The Poetical Works of Milton, Young, Gray, Beattie, and Collins

Communicated, more abundant grows,

The author not impaired, but honoured more!
Here happy creature, fair angelic Eve,
Partake thus also; happy though thou art,
Happier thou mayest be, worthier canst not be:
Taste this, and be henceforth among the gods
Thyself a goddess, not to earth confined,
But sometimes in the air, as we, sometimes
Ascend to Heaven, by merit thine, and see
What life the gods live there, and such live thou.'
So saying, he drew nigh, and to me held,
Even to my mouth of that same fruit held part
Which he had plucked; the pleasant savoury
smell

So quickened appetite, that I, methought,
Could not but taste. Forthwith up to the clouds
With him I flew, and underneath beheld
The earth outstretched immense, a prospect wide
And various: wondering at my flight and change
To this high exaltation; suddenly

My guide was gone, and I, methought sunk down,
And fell asleep; but O how glad I waked
To find this but a dream!" Thus Eve her night
Related, and thus Adam answered sad.

"Best image of myself, and dearer half,
The trouble of thy thoughts this night in sleep
Affects me equally; nor can I like
This uncouth dream, of evil sprung, I fear;
Yet evil whence? in thee can harbour none,
Created pure. But know, that in the soul
Are many lesser faculties, that serve
Reason as chief; among these fancy next
Her office holds; of all external things,
Which the five watchful senses represent,
She forms imaginations, airy shapes,
Which reason, joining or disjoining, frames
All what we affirm or what deny, and call
Our knowledge or opinion; then retires
Into her private cell when nature rests.
Oft in her absence mimic fancy wakes
To imitate her; but, misjoining shapes,
Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams,
Ill matching words and deeds long past or late.
Some such resemblances, methinks, I find
Of our last evening's talk, in this thy dream,
But with addition strange; yet be not såd.
Evil into the mind of God or man

May come and go, so unapproved, and leave
No spot or blame behind: which gives me hope,
That what in sleep thou didst abhor to dream,
Waking thou never wilt consent to do.
Be not disheartened then, nor cloud those looks,
That wont to be more cheerful and serene,
Than when fair morning first smiles on the world;
And let us to our fresh employments rise
Amon the groves, the fountains, and the flowers,
That open now their choicest bosomed smells,
Reserved from night, and kept for thee in store."

So cheered he his fair spouse, and she was cheer'd;

But silently a gentle tear let fall

From either eye, and wiped them with her hair;
Two other precious drops that ready stood,
Each in their crystal sluice, he ere they fell
Kissed, as the gracious signs of sweet remorse
And pious awe,
that feared to have offended.
So all was cleared, and to the field they hasto
But first, from under shady arborous roof,
Soon as they forth were come to open sight
Of dayspring, and the sun, who scarce uprisen,
With wheels yet hovering o'er the ocean brim,
Shot parallel to the earth his dewy ray,
Discovering in wide landscape all the east
Of Paradise and Eden's happy plains,
Lowly they bowed adoring, and began
Their orisons, each morning duly paid
In various style; for neither various style
Nor holy rapture wanted they to praise
Their Maker, in fit strains pronounced, or sung
Unmeditated; such prompt eloquence
Flowed from their lips, in prose or numerous verse
More tuneable than needed lute or harp
To add more sweetness; and they thus began.

"These are thy glorious works, Parent of good,
Almighty! thine this universal frame,
Thus wondrous fair: thyself how wondrous then!
Unspeakable, who sitst above these Heavens,
To us invisible, or dimly seen

In these thy lowest works; yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine.
Speak, ye who best can tell, ye sons of light,
Angels; for
ye
behold him, and with songs
And choral symphonies, day without night.
Circle his throne rejoicing; ye in Heaven,
On earth join all ye creatures to extol
Him first, him last, him midst, and without end.
Fairest of stars, last in the train of night,
If better thou belong not to the dawn,
Sure pledge of day, that crown'st the smiling morn
With thy bright circlet, praise him in thy sphere,
While day arises, that sweet hour of prime.
Thou Sun, of this great world both eye and soul,
Acknowledge him thy greater, sound his praise
In thy eternal course, both when thou climbest.
And when high noon has gained, and when thou
fallest.

