DESCEND from Heav'n, Urania, by that name
If rightly thou art call'd, whofe voice divine
Following, above th' Olympian hill I foar,
Above the flight of Pagafean wing.
The meaning, not the name, I call: for thou,
Nor of the Mufes nine, nor on the top
Of old Olympus dwell'ft, but heav'nly born,
Before the hills appear'd, or fountain flow'd,
Thou with eternal wisdom didst converse,
Wifdom thy fifter, and with her didft play
In prefence of th' almighty Father, pleas'd
With thy celeftial fong. Up led by thee
Into the Heav'n of Heav'ns, I have prefum'd,
An earthly gueft, and drawn empyreal air,
Thy temp'ring; with like fafety guided down
Return me to my native element:

Left from this flying fteed unrein'd, (as once
Bellerophon, tho' from a lower clime)
Dilmounted, on th' Aleian field I fall
Erroneous there to wander and forlorn.
Half yet remains unfung, but narrower bound
Within the vifible diurnal sphere;
Standing on earth, not rapt above the pole
More fafe I fing with mortal voice, unchang'd
To hoarfe or mute, tho' fall'n on evil days,
On evil days tho' fall'n, and evil tongues;
In darkness, and with dangers compass'd round,
And folitude; yet not alone, while thou
Vifit'it my flumbers nightly, or when Morn
Purples the caft: ftill govern thou my song,
Urania, and fit audience find, tho' few,
But drive far off the barbarous diffonance
Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race
Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard
In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had cars

To rapture, till the favage clamour drown'd
Both harp and voice; nor could the Mufe defend
Her fon. So fail not thou, who thee implores:
For thou art heavenly, the an empty dream.

Say, Goddess, what enfued, when Raphaël,
The affable Arch-angel, had forewarn'd
Adam, by dire example, to beware
Apoftacy, by what befel in Heav'n
To these apoftates, left the like befal
In Paradife, to Adam or his race,
Charg'd not to touch the interdicted tree,
If they tranfgrefs, and flight that sole command,
So easily obey'd amid the choice

[thought

Of all taftes elfe to please their appetite, Tho' wand'ring. He, with his conforted Eve, The story heard attentive, and was fill'd With admiration, and deep mufe, to hear Of things fo high and strange, things to their So unimaginable as hate in Heav'n, And war fo near the peace of God in blifs With fuch confufion: but the evil foon, Driv'n back, redounded as a flood on those From whom it fprung, impoffible to mix With bleffedness. Whence Adam foon repeal'd The doubts that in his heart arofe: and now Led on, yet finlefs, with defire to know What nearer might concern him, how this world Of Heav'n and Earth confpicuous first began, When, and whereof created, for what cause, What within Eden or without was done Before his memory, as one whose drouth Yet scarce allay'd, still eyes the current stream, Whofe liquid murmur heard new thirft excites, Proceeded thus to ask his heav'nly guest:

Great things, and full of wonder in our ears,

Far differing from this world, thou hast reveal'd, Divine interpreter, by favour fent

Down from the empyréan, to forewarn

Us timely' of what might elfe have been our lofs, Unknown, which human knowledge could not reach :

For which to th' infinitely Good we owe
Immortal thanks, and his admonishment
Receive with folemn purpose, to observe
Immutably his fov'reign will, the end
Of what we are. But fince thou haft vouchfaf'd
Gently for our instruction to impart [cern'd
Things above earthly thought, which yet con-
Our knowing, as to highest Wisdom seem'd,
Deign to defcend now lower, and relate
What may no less perhaps avail us known,
How firft began this Heaven which we behold
Distant so high, with moving fires adorn'd
Innumerable, and this which yields or fills
All space, the ambient air wide interfus'd
Embracing round this florid earth, what cause
Mov'd the Creator in his holy rest
Through all eternity fo late to build
In Chaos, and the work begun, how foon
Abfolv'd, if unforbid thou may'st unfold
What we, not to explore the fecrets afk
Of his eternal empire, but the more
To magnify his works, the more we know.
And the great Light of day yet wants to run
Much of his race tho' fleep; fufpenfe in Heav'n,
Held by thy voice, thy potent voice, he hears,
And longer will delay to hear thee tell
His generation, and the rising birth
Of Nature from the unapparent Deep:
Or if the star of evening and the moon
Hafte to thy audience, Night with her will bring
Silence, and Sleep lift'ning to thee will watch,
Or we can bid his abfence, till thy fong
End, and difmifs thee e'er the morning fhine.
Thus Adam his illuftrious guest befought:
And thus the godlike Angel anfwer'd mild.
This alfo thy requeft, with caution ask'd,
Obtain: tho' to recount Almighty works
What words or tongue of Seraph can fuffice,
Or heart of man fuffice to comprehend?

Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve
To glorify the Maker, and infer

Thee alfo happier, fhall not be with-held
Thy hearing, fuch commiffion from above
I have receiv'd, to answer thy defire

Of knowledge within bounds; beyond abstain
To afk; nor let thine own inventions hope
Things not reveal'd, which th' invifible King,
Only omniscient, hath fupprefs'd in night,
To none communicable in Earth or Heav'n;
Enough is left befides to fearch and know.
But knowledge is as food, and needs no less
Her temp'rance over appetite, to know
In measure what the mind may well contain;
Oppreffes elfe with furfeit, and foon turns
Wildom to folly', as nourishment to wind.

Know, then, that after Lucifer from Heav'n
(So call him, brighter once amidst the host
Of Angels than that star the stars among)
Fell with his flaming legions through the deep

Into his place, and the great Son return'd
Victorious with his Saints, th' Omnipotent
Eternal Father from his throne beheld
Their multitude, and to his Son thus fpake:
At least our envious foe hath fail'd, who thought
All like himself rebellious, by whose aid
This inacceffible high ftrength, the seat
Of Deity Supreme, us difpoffefs'd,

He trufted to have feiz'd, and into fraud
Drew many, whom their place knows here no
Yet far the greater part have kept, I fee, [more
Their station, Heav'n yet populous retains
Number fufficient to poffefs her realms,
Tho' wide, and this high temple to frequent
With ministeries due and folemn rites:
But left his heart exalt him in the harm
Already done, to have difpeopled Heav'n,
My damage fondly deem'd, I can repair
That detriment, if such it be to lose
Self-loft, and in a moment will create
Another world, out of one man a race
Of men innumerable, there to dwell,
Not here, till by degrees of merit rais'd
They open to themselves at length the way
Up hither, under long obedience try'd,
And Earth be chang'd to Heav'n, and Heav'n

to Earth,

One kingdom, joy and union without end.
Meanwhile inhabit lax, ye Pow'rs of Heav'n,
And thou my word, begotten Son, by thee
This I perform, speak thou, and be it done :
My overshadowing Sp'rit and might with thee
I fend along; ride forth, and bid the Deep
Within appointed bounds be Heav'n and Earth,
Boundless the Deep, because I am who fill
Infinitude, nor vacuous the space.
Tho' I uncircumfcrib'd myself retire,
And put not forth my goodness, which is free
To act or not, Neceffity and Chance
Approach not me, and what I will is fate.

So fpake th' Almighty; and to what he fpake
His Word, the filial Godhead, gave cffect.
Immediate are the acts of God, more swift
Than time or motion, but to human ears
Cannot without procéfs of time be told,
So told as earthly notion can receive.
Great triumph and rejoicing was in Heav'n,

When fuch was heard declar'd, th' Almighty's

will;

Glory they fung to the Moft High, good will
To future men, and in their dwellings peace :
Glory to him, whofe juft avenging ire
Had driv'n out th' ungodly from his fight,
And th' habitations of the juft; to him
Glory and praife, whose wisdom hath ordain'd
Good out of evil to create, instead
Of Sp'rits malign a better race to bring
Into their vacant room, and thence diffufe
His good to worlds and ages infinite.

