Almighty, thine this universal frame,

  155 Thus wondrous fair; thyself how wondrous then!

  Unspeakable, who sitt’st above these heavens

  To us invisible or dimly seen

  In these thy lowest works, yet these declare

  Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine:

  160 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 Heav’n,

  On earth join all ye creatures to extol

  165 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

  170 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 climb’st,

  And when high noon hast gained, and when thou fall’st.

  175 Moon, that now meet’st the orient sun, now fli’st

  With the fixed stars, fixed in their orb that flies,

  And ye five other wand’ring fires that move

  In mystic dance not without song, resound

  His praise who out of darkness called up light.

  180 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.

  185 Ye mists and exhalations that now rise

  From hill or steaming lake, dusky or grey,

  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,

  190 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.

  195 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;

  200 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.

  205 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

  210 Firm peace recovered soon and wonted calm.

  On to their morning’s rural work they haste

  Among sweet dews and flow’rs; where any row

  Of fruit-trees overwoody reached too far

  Their pampered boughs, and needed hands to check

  215 Fruitless embraces: or they led the vine

  To wed her elm; she spoused about him twines

  Her marriageable arms, and with her brings

  Her dow’r th’ adopted clusters, to adorn

  His barren leaves. Them thus employed beheld

  220 With pity Heav’n’s high King, and to him called

  Raphael, the sociable Spirit, that deigned

  To travel with Tobias, and secured

  His marriage with the seven-times-wedded maid.

  Raphael, said he, thou hear’st what stir on earth

  225 Satan from Hell ‘scaped through the darksome 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

  230 Converse with Adam, in what bow’r or shade

  Thou find’st 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,

  235 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

  240 Late fall’n himself from Heav’n, is plotting now

  The fall of others from like state of bliss;

  By violence, no, for that shall be withstood,

  But by deceit and lies; this let him know,

  Lest wilfully transgressing he pretend

  245 Surprisal, unadmonished, unforewarned.

  So spake th’ Eternal Father, and fulfilled

  All justice: nor delayed the wingèd saint

  After his charge received; but from among

  Thousand celestial ardours, where he stood

  250 Veiled with his gorgeous wings, up springing light

  Flew through the midst of Heav’n; th’ angelic choirs

  On each hand parting, to his speed gave way

  Through all th’ empyreal road; till at the gate

  Of Heav’n arrived, the gate self-opened wide

  255 On golden hinges turning, as by work

  Divine the sov’reign Architect had framed.

  From hence, no cloud, or, to obstruct his sight,

  Star interposed, however small he sees,

  Not unconform to other shining globes,

  260 Earth and the gard’n 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

  265 Delos or Samos first appearing kens

  A cloudy spot. Down thither prone in flight

  He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky

  Sails between worlds and worlds, with steady wing

  Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan

  270 Winnows the buxom air; till within soar

  Of tow’ring eagles, to all the fowls he seems

  A phoenix, gazed by all, as that sole bird

  When to enshrine his relics in the sun’s

  Bright temple, to Egyptian Thebes he flies.

  275 At once on th’ 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

  280 With regal ornament; the middle pair

  Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round

  Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold

  And colours dipped in Heav’n; the third his feet

  Shadowed from either heel with feathered mail

  285 Sky-tinctured grain. Like Maia’s son he stood,

  And shook his plumes, that Heav’nly fragrance filled

  The circuit wide. Straight knew him all the bands

  Of angels under watch; and to his state,

  And to his message high in honour rise;

  290 For on some message high they guessed him bound.

  Their glittering tents he passed, and now is come

  Into the blissful field, through groves of myrrh,

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; And flow’ring odours, cassia, nard, and balm;

  A wilderness of sweets; for Nature here

  295 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

  300 Of his cool bow’r, while now the mounted sun

  Shot down direct his fervid rays to warm

  Earth’s inmost womb, more warmth than Adam needs;

  And Eve within, due at her hour prepared

  For dinner savoury fruits, of taste to please

  305 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

  310 Comes this way moving; seems another morn

  Ris’n on mid-noon; some great behest from Heav’n

  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

  315 Abundance, fit to honour and receive

  Our Heav’nly stranger; well we may afford

  Our givers their own gifts, and large bestow

  From large bestowed, where Nature multiplies

  Her fertile growth, and by disburd’ning grows

  320 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 use hangs on the stalk;

