Page images
PDF
EPUB

470

475

Others came single; he who, to be deem'd A God, leap'd fondly into Etna flames, Empedocles; and he who, to enjoy Plato's Elysium, leap'd into the sea, Cleombrotus; and many more too long, Embryos, and idiots, eremites, and friars White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery Here pilgrims roam, that stray'd so far to seek In Golgotha him dead who lives in Heaven; And they who, to be sure of Paradise, Dying, put on the weeds of Dominic, Or in Franciscan think to pass disguised; They pass the planets seven, and pass the fix'd, And that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs The trepidation talk'd, and that first moved; And now Saint Peter at Heaven's wicket seems To wait them with his keys, and now at foot Of Heaven's ascent they lift their feet, when lo A violent cross-wind from either coast Blows them transverse, ten thousand leagues awry Into the devious air: Then might ye see

480

435

Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, toss'd And flutter'd into rags; then reliques, beads, Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls,

491

The sport of winds: All these, up-whirl'd aloft,

Fly o'er the backside of the world far off

Into a Limbo large and broad, since call'd

495

The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown

Long after, now unpeopled and untrod.

All this dark globe the Fiend found as he pass'd,
And long he wander'd, till at last a gleam

Of dawning light turn'd thither ward in haste
His travel'd steps: far distant he descries

500

Ascending by degrees magnificent
Up to the wall of Heaven a structure high;
At top whereof, but far more rich, appear'd
The work as of a kingly palace-gate,
With frontispiece of diamond and gold

505

Embellish'd; thick with sparkling orient gems
The portal shone, inimitable on earth

By model, or by shading pencil drawn.

The stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw
Angels ascending and descending, bands
Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled
To Padan-Aram, in the field of Luz
Dreaming by night under the open sky,

510

And waking cried, This is the gate of Heaven.
Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood
There always, but drawn up to Heaven sometimes
Viewless; and underneath a bright sea flow'd
Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon
Who after came from earth, sailing arrived
Wafted by Angels, or flew o'er the lake

515

520

Wrapp'd in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds.

The stairs were then let down, whether to dare

The Fiend by easy ascent, or aggravate

His sad exclusion from the doors of bliss:

525

Direct against which open'd from beneath,
Just o'er the blissful seat of Paradise,

A passage down to the Earth, a passage wide,
Wider by far than that of aftertimes

Over mount Sion, and, though that were large,

530

Over the Promised Land to God so dear;

By which to visit oft those happy tribes,

On high behests his Angels to and fro

Pass'd frequent, and his eye with choice regard
From Paneas, the fount of Jordan's flood,
To Beersaba where the Holy Land

535

Borders on Egypt and the Arabian shore;

540

So wide the opening seem'd, where bounds were set
To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave
Satan from hence, now on the lower stair,
That scaled by steps of gold to Heaven-gate,
Looks down with wonder at the sudden view
Of all this world at once. As when a scout,
Through dark and desert ways with peril gone

PARADISE LOST.

All night, at last by break of cheerful dawn
Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill,
Which to his eye discovers unaware

[subsumed][merged small][ocr errors]

The goodly prospect of some foreign land
First seen, or some renown'd metropolis
With glistering spires and pinnacles adorn'd,
Which now the rising sun gilds with his beams:
Such wonder seized, though after Heaven seen,
The Spirit malign, but much more envy seized,
At sight of all this world beheld so fair.

550

Round he surveys (and well might, where he stood
So high above the circling canopy

556

Of night's extended shade,) from eastern point

Of Libra to the fleecy star that bears
Andromeda far off Atlantic seas

Beyond the horizon; then from pole to pole

560

He views in breadth, and without longer pause
Down right into the world's first region throws
His flight precipitant, and winds with ease
Through the pure marble air his oblique way
Amongst innumerable stars, that shone

Stars distant, but nigh hand seem'd other worlds;
Or other worlds they seem'd, or happy isles,
Like those Hesperian gardens famed of old,
Fortunate fields, and groves, and flowery vales,
Thrice happy isles; but who dwelt happy there
He staid not to inquire: Above them all
The golden sun, in splendour likest Heaven,
Allured his eye; thither his course he bends
Through the calm firmament (but up or down,
By centre, or eccentric, hard to tell,

565

570

575

Or longitude,) where the great luminary
Aloof the vulgar constellations thick,
That from his lordly eye keep distance due,
Dispenses light from far; they, as they move
Their starry dance in numbers that compute
Days, months, and years, towards his all cheering lamp
Turn swift their various motions, or are turn'd

580

By his magnetic beam, that gently warms
The universe, and to each inward part
With gentle penetration, though unseen,
Shoots invisible virtue even to the deep;

So wondrously was set his station bright.

Their lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps
Astronomer in the sun's lucent orb

585

Through his glazed optic tube yet never saw.
The place he found beyond expression bright,
Compared with aught on earth, metal or stone;
Not all parts like, but all alike inform'd
With radient light, as glowing iron with fire;
If metal, part seem'd gold, part silver clear;
If stone, carbuncle most or crysolite,
Ruby or topaz, to the twelve that shone
In Aaron's breastplate, and a stone besides
Imagined rather oft, than elsewhere seen,
That stone, or like to that which here below
Philosophers in vain so long have sought,
In vain, though by their powerful art they bind
Volatile Hermes, and call up unbound
In various shapes old Proteus from the sea,
Drain'd through a limbeck to his native form.
What wonder then if fields and regions here
Breathe forth elixir pure, and rivers run
Portable gold, when with one virtuous touch
The archchemic sun, so far from us remote,
Produces, with terrestrial humour mix'd,
Here in the dark so many precious things
Of colour glorious and effect so rare?
Here matter new to gaze the Devil met
Undazzled; far and wide his eye commands,
For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade,
But all sunshine, as when his beams at noon
Culminate from the equator, as they now
Shot upward still direct, whence no way round
Shadow from body opaque can fall; and the air,
No where so clear, sharpen'd his visual ray

590

595

600

605

610

615

620

To objects distant far, whereby he soon
Saw within ken a glorious Angel stand,

The same whom John saw also in the sun :

His back was turn'd, but not his brightness hid;
Of beaming sunny rays a golden tiar

625

Circled his head, nor less his locks behind

Mustrious on his shoulders fledge with wings

Lay waving round; on some great charge employ

He seem'd, or fix'd in cogitation deep.

Glad was the Spirit impure, as now in hope

630

To find who might direct his wandering flight
To Paradise, the happy seat of Man,
His journey's end and our beginning woe.
But first he casts to change his proper shape,
Which else might work him danger or delay:
And now a stripling Cherub he appears,
Not of the prime, yet such as in his face
Youth smiled celestial, and to every limb
Suitable grace diffused, so well he feign'd:
Under a coronet his flowing hair

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

In curls on either cheek play'd; wings he wore

Of many a colour'd plume, sprinkled with gold;
His habit fit for speed succinct, and held
Before his decent steps a silver wand.

He drew not nigh unheard; the Angel bright,
Ere he drew nigh, his radiant visage turn'd,
Admonish'd by his ear, and straight was known
The Archangel Uriel, one of the seven

645

Who in God's presence, nearest to his throne,

Stand ready at command, and are his eyes

650

That run through all the Heavens, or down to the Earth

Bear his swift errands over moist and dry,

O'er sea and land: him Satan thus accosts:

Uriel, for thou of those seven Spirits that stand

In sight of God's high throne, gloriously bright, 655
The first art wont his great authentic will,
Interpreter through highest Heaven to bring.
Where all his sons thy embassy attend;

« PreviousContinue »