Moon, that now meetest the orient sun, now fliest
With the fixed stars, fixed in their orb that flies
And ye five other wandering fires, that move
In mystic dance, not without song, resound
His praise, who out of darkness called up light.
Air, and ye elements, the eldest birth
Of nature's womb, that in quaternion run
Perpetual circle, multiform; and mix
And nourish all things; let your ceaseless change
Vary to our great Maker still new praise

Ye mists and exhalations, that now rise
From hill or steaming lake, dusky or gray
Till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold,
In honour to the world's great Author rise;
Whether to deck with clouds the uncoloured sky,
Or wet the thirsty earth with falling showers,
Rising or falling, still advance his praise.
His praise, ye winds, that from four quarters blow,
Breathe soft or loud; and wave your tops, ye
pines,

With every plant in sign of worship wave.
Fountains, and ye that warble, as ye flow,
Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise.
Join voices all ye living souls: ye birds,
That singing up to Heaven gate ascend,
Bear on your wings and in your notes his praise.
Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk
The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep,
Witness if I be silent, morn or even,
To hill, or valley, fountain, or fresh shade,
Made vocal by my song, and taught his praise.
Hail! universal Lord, be bounteous still
To give us only good; and if the night
Have gathered aught of evil, or concealed,
Disperse it, as now light dispels the dark."

So prayed they innocent, and to their thoughts
Firm peace recovered soon and wonted calm.
On to their morning's rural work they haste,
Among sweet dews and flowers, where any row
Of fruit trees over-woody reached too far

Late fallen himself from Heaven, is plotting now
The fall of others from like state of bliss;
By violence? no, for that shall he withstood;
But by deceit and lies: this let him know,
Lest wilfully trangressing he pretend
Surprisal, unadmonished, unforewarned."

So spake the eternal Father and fulfilled
All justice: nor delayed the winged saint
After his charge received; but from among
Thousand celestial ardours, where he stood
Veiled with his gorgeous winds, up springing
light,

Flew through the midst of Heaven; th' angelic choirs,

On each hand parting, to his speed gave way
Through all the empyreal road; till at the gate
Of Heaven arrived, the gate self-opened wide,
On golden hinges turning, as by work
Divine the sovereign architect had framed.
From hence, no cloud, or, to obstruct his sight,
Star interposed, however small he sees,
Not unconform to other shining globes,
Earth, and the garden of God, with cedars crowned
Above all hills. As when by night the glass
Of Galileo, less assured, observes
Imagined lands and regions in the moon;
Or pilot, from amidst the Cyclades
Delos or Samos first appearing, kens

A cloudy spot. Down thither prone in flight
He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky

Their pampered boughs, and needed hands to Sails between worlds and worlds, with steady check

Fruitless embraces: or they led the vine

To wed her elm; she, spoused about him twines
Her marriageable arms, and with her brings
Her dower, the adopted clusters, to adorn
His barren leaves. Thein thus employed beheld
With pity Heaven's high King, and to him called
Raphael, the sociable spirit, that deigned
To travel with Tobias, and secured

Elis marriage with the seven-times wedded maid. 'Raphael," said he, "thou hearest what stir on earth

wing

Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan
Winnows the buxom air; till, within soar
Of towering eagles, to all the fowls he seems
A phoenix, gazed by all as that sole bird,
When, to enshrine his reliques in the sun's
Bright temple, to Egyptian Thebes he flies.
At once on the eastern cliff of Paradise
He lights, and to his proper shape returns
A seraph winged: six wings he wore, to shade
His lineaments divine; the pair that clad
Each shoulder broad, came mantling o'er his breast

Satan from hell escaped through the darksome With regal ornament; the middle pair

gulf,

Hath raised in Paradise, and how disturbed
This night the human pair; how he designs
In them at once to ruin all mankind.
Go, therefore, half this day as friend with friend
Converse with Adam, in what bower or shade
Thou findest him from the heat of noon retired,
To respite his day labour with repast,
Or with repose; and such discourse bring on,
As may advise him of his happy state,
Happiness in his power left free to will,
Left to his own free will, his will though free,
Yet mutable; whence warn him to beware
He swerve not, too secure; tell him withal
His danger and from whom; what enemy,

Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round
Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold
And colours dipt in Heaven; the third his feet
Shadowed from either heel with feathered mail,
Sky-tinctured grain. Like Maia's son he stood.
And shook his plumes, that Heavenly fragrance
filled

The circuit wide. Straight knew him al he bands

Of angels under watch; and to his state,
And to his message high, in honour rise;
For on some message they guessed him bound.
Their glittering tents he passed, and now is come
Into the blissful field, through groves of myrrh,
And flowering odours, cassia, nard, and balm;