So fang the Hicrarchies: meanwhile the Son
On his great expedition now appear'd,
Girt with Omnipotence, with radiance crown'a
Of majefty divine; fapience and love
Immenfe, and all his Father in him fhone.
About his chariot numberlefs were pour'd

Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and thrones,
And Virtues, wing'd Sp'rits, and chariots wing'd
From th' armoury of God, where ftand of old
Myriads between two brazen mountains lodg'd
Against a folemn day, harness'd at hand,
Celestial equipage; and now came forth
Spontaneous; for within them spirit liv'd,
Attendant on their Lord: Heav'n open'd wide
Her ever-during gates, harmonious found
On golden hinges moving, to let forth
The King of Glory in his powerful Word
And Spirit coming to create new worlds.

On heav'nly ground they stood, and from the shore
They view'd the vaft immeafurable abyss,
Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild,
Up from the bottom turn'd by furious winds
And furging waves, as mountains, to affault
Heav'n's height, and with the centre mix the pole.
Silence, ye troubled Waves, and thou Deep,
peace,

Said then th' omnific Word; your discord end :
Nor stay'd, but on the wings of Cherubim
Uplifted, in paternal glory rode

Far into Chaos, and the world unborn;

For Chaos heard his voice: him all his train
Follow'd in bright proceffion to behold
Creation, and the wonders of his might.
Then ftay'd the fervid wheels, and in his hand
He took the golden compaffes, prepar'd
In God's eternal ftore, to circumfcribe
This univerfe, and all created things;
One foot he center'd, and the other turn'd
Round through the vast profundity obscure,
And said, Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds,
This be thy juft circumference, O World.
Thus God the Heav'n created, thus the Earth,
Matter unform'd and void: darkness profound
Cover'd th' abyfs: but on the wat'ry calm
His brooding wings the Sp'rit of God outspread,
And vital virtue' infus'd, and vital warmth
Throughout the fluid mafs, but downward purg'd
The black tartareous cold infernal dregs
Adverfe to life: then founded and conglob'd
Like things to like, the rest to several place
Diiparted, and between spun out the air,
And Earth, felf-balanc'd, on her centre hung.

Let there be Light, faid God, and forthwith
Ethereal, first of things, quinteffence pure, [Light
Sprung from the deep, and from her native Eaft
To journey through the airy gloom began,
Spher'd in a radiant cloud; for yet the fun
Was not; fhe in a cloudy tabernacle
Sojourn'd the while; God faw the light was good;
And light from darkness by the hemisphere
Divided: light the Day, and darkness Night
He nam'd. Thus was the first day Ev'n and
Nor paft uncelebrated, nor unfung
By the celeftial quires, when Orient light
Exhaling firft from darkness, they beheld;
Birth-day of Heav'n and Earth; with joy and
fhout

[morn:

The hollow univerfal orb that fill'd, [prais'd
And touch'd their golden harps, and hymning
God and his works, Creator, him they fung,
Both when first evening was, and when firft morn.

Again, God faid, Let there be firmament Amid the waters, and let it divide

The waters from the waters: and God made The firmament, expanfe of liquid, pure, Transparent, elemental air, diffus'd

In circuit to the uttermost convex

Of this great ground: partition firm and sure,
The waters underneath from those above
Dividing for as Earth, so he the world
Built on circumfluous waters calmı, in wide
Christallin ocean, and the loud mifrule
Of Chaos far remov'd, left fierce extremes
Contiguous might diffemper the whole frame:
And Heav'n he nam'd the Firmament: fo even
And morning chorus fung the fecond day.

