V.

But peaceful was the night
Wherein the Prince of Light

His reign of peace upon the earth began.
The winds, with wonder whist,

Smoothly the waters kissed,

Whispering new joys to the mild Ocean, Who now hath quite forgot to rave,

While (birds of calm) sit brooding on the (charmèd wave.

VI.

The stars, with deep amaze,
Stand fixed in steadfast gaze,

Bending one way their precious influence,
And will not take their flight,

For all the morning light,

Or Lucifer that often warned them thence;

But in their glimmering orbs) did glow,

Until their Lord himself bešpake, and bid them go.

VII.

And, though the shady gloom

Had given day her room,

The Sun himself withheld his wonted speed,

And hid his head for shame,

As his inferior flame

The new-enlightened world no more should need:

He saw a greater Sun appear

Than his bright throne or burning axletree) could bear.

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VIII.

The shepherds on the lawn,

Or ere the point of dawn,

Sat simply chatting in a rustic (row)

Full little thought they than

That the mighty Pan

Was kindly come to live with them below:

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Was all that did their silly thoughts so busy keep.

Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep,

When such music sweet

IX.

Their hearts and ears did greet
As never was by mortal finger strook,
Divinely-warbled voice

Answering the stringed noise,

As all their souls in blissful rapture took : The air, such pleasure loth to lose,

With thousand echoes still prolongs each heavenly lose.

X.

Nature, that heard such sound
Beneath the hollow round

(Of Cynthia's seat the Airy region thrilling,

Now was almost won

To think her part was done,

And that her reign had here its last fulfilling : She knew such harmony alone

Could hold all Heaven and Earth in happier union.

XI.

At last surrounds their sight

A globe of circular light,

That with long beams the shamefaced Night arrayed;

The helmèd cherubim

And sworded seraphim)

Are seen in glittering ranks with wings displayed, Harping in loud and solemn quire,

With unexpressive notes, to Heaven's new-born Heir.

But when of old the Sons of Morning sung,

While the Creator great

His constellations set,

And the well-balanced World on hinges hung,

And cast the dark foundations deep,)

And bid the weltering waves their pozy channel keep.

ΠΟ

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XIII.

Ring out, ye crystal spheres !
Once bless our human ears,

If ye have power to touch our senses so;
And let your silver chime

'Move in melodious time;

And let the bass of heaven's deep organ blow;

And with your ninefold harmony

Make up full consort to the angelic symphony.

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For, if such holy song
Enwrap our fancy long,

XIV.

Time will run back and fetch the Age of Gold;
And Speckled Vanity

Will sicken soon and die,

And leprous Sin will melt from earthly mould; And Hell itself will pass away,

And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day. 140

XV.

Yea, Truth and Justice then

Will down return to men,

Orbed in a rainbow; and, like (glories) wearing,

Mercy will sit between,

Throned in delestial sheen,

With radiant feet the tissued clouds) down steering; And Heaven, as at some festival,

Will open wide the gates of her high palace-hall.

XVI.

But wisest Fate says No,
This must not yet be so;

The Babe lies yet in smiling infancy
That on the bitter cross

Must redeem our loss,

So both himself and us to glorify:

Yet first, to those (ychained) in sleep,

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The wakeful trump of doom must thunder through the deep,

XVII.

With such a horrid clang

As on Mount Sinai rang,

While the red fire and smouldering clouds outbrake:

The aged Earth, aghast

With terror of that blast,

Shall from the surface to the centre shake,

When, at the world's last session,

160

The dreadful Judge in middle air shall spread his throne.

XVIII.

And then at last our bliss

Full and perfect is,

But now begins; for from this happy day

The Old Dragon under ground,

In straiter limits bound,

Not half so far casts his usurped sway,

And, wroth to see his kingdom fail,
Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail.

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XIX.

The Oracles are dumb;

No voice or hideous hum

Runs through the archèd roof in words deceiving.
Apollo from his shrine

Can no more divine,

With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving.

No nightly trance, or breathed spell,

Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell. 180

XX.

The lonely mountains o'er,

And the resounding shore,

A voice of weeping heard and loud lament;

From haunted spring, and dale

Edged with poplar pale,

The parting Genius is with sighing sent;

With flower-inwoven tresses torn

The Nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets mourn.

In consecrated earth,

XXI.

And on the holy hearth,

The Lars and Lemures moan with midnight plaint,

In urns, and altars round,

A drear and dying sound

Affrights the flamens at their service quaint;

And the chill marble seems to sweat,

While each peculiar power forgoes his wonted seat.

XXII.

190

Peor and Baälim

Forsake their temples dim,

With that twice-battered god of Palestine;
And mooned Ashtaroth

Heaven's queen and mother both,

Now sits not girt with tapers holy shine:

The Libyc Hammon shrinks his horn;

200

In vain the Tyrian maids their wounded Thammuz mourn.

XXIIL

And sullen Moloch, fled,

Hath left in shadows dread

His burning idol all of blackest hue;
In vain with cymbals ring

They call the grisly king,

In dismal dance about the furnace blue;

The brutish (gods of Nile as fast,

Isis, and Orus, and the dog Anubis, haste

Osiris

Nor is Osiris seen

XXIV.

In Memphian grove or green,

Trampling the unshowered grass with lowings loud;
Nor can he be at rest

Within his sacred chest ;

Nought but profoundest Hell can be his shroud;

In vain, with timbreled anthems dark,

The Sable-stolèd sorcerers bear his worshiped ark.

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220