A wilderness of sweets; for Nature here
Wantoned as in her prime, and played at will
Her virgin fancies, pouring forth more sweet
Wild above rule or art; enormous bliss.
Him, through the spicy forest onward come,
Adam discerned, as in the door he sat

Of his cool bower, while now the mounted sun
Shot down direct his fervid rays to warm

Meanwhile our primitive great sire, to meet
His godlike guest, walks forth, without more train
Accompanied than with his own complete
Perfections; in himself was all his state,
More solemn than the tedious pomp that waits
On princes, when their rich retinue long
Of horses led, and grooms besmeared with gold,
Dazzles the crowd, and sets them all agape.

Earth's inmost womb, more warmth than Adam Nearer his presence Adam, though not awed,

needs

And Eve within, due at her hour prepared
For dinner savoury fruits, of taste to please
True appetite, and not disrelish thirst
Of nectarous draughts between, from milky stream,
Berry or grape: to whom thus Adam called.

"Haste hither, Eve, and, worth thy sight, behold
Eastward among those trees, what glorious shape
Comes this way moving; seems another morn
Risen on mid-noon; some great behest from heaven
To us perhaps he brings, and will vouchsafe
This day to be our guest. But go with speed,
And what thy stores contain bring forth and pour
Abundance, fit to honour and receive
Our heavenly stranger: well we may afford
Our givers their own gifts, and large bestow
From large bestowed, where nature multiplies
Her fertile growth, and by disburdening grows
More fruitful, which instructs us not to spare."
To whom thus Eve. "Adam, earth's hallowed
mould,

Of God inspired, small store will serve, where store,
All seasons, ripe for us hangs on the stalk;
Save what by frugal storing firmness gains
To nourish, and superfluous moist consumes:
But I will haste, and from each bough and brake,
Each plant and juiciest gourd, will pluck such
choice

To entertain our angel guest, as he
Beholding shall confess, that here on earth
God hath dispensed his bounties as in Heaven."
So saying, with despatchful looks in haste
She turns, on hospitable thoughts intent
What choice to choose for delicacy best,
What order so contrived as not to mix
Tastes, not well joined, inelegant, but bring
Taste after taste upheld with kindliest change;
Bestirs her then, and from each tender stalk
Whatever earth, all bearing mother, yields
en India East or West, or middle shore
In Pontus or the Punic coast, or where
Alcinous reigned, fruit of all kinds, in coat
Rough or smooth rind, or bearded husk, or shell,
She gathers, tribute large, and on the board
Heaps with unsparing hand; for drink the grape
She crushes, inoffensive must, and meaths
From many a berry; and from sweet kernels press'd
She tempers dulcet creams; nor these to hold
Wants her fit vessels pure; then strews the ground
With rose and odours from the shrub unfumed.

Yet with submiss approach and reverence meek,
As to a superior nature bowing low
Thus said. "Native of Heaven, for other place
None can than Heaven such glorious shape contain,
Since, by descending from the thrones above,
Those happy places thou hast deigned a while
To want, and honour these, vouchsafe with us
Two only, who yet by sovereign gift possess
This spacious ground, in yonder shady bower
To rest, and what the garden choicest bears
To sit and taste till this meridian heat
Be over and the sun more cool decline.”

Whom thus the angelic virtue answered mild,
Adam, I therefore came; nor art thou such
Created, or such place hast here to dwell,
As may not oft invite, though spirits of Heaven,
To visit thee: lead on then where thy bower
O'ershades; for these mid-hours, till evening rise,
I have at will." So to the sylvan lodge
They came, that like Pomona's arbour smiled,
With flowerets decked, and fragrant smells; but
Eve,

Undecked, save with herself, more lovely fair
Than wood nymph, or the fairest goddess, feigned
Of three that in mount Ida naked strove,
Stood to entertain her guest from heaven: no veil
She needed, virtue proof; no thought infirm
Altered her cheek. On whom the angel "Hail"
Bestowed, the holy salutation used

Long after to blest Mary, second Eve.

"Hail! mother of mankind, whose fruitful womb
Shall fill the world more numerous with thy sons
Than with these various fruits the trees of God
Have heaped this table!" Raised of grassy turf
Their table was, and mossy seats had round,
And on her ample square from side to side
All autumn piled, though spring and autumn he
Danced hand in hand. Awhile discourse they hold:
No fear lest dinner cool; when thus began
Our Author." Heavenly stranger, please to taste
These bounties, which our Nourisher, from wnon
All perfect good, unmeasured out, descends,
To us for food, and for delight hath caused
The earth to yield; unsavoury food perhaps
To spiritual natures; only this I know,
That one celestial Father gives to all."
To whom the Angel. "Therefore what he give
(Whose praise be ever sung) to man, in part
Spiritual, may of purest spirits be found
No ingrateful food: and food alike those pure

Within them every lower faculty

To enter, and these earthly fruits to taste,
Food not of angels, yet accepted so,

As that more willingly thou couldst not seem

Of sense, whereby they hear, sec, smell, touch, | At Heaven's high feasts to have fed: yet what

taste,

Tasting concoct, digest, assimilate,

And corporeal to incorporeal turn.
For know, whatever was created, needs
To be sustained and fed; of elements
The grosser feeds the purer, earth the sea,
Earth and the sea feed air, the air those fires
Ethereal, and, as lowest, first the moon;
Whence in her visage round those spots, unpurged
Vapours not yet into her substance turned.
Nor doth the moon to nourishment exhale
From her moist continent to higher orbs
The sun, that light imparts to all, receives
From all his alimental recompense
In humid exhalations, and at even

compare?"

To whom the winged hierarch replied:
"O Adam, one Almighty is, from whom
All things proceed, and up to him return;
If not depraved from good, created all
Such to perfection, one first matter all,
Endued with various forms, various degrees
Of substance, and, in things that live, of life;
But more refined, more spirituous, and pure,
As nearer to him placed, or nearer tending
Each in their several active spheres assigned,
Till body up to spirit work, in bounds
Proportioned to each kind. So from the root
Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the
leaves

Sups with the ocean. Though in Heaven the trees More airy, last the bright consummate flower
Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines

Spirits odorous breathes: flowers and their fruit,

Yield nectar; though from off the boughs each Man's nourishment, by gradual scale sublimed,

morn

We brush mellifluous dews, and find the ground
Lovered with pearly grain: yet God hath here
Varied his bounty so with new delights,
As may compare with Heaven; and to taste
Think not I shall be nice." So down they sat,
And to their viands fell; nor seemingly
The angel, nor in mist, the common gloss
Of theologians; but with keen despatch
Of real hunger, and concoctive heat

To transubstantiate: what redounds, transpires
Through spirits with ease; nor wonder, if by fire
Of sooty coal, th' empiric alchymist
Can turn, or holds it possible to turn,
Metals of drossiest ore to perfect gold,
As from the mine. Meanwhile at table Eve
Ministered naked, and their flowing cups
With pleasant liquors crowned: O innocence
Deserving Paradise! if ever, then,

Then had the sons of God excuse to have been

Enamoured at that sight; but in those hearts
Love unlibidinous reigned, nor jealousy
Was understood, the injured lover's hell.

To vital spirits aspire, to animal,

To intellectual; give both life and sense,
Fancy and understanding; whence the soul
Reason receives, and reason is her being,
Discursive, or intuitive; discourse

Is oftest yours, the latter most is ours,
Differing but in degree, of kind the same.
Wonder not then, what God for you saw good
If I refuse not, but convert, as you,

To proper substance: time may come, when men
With angels may participate, and find
No inconvenient diet, nor too light fare;
And from these corporal nutriments perhaps
Your bodies may at last turn all to spirit,
Improved by tract of time, and winged ascend
Ethereal, as we, or may at choice
Here or in heavenly Paradises dwell;
If ye be found obedient, and retain
Unalterably firm his love entire,
Whose progeny you are.
Meanwhile enjoy
Your fill what happiness this happy state
Can comprehend, incapable of more."

To whom the patriarch of mankind replied.

Thus when with meats and drinks they had "O favourable spirit, propitious guest,

sufficed,

Not burdened nature, sudden mind arose

In Adam, not to let th' occasion pass,
Given him by this great conference, to know
Of things above this world, and of their being
Who dwell in Heaven, whose excellence he saw
Transcend his own so far, whose radiant forms,
Divine effulgence, whose high power so far
Exceeded human, and his wary speech
Thus to th' empyreal minister he framed.
"Inhabitant with God, now know I well
Thy favour, in this honour done to man,
Inder whose lowly roof thou hast vouchsafed

Well hast thou taught the way that might direct
Our knowledge, and the scale of nature set
From centre to circumference, whereon,

In contemplation of created things,

By steps we might ascend to God. But say,
What meant that caution joined, 'If ye be found
Obedient?' can we want obedience then
To him, or possibly his love desert,
Who formed us from the dust, and placed us here,
Full to the utmost measure of what bliss
Human desires can seek or apprehend?"