The earth was form'd; but in the womb as yet
Of waters, embryon immature involv'd,
Appear'd not over all the face of Earth
Main ocean flow'd, not idle, but with warm
Prolific humour foft'ning all her globe,
Fermented the great mother to conceive,
Satiate with genial moisture, when God said,
Be gather'd now, ye waters under Heav'n,
Into one place, and let dry land appear.
Immediately the mountains huge appear
Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave
Into the clouds, their tops afcend the sky:
So high as heav'd the timid hills, fo low
Down funk a hollow bottom, broad and deep,
Capacious bed of waters: thither they
Hafted with glad precipitance, uproll'd
As drops on duft conglobing from the dry;
Part rife in cryftal wall, or ridge direct,
For hafte; fuch flight the great command impress'd
On the swift floods: as armies at the call
Of trumpet (for of armies thou hast heard)
Troop to their standard, fo the wat'ry throng,
Wave rolling after wave, where way they found,
If fteep with torrent rapture, if through plain,
Soft-ebbing; nor withstood them rock or hill,
But they, or under ground, or circuit wide
With ferpent error wand'ring, found their way,
And on the washy oofe deep channels wore;
Eafy, e'er God had bid the ground be dry,
All but within thofe banks, where rivers now
Stream, and perpetual draw their humid train.
The dry land Earth, and the great receptacle
Of congregated waters, he call'd Seas:
And saw that it was good, and said, Let th' Earth
Put forth the verdant grafs, herb yielding feed,
And fruit-tree yielding fruit after her kind,
Whose feed is in herfelf upon the Earth.
He scarce had faid, when the bare earth, till tnen
Defert and bare, unfightly, unadorn'd,
Brought forth the tender grafs, whose verdure clad
Her univerfal face with pleasant green,
Then herbs of every leaf, that fudden flower'd
Opening their various colours, and made gay
Her bofom fmelling fweet: and these scarce
blown,

Forth flourish'd thick the cluft'ring vine, forth crept
The fmelling gourd, up ftood the corny reed
Imbattel'd in her field, and th' humble shrub,
And bush with frizzled hair implicit : laft
Rofe, as in dance, the stately trees, and spread

Their branches hung with copious fruit, or
gemm'd
[crown'd
Their bloffoms; with high woods the hills were
With tufts the vallies, and each fountain fide;
With borders long the rivers: that Earth now
Seem'd like to Heav'n, a feat where gods might
dwell,

Or wander with delight, and love to haunt
Her facred fhades: tho' God had yet not rain'd
Upon the Earth, and man to till the ground
None was, but from the Earth a dewy mist
Went up and water'd all the ground, and each
Plant of the field, which, e'er it was in th' Earth
God made, and every herb, before it grew
On the green ftem; God faw that it was good:
So ev'n and morn recorded the third day.
Again th' Almighty fpake, Let there be lights
High in th' expanfe of Heaven, to divide
The day from night; and let them be for figns,
For feafons, and for days, and circling years,
And let them be for lights, as I ordain
Their office in the firmament of Heav'n
To give light on the Earth; and it was fo.
And God made two great lights, great for their use
To man, the greater to have rule by day,
The lefs by night altern; and made the stars,
And fet them in the firmament of Heav'n,
Tilluminate the Earth, and rule the day
In their viciflitude, and rule the night,
And light from darkness to divide. God faw,
Surveying his great work, that it was good:
For of celeftial bodies firft the fun

A mighty fphere he fram'd, unlightsome first,,
Tho' of ethereal mould: then form'd the moon
Globofe, and every magnitude of ftars,
And fow'd with stars the Heav'n thick as a field:
Of light by far the greater part he took,
Transplanted from her cloudy flirine, and plac'd
In the fun's orb, made porous to receive
And drink the liquid light, firm to retain
Her gather'd beams, great palace now of light.
Hither, as to their fountain, other stars
Repairing, in their golden urns draw light,
And hence the morning planet gilds her horns;
By tincture or reflection they augment
Their fmall peculiar, though from human fight
So far remote; with diminution feen.
First in his Eaft the glorious lamp was feen,
Regent of day, and all th' horizon round
Inverted with bright rays, jocund to run
His longitude thro' Heav'n's high road; the gray
Dawn, and the Pleiades before him danc'd,
Shedding fweat influence: lefs bright the moon
But oppofite in level'd Weft was fet
His mirror, with full face borrowing her light
From him, for other light fhe needed none
In that afpect, and still that distance keeps
Till night; then in the east her turns the shines,
Revolv'd on Heav'n's great axle, and her reign
With thoufand leffer lights'dividual holds,
With thousand thoufand ftars, that then appear'd
Spangling the hemifphere: then first adorn'd
With their bright luminaries that fet and rofe,
Glad Ev'ning and glad Morn crown'd the fourth
And God faid, Let the waters generate

[day.

Reptile with spawn abundant, living foul:
And let fowl fly above the Earth, with wings
Difplay'd on th' open firmament of Heav'n;
And God created the great whales, and each
Soul living, each that crept, which plenteously
The waters generated by their kinds,
And every bird of wing after his kind;
And faw that it was good, and blefs'd them,faying,
Be fruitful, multiply, and in the feas,

And lakes, and running ftreams the waters fill;
And let the fowl be multiply'd on th' Earth.
Forthwith the founds and feas, each creek and bay
With fry innumerable fwarm, and fhoals
Of fish that with their fins and fhining fcales
Glide under the green wave, in fculls that oft
Bank the mid fea: part fingle or with mate
Grave the fea weed their pasture, and through
groves

Of coral ftray, or fporting with quick glance
Shew to the fun their wav'd cofts dropt with gold,
Or in their pearly fhells at ease, attend
Moft nutriment, or under rocks their food
In jointed armour watch: on fmooth the feal,
And bended dolphins play: part huge of bulk
Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gate
Tempest the ocean: there Leviathan,
Hugeft of living creatures, on the deep
Streach'd like a promontory, fleeps or fwims,
And feems a moving land, and at his gills
Draws in, and at his trunk fpouts out a fea.
Mean while the tepid caves, and fens, and fhores,
Their brood as numerous hatch, from th' egg that
foon

Bursting with kindly rupture forth disclos'd

Their callow young, but feather'd foon and fledge They fumm'd their pens, and foaring th' air fublime

With clang defpis'd the ground, under a cloud
In profpect; there the eagle and the stork
On cliffs and cedar tops their eyries build :
Part loofly wing the region, part more wife
In common, rang'd in figure, wedge their way,
Intelligent of feafons, and fet forth
Their airy caravan high over feas

Flying, and over lands with mutual wing
Eafing their flight; fo fteers the prudent crane
Her annual voyage, borne on winds; the air
Flotes, as they país, fann'd with unnumber'd
plumes:

From branch to branch the smaller birds with fong
Solac'd the woods, and spread their painted wings,
Till ev'n, nor then the folemn nightingale

Ceas'd warbling, but all night tun'd her soft lays :
Others on filver lakes and rivers bath'd
Their downy breast'; the fwan, with arched neck,
Between her white wings mantling proudly, rows
Her ftate with oary feet; yet oft they quit
The dank, and rifing on stiff penons, tower
The mid aereal fky: others on ground [founds
Walk'd firm: the crefted cock, whofe clarion
The filent hours, and th' other whofe gay train
Adorns him, colour'd with the florid hue
Of rainbows and ftarry eyes. The waters thus
With fish replenish'd, and the air with fowl,
Ev'ning and Morn, folemniz'd the fifth day,

The fixth, and of creation laft arofe With evening harps and matin, when God faid Let th' Earth bring forth foul living in her kind, Cattle and creeping things, and beast of th' Earth, Each in their kind. The Earth obey'd, and strait Opening her fertile womb, teem'd at a birth lunumerous living creatures, perfect forms, Limb'd and full grown; out of the ground up rofe As from his lair the wild beaft, where he wons In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den; Among the trees in pairs they rofe, they walk'd: The cattle in the fields and meadows green : Those rare and folitary, these in flocks Pafturing at once, and in broad herds upfprung. The grafly clods now calv'd, now half appear'd The tawny lion, pawing to get free

His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds,
And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the ounce,
The libard and the tiger, as the mole

Rifing, the crumbled earth above them threw
In hillocks: the swift ftag from under ground
Bore up his branching head: fcarce from his mould
Behemoth, biggest born of Earth, upheav'd
His vaftaefs: fleec'd the flocks and bleating rofe,
As plants: ambiguous between fea and land
The river horfe and feaily crocodile.

