Crystallin ocean, and the loud misrule
Of Chaos far remov'd, lest fierce extremes Contiguous might distemper the whole frame: And heav'n he nam'd the firmament: so ev'n And morning chorus sung the second 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 soft'ning all her globe Fermented the great mother to conceive, Satiate with genial moisture, when God said, Be gather'd now, ye waters under heaven, 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 ascend the sky. So high as heav'd the tumid hills, so low Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep, Capacious bed of waters: thither they Hasted with glad precipitance, uproll'd As drops on dust conglobing from the dry: Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct,
For haste; such flight the great command imprest On the swift floods: as armies at the call
Of trumpet, (for of armies thou hast heard,) Troop to their standard, so the wat'ry throng, Wave rolling after wave, where way they found; If steep, with torrent rapture, if through plain, Soft-ebbing; nor withstood them rock or hill, But they, or under ground, or circuit wide
With serpent error wand'ring, found their way, And on the washy oose deep channels wore, Easy, ere God had bid the ground be dry, All but within those 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 grass, herb yielding seed, 310 And fruit tree yielding fruit after her kind; Whose seed is in herself upon the earth.
He scarce had said, when the bare earth, till then Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorn'd, Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad Her universal face with pleasant green; Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flower'd Opening their various colours, and made gay
Her bosom smelling sweet: and these scarce blown, Forth flourish'd thick the clustering vine, forth crept The swelling gourd, up stood the corny reed
302 serpent] See Strabo, ix. 424. Ap. Rhod. iv. 1541. Davies ad Cic. de Nat. Deor. ii. 42. Solin. Polyhist. cxxiv. 4. x. Virg. Georg. i. 244. Seneca Thyestes, 869. Peele's Works by Dyce, ii. 11, ed. 1829 and Sandys' Psalms, p. 170.
'With snake-like glide between the bordering hills.'
302 wand'ring] Winding. ii. 56. Bentl. MS.
321 swelling] See Le Api de Ruscellai, v. 460.
E dir ci come col gonfiato ventre
L'idropica cucurbita s'ingrossi.'
and Milton's Prose Works, vi. p. 388. The tumid pumpkin.'
321 corny] Virg. Æn. iii. 22.
Virgulta, et densis hastilibus horrida myrtus.' Hume.
Embattle'd in her field; and th' humble shrub, And bush with frizzled hair implicit : last
Rose, as in dance, the stately trees, and spread Their branches hung with copious fruit, or gemm'd Their blossoms: with high woods the hills were crown'd;
With tufts the valleys and each fountain side; With borders long the rivers: that earth now Seem'd like to heav'n, a seat where gods might
Or wander with delight, and love to haunt
Her sacred shades: though 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, ere it was in the earth, GOD made, and every herb, before it grew On the green stem: GoD saw that it was good: So ev❜n and morn recorded the third day.
Again th' Almighty spake: Let there be lights High in th' expanse of heaven to divide
The day from night; and let them be for signs, For seasons, and for days, and circling years; And let them be for lights, as I ordain Their office in the firmament of heaven
To give light on the earth; and it was so.
And God made two great lights, great for their use To man, the greater to have rule by day,
The less by night, altern: and made the stars, And set them in the firmament of heaven, To illuminate the earth, and rule the day
In their vicissitude, and rule the night, And light from darkness to divide. GOD saw, Surveying his great work, that it was good: For of celestial bodies first the sun,
A mighty sphere, he fram'd, unlightsome first, Though of ethereal mould: then form'd the moon Globose, and every magnitude of stars,
And sow'd with stars the heaven thick as a field. Of light by far the greater part he took, Transplanted from her cloudy shrine, and plac'd 360 In the sun'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 small peculiar, though from human sight So far remote, with diminution seen.
First in his east the glorious lamp was seen, Regent of day, and all th' horizon round Invested with bright rays, jocond to run
His longitude through heaven's high road: the gray
358 sow'd] Spens. Hymn to Heav. Beauty. v. 53.
'All sow'd with glistering stars, more thick than grass.' Todd.
362 liquid] Lucret. lib. v. 282.
'Largus item liquidi fons luminis, æthereus sol.' Newton.
366 her] In the first ed. 'his horns,' which Fenton and Bentley follow.
373 gray] See Carew's Poems, p. 60, 12mo.
'The yellow planets, and the gray
Dawn shall attend thee on thy way.' Todd.
Dawn and the Pleiades before him danc'd, Shedding sweet influence. Less bright the moon, But opposite in level'd west was set
His mirror, with full face borrowing her light From him, for other light she needed none In that aspect; and still that distance keeps Till night, then in the east her turn she shines, Revolv'd on heaven's great axle, and her reign With thousand lesser lights dividual holds, With thousand thousand stars, that then appear'd Spangling the hemisphere: then first adorn'd
With their bright luminaries, that set and rose, 385 Glad evening and glad morn crown'd the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters generate
Reptile with spawn abundant, living soul: And let fowl fly above the earth, with wings Display'd on the open firmament of heaven. And God created the great whales, and each Soul living, each that crept, which plenteously The waters generated by their kinds,
374 Pleiades] Phosphoros. Bentl. MS.
375 sweet] P. Fletcher's Locusts, p. 40.
'There every starre sheds his sweet influence.' Todd. 376 opposite] v. Adamus Exsul of Grotius, p. 20.
'Sed Luna, noctis domina, fraternum sibi
Furata lumen, splendet alienâ face: Cumque alma Phœbe solis opposita viæ Regione vadit, lumen adversum bibit.'
383 thousand stars]
'Rutilantia corpora mille,
Mille oculos, mille igniculos intexit olympo.'
A. Rams. Poem. Sacr. i. p. 6.
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