To whom the angel. "Son of Heaven ar
earth,

Attend: that thou art happy, owe to God;
That thou continuest such, owe to thyself,
That is, to thy obedience; therein stand.
This was that caution given thee; be advised.
God made thee perfect, not immutable;
And good he made thee, but to persevere
He left it in thy power; ordained thy will
By nature free, not overruled by fate
Inextricable, or strict necessity;
Our voluntary service he requires,
Not our necessitated; such with him
Finds no acceptance, nor can find; for how
Can hearts, not free, be tried whether they serve
Willing or no, who will but what they must
By destiny, and can no other choose?
Myself and all the angelic host, that stand
In sight of God enthroned, our happy state
Hold, as you yours, while our obedience holds;
On other surety none, freely we serve,
Because we freely love, as in our will
To love or not; in this we stand or fall:
And some are fallen, to disobedience fallen,
And so from Heaven to deepest hell; O fall
From what high state of bliss into what wo!"
To whom our great progenitor. "Thy words
Attentive, and with more delighted ear,
Divine instructor, I have heard, than when
Cherubic songs by night from neighbouring mills
Aerial music send: nor knew I not
To be both will and deed created free;
Yet that we never shall forget to love
Our Maker, and obey him, whose command
Single is yet so just, my constant though.ts
Assured me, and still assure: tho' what thou tellest
Hath passed in Heaven, some doubt within me

move,

But more desire to hear, if thou consent,

The full relation, which must needs be strange, Worthy of sacred silence to be heard;

And we have yet large day, for scarce the sun Hath finished half his journey, and scarce begins His other half in the great zone of Heaven."

Thus Adam made request; and Raphael,

After short pause assenting, thus began.

Of angels, by imperial summons called,
Innumerable before the Almighty's throne
Forthwith, from all the ends of Heaven appeared
Under their hierarchs in orders bright:
Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced,
Standards and gonfalons 'twixt van and rear
Stream in the air, and for disunction serve
Of hierarchies, of orders, and degrees;
Or in their glittering tissues wear emblazed
Holy memorials, acts of zeal and love
Recorded eminent. Thus, when, in orbs
Of circuit inexpressible they stood,
Orb within orb, the Father infinite,

By whom in bliss imbosomed sat the Son,
Amidst, as from a flaming mount, whose top
Brightness had made invisible, thus spake.

'Hear, all ye angels, progeny of light,

Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers,
Hear my decree, which unrevoked shall stand.
This day I have begot whom I declare
My only Son, and on this holy hill
Him have anointed, whom ye now behold
At my right hand; your Head I him appoint;
And by myself have sworn to him shall bow
All knees in Heaven, and shall confess him Lord
Under his great vicegerent reign abide
United as one individual soul,

For ever happy: him who disobeys,
Me disobeys, breaks union, and that day,
Cast out from God and blessed vision, falls
Into utter darkness, deep ingulphed, his place
Ordained without redemption, without end."

"So spake the Omnipotent, and with his words All seemed well pleased; all seemned, but were not all.

That day, as other solemn days, they spent

'High matter thou enjoinest me, O prime of men, In song and dance about the sacred hill;

Sad task and hard; for how shall I relate

To human sense the invisible exploits

Of warring spirits? how, without remorse,

The ruin of so many glorious once,

And perfect while they stood? how, last, unfold
The secrets of another world, perhaps
Not lawful to reveal? yet for thy good

Mystical dance, which yonder starry sphere
Of planets and of fixed in all her wheels
Resembles nearest, mazes intricate,
Eccentric, intervolved, yet regular
Then most, when most irregular they seen.,
And in their motions harmony divine

So smooths her charming tones, that God's own ear

This is dispensed; and what surmounts the reach Listens delighted. Evening now approached

Of human sense, I shall delineate so,
By likening spiritual to corporeal forms,

As may express them best: though what if earth
Be but the shadow of Heaven, and things therein
Each to other like, more than en earth is thought?

(For we have also our evening and our morn,
We ours for change delectable, not need;)
Forthwith from dance to sweet repast they turn
Desirous; all in circles as they stood,
Tables are set, and on a sudden piled

As yet this world was net, and Chaos wild With angels' food, and rubied nectar flow,

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