild abyfs the wary fiend Stood on the brink of hell, and look'd a-while Pond'ring his voyage; (for no narrow frith He had to cross) nor was his ear lefs peal'd With noifes loud, and ruinous, (to compare Great things with small) than when Bellona ftorms With all her battʼring engins bent to rase Some capital city; or lefs than if this frame Of heav'n were falling, and these elements In mutiny had from her axle torn

The steadfast earth. At laft his fail-broad vans
He spreads for flight, and in the furging smoke
Up-lifted fpurns the ground: thence many a league,
As in a cloudy chair, afcending rides

Audacious; but that feat foon failing, meets
A vaft. vacuity: all unawares

Flutt'ring his pennons vain, plumb down he drops

Ten thoufand fathom deep and to this hour
Down had been falling, had not by ill chance
The ftrong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud,
Inftina with fire and nitre, hurried him
As many miles aloft: that fury stay'd,
Quench'd in a boggy Syrtis, neither fea,
Nor good dry land, nigh founder'd on he fares;
Treading the crude confiftence, half on foot,
Half flying; behooves him now both oar and fail.
As when a gryfon, through the wilderness
With winged courfe o'er hill, or moory dale,
Purfues the Arimafpian, who by stealth
Had from his wakeful cuftody purloin'd
The guarded gold: fo eagerly the fiend

O'er bog or fteep, through ftrait, rough, denfe or

rare,

With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way; And fwims, or finks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. At fength a univerfal hubbub wild

Of stunning founds, and voices all confus'd,
Born through the hollow dark assaults his ear
With loudeft vehemence : thither he plies
Undaunted to meet there whatever Pow'r,
Or fpirit, of the nethermoft abyss,
Might in that noife refide, of whom to ask
Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies,
Bordering on light: when ftrait behold the throne
Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread

Wide on the wasteful Deep with him inthron'd
Sat fable-vefted Night, eldeft of things,

The