  Save what by frugal storing firmness gains

  325 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

  330 God hath dispensed his bounties as in Heav’n.

  So saying, with dispatchful looks in haste

  She turns, on hospitable thoughts intent

  What choice to choose for delicacy best,

  What order, so contrived as not to mix

  335 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

  In India east or west, or middle shore

  340 In Pontus or the Punic coast, or where

  Alcinous reigned, fruit of all kinds, in coat,

  Rough, or smooth rined, or bearded husk, or shell

  She gathers, tribute large, and on the board

  Heaps with unsparing hand; for drink the grape

  345 She crushes, inoffensive must, and meaths

  From many a berry, and from sweet kernels pressed

  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.

  350 Meanwhile our primitive great sire, to meet

  His god-like 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

  355 On princes, when their rich retínue long

  Of horses led, and grooms besmeared with gold

  Dazzles the crowd, and sets them all agape.

  Nearer his presence Adam though not awed,

  Yet with submiss approach and reverence meek,

  360 As to a superior nature, bowing low,

  Thus said. Native of Heav’n, for other place

  None can than Heav’n such glorious shape contain;

  Since by descending from the thrones above,

  Those happy places thou hast deigned a while

  365 To want, and honour these, vouchsafe with us

  Two only, who yet by sov’reign gift possess

  This spacious ground, in yonder shady bow’r

  To rest, and what the garden choicest bears

  To sit and taste, till this meridian heat

  370 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 Heav’n

  375 To visit thee; lead on then where thy bow’r

  O’ershades; for these mid-hours, till ev’ning rise

  I have at will. So to the sylvan lodge

  They came, that like Pomona’s arbour smiled

  With flow’rets decked and fragrant smells; but Eve

  380 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 Heav’n; no veil

  She needed, virtue-proof, no thought infirm

  385 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

  390 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 here

  395 Danced hand in hand. A while discourse they hold; No fear lest dinner cool; when thus began

  Our author. Heav’nly stranger, please to taste

  These bounties which our Nourisher, from whom

  All perfect good unmeasured out, descends,

  400 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 gives

  405 (Whose praise be ever sung) to man in part

  Spiritual, may of purest Spirits be found

  No ingrateful food: and food alike those pure

  Intelligential substances require

  As doth your rational; and both contain

  410 Within them every lower faculty

  Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell, touch, taste,

  Tasting concoct, digest, assimilate,

  And corporeal to incorporeal turn.

  For know, whatever was created, needs

  415 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

  420 Vapours not yet into her substance turned.

  Nor doth the moon no nourishment exhale

  From her moist continent to higher orbs.

  The sun that light imparts to all, receives

  From all his alimentai recompense

  425 In humid exhalations, and at even

  Sups with the ocean: though in Heav’n the trees

  Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines

  Yield nectar, though from off the boughs each morn

  We brush mellifluous dews, and find the ground

  430 Covered 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,

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nbsp; And to their viands fell, nor seemingly

  435 The angel, nor in mist, the common gloss

  Of theologians, but with keen dispatch

  Of real hunger, and concoctive heat

  To transubstantiate; what redounds, transpires

  Through Spirits with ease; nor wonder; if by fire

  440 Of sooty coal th’ empiric alchemist

  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

  445 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

  450 Was understood, the injured lover’s Hell.

  Thus when with meats and drinks they had sufficed,

  Not burdened nature, sudden mind arose

  In Adam, not to let th’ occasion pass

  Given him by this great conference to know

  455 Of things above his world, and of their being

  Who dwell in Heav’n, 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

  460 Thus to th’ empyreal minister he framed.

  Inhabitant with God, now know I well

  Thy favour, in this honour done to man,

  Under whose lowly roof thou hast vouchsafed

  To enter, and these earthly fruits to taste,

  465 Food not of angels, yet accepted so,

  As that more willingly thou couldst not seem

  At Heav’n’s high feasts to have fed: yet what compare?

  To whom the wingèed hierarch replied.

  O Adam, one Almighty is, from whom

  470 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;

  475 But more refined, more spiritous, 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

  480 Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves

  More airy, last the bright consummate flow’r

  Spirits odórous breathes: flow’rs and their fruit

  Man’s nourishment, by gradual scale sublimed

  To vital spirits aspire, to animal,

  485 To intellectual, give both life and sense,

  Fancy and understanding, whence the soul