By shorter flight to th' east, had left him there,
Arraying with reflected purple and gold

595

600

605

The clouds that on his western throne attend.
Now came still evening on, and twilight gray
Had in her sober livery all things clad;
Silence accompany'd; for beast and bird,
They to their grassy couch, these to their nests,
Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale ;
She all night long her amorous descant sung;
Silence was pleas'd: now glow'd the firmament
With living saphirs; Hesperus that led
The starry host rode brightest, till the moon,
Rising in clouded majesty, at length
Apparent queen unveil'd her peerless light,
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.
When Adam thus to Eve: fair consort, th' hour 610
Of night and all things now retir'd to rest
Mind us of like repose, since God hath set
Labour and rest, as day and night, to men
Successive, and the timely dew of sleep
Now falling with soft slumbrous weight inclines
Our eyelids: other creatures all day long
Rove idle, unemploy'd, and less need rest:
Man hath his daily work of body or mind
Appointed, which declares his dignity,

599 livery] Fletch. P. Isl. vi. st. 54.

'The world late clothed in night's black livery! Todd.

615

600 Silence] See this personification in Beaumont's Psyche, c. vi. st. 174. 'Silence for porter stood.' c. xix. st. 160. Whilst Silence sate upon his lips.'

602 all but] Not all. Owls. Bubones. Bentl. MS.

And the regard of heaven on all his ways;
While other animals unactive range,

And of their doings GoD takes no account.
To-morrow ere fresh morning streak the east
With first approach of light we must be risen,
And at our pleasant labour, to reform
Yon flowery arbours, yonder alleys green,
Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown,
That mock our scant manuring, and require
More hands than ours to lop their wanton growth:
Those blossoms also and those dropping gums,
That lie bestrown unsightly and unsmooth,
Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease :
Mean while, as nature wills, night bids us rest.

To whom thus Eve with perfect beauty adorn'd. My author and disposer, what thou bidd'st Unargu'd I obey, so GoD ordains;

God is thy law, thou mine; to know no more
Is woman's happiest knowledge and her praise.
With thee conversing I forget all time;

All seasons and their change, all please alike:
Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet,
With charm of earliest birds; pleasant the sun,
When first on this delightful land he spreads
His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower,
Glistering with dew; fragrant the fertile earth
After soft showers; and sweet the coming on

627 walk] In the first ed. 'walks.' Newton.

620

625

630

635

640

645

628 manuring] This is to be understood as in the French mancu vre, or working with hands. Richardson.

650

655

Of grateful evening mild; then silent night
With this her solemn bird and this fair moon,
And these the gems of heaven, her starry train:
But neither breath of morn when she ascends
With charm of earliest birds, nor rising sun
On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, flower,
Glistering with dew, nor fragrance after showers,
Nor grateful evening mild, nor silent night
With this her solemn bird, nor walk by moon,
Or glittering starlight, without thee is sweet.
But wherefore all night long shine these? for whom
This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?
To whom our general ancestor reply'd.
Daughter of GOD and man, accomplish'd Eve,
Those have their course to finish, round the earth,
By morrow evening, and from land to land
In order, though to nations yet unborn,
Minist'ring light prepar'd, they set and rise;
Lest total darkness should by night regain
Her old possession, and extinguish life

In nature and all things, which these soft fires
Not only enlighten, but with kindly heat
Of various influence foment and warm,
Temper or nourish, or in part shed down
Their stellar virtue on all kinds that grow
On earth, made hereby apter to receive
Perfection from the sun's more potent ray.
These then, though unbeheld in deep of night,

660

665

670

674

661 Those] "These" is Tonson's and Newton's alteration. Milton's reading is Those.'

Shine not in vain; nor think, though men were none,
That heaven would want spectators, GoD want