At once came forth whatever creeps the ground,
Infect or worm: those way'd their limber fans
For wings, and smallest lineaments exact
In all the liveries deck'd of Summer's pride,
With spots of gold and purple, azure and green :
These as in a line their long dimenfion drew
Streaking the ground with finuous trace; not all
Minims of Nature; fome of ferpent kind,
Wondrous in length and corpulence, involv'd
Their fnaky folds, and added wings. First crept
The parfimonious emmet, provident

Of future, in fmall room large heart inclos'd,
Pattern of juft equality, perhaps
Hereafter, joined in her popular tribes
Of commonality: fwarming next appear'd
The female bee, that feeds her husband drone
Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells
With honey ftor'd: the rest are numberless,
And thou their natures know'ft, and gav'ft them
Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown [names,
The ferpent fubtleft beast of all the field,
Of huge extent fometimes, with brazen eyes
And hairy mane terrific, though to thee
Not Noxious, but obedient at thy call.

Now Heav'n in all her glory fhone, and roll'd
Her motions, as the great first Mover's hand
First wheel'd their courfe; Earth in her rich attire
Confummate lovely smil'd; air, water, earth,
By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was
walk'd

Frequent; and of the fixth day yet remain'd;
There wanted yet the master work, the end
Of all yet done; a creature who not prone
And brute as other creatures, but endow'd
With fanctity of reason, might erect
His ftature, and upright with front ferene
Govern the rest, self-knowing, and from thence
Magnanimous to correfpond with Heav'n,
But grateful to acknowledge whence his good

Defcends, thither with heart, and voice, and eyes
Directed in devotion, to adore

And worship God fupreme, who made him chief
Of all his works: therefore th' Omnipotent
Eternal Father (for where is not he
Prefent?) thus to his Son audibly spake:

Let us make now Man in our image, Man
In our fimilitude, and let them rule
Over the fish and fowl of fea, and air,
Beast of the field, and over all the Earth,
And every creeping thing that creeps the ground.
This faid, he form'd thee, Adam, thee, O man,
Duft of the ground, and in thy noftrils breath'd
The breath of life; in his own image he
Created thee, in the image of God
Express, and thou becam'it a living foul.
Male he created thee, but thy confort
Female for race; then bless'd Mankind, and said
Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth,
Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold
Over fifh of the fea, and fowl of th' air,
And every living thing that moves on th' Earth,
Wherever thus created, for no place

Is yet diftinct by name, thence, as thou know'ft,
He brought thee into this delicious grove,
This garden, planted with the trees of God,
Delectable both to behold and tafte;
And freely all their pleasant fruit for food
Gave thee; all forts are here that all th' Earth
Variety without end; but of the tree [yields
Which tafted works knowledge of good and evil,
Thou may'ft not; in the day thou eat'st, thou dy'st;
Death is the penalty impos'd; beware,
And govern well thy appetite, left Sin
Surprise thee, and her black attendant Death.

.

Here finish'd he; and all that he had made View'd; and behold all was entirely good; So Ev'n and Morn accomplish'd the fixth day: Yet not till the Creator from his work Defifting though unwearied, up return'd, Up to the Heav'n of Heav'ns his high abode, Thence to behold this new-created world, Th' addition of his empire, how it fhew'd In profpect from his throne, how good, how fair, Anfwering his great idea. Up he rode Follow'd with acclamation and the found Symphonious of ten thoufand harps that tun'd Angelic harmonies: the earth, the air Refounded, (thou remember'ft, for thou heard' The Heav'ns and all the conftellations rung. The planets in their station lift'ning stood, While the bright pomp afcended jubilant. Open, ye everlasting Gates, they fung, Open, ye Heav'ns, your living doors; let in The great Creator from his work return'd Magnificent, his fix day's work, a World; Open, and henceforth oft; for God will deign To vifit oft the dwellings of juft Men Delighted, and with frequent intercourse Thither will fend his winged meffengers On errands of fupernal grace. So fung The glorious train ascending: he through Heav'n, That open'd wide her blazing portals, led To God's eternal houfe direct the way, A hroa and ample road, whose duft is gold