"Had in remembrance always with delight! 705"But what created mind can comprehend "Their number; or the wisdom infinite "That brought them forth, but hid their causes deep? "I saw when, at his word, the formless mass, "The world's material mould, came to a heap: 710"Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar "Stood rul'd; stood vast infinitude confin'd: "Till at his second bidding darkness fled, 66 Light shone, and order from disorder sprang! "Swift to their several quarters hasted then 715 The cumbrous elements, earth, flood, air, fire; "And this ethereal quintessence of heaven "Flew upward, spirited with various forms, "That roll'd orbicular, and turn'd to stars "Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move; 720"Each had his place appointed, each his course: "The rest in circuit walls this universe. "Look downward on that globe, whose hither side "With light from hence, though but reflected, shines: "That place is earth, the seat of man; that light 725" His day, which else, as the other hemisphere, "Night would invade; but there the neighbouring moon "(So call that opposite fair star) her aid "Timely interposes; and her monthly round. "Still ending, still renewing, through mid heaven 730 "With borrow'd light her countenance triform "Hence fills, and empties, to enlighten the earth; "And in her pale dominion checks the night. "That spot to which I point is Paradise, "Adam's abode; those lofty shades, his bower. 735 66 'Thy way thou canst not miss-me mine requires." Where honour due, and reverence, none neglects,) Father of mercy and grace! thou didst not doom 410 For man's offence. O unexampled love, Love nowhere to be found less than divine! Henceforth, and never shall my harp thy praise Meanwhile upon the firm opacous globe Of this round world, whose first convex divides 420 The luminous inferior orbs, enclos'd From Chaos, and the inroad of darkness old, It seem'd; now seems a boundless continent, Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds, To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids 435 On hills where flocks are fed, flies toward the springs Of Ganges, or Hydaspes, Indian streams; But in his way lights on the barren plains Of Sericana, where Chineses drive With sails and wind their cany waggons light: 440 So, on this windy sea of land, the fiend Walk'd up and down alone, bent on his prey; Of all things transitory and vain, when sin All who have their reward on earth, the fruits Nought seeking but the praise of men, here find 455 All the unaccomplish'd works of Nature's hand, Till final dissolution, wander here: (Not in the neighbouring moon, as some have dream'd; 460 Those argent fields more likely habitants, Translated saints, or middle spirits, hold, Hither, of ill-join'd sons and daughters born, Of Sennaär, and still with vain design New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build : 475 White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery. Here pilgrims roam, that stray'd so far to seek They pass the planets seven, and pass the fix'd, Blows them transverse, ten thousand leagues awry 490 Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, tost And flutter'd into rags; then relics, beads, Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls, The sport of winds. All these, upwhirl'd aloft, Fly o'er the backside of the world far off, 495 Into a Limbo large and broad, since call'd The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown Long after, now unpeopled, and untrod. All this dark globe the fiend found as he pass'd; Up to the wall of heaven, a structure high; 505 The work as of a kingly palace-gate, With frontispiece of diamond and gold 510 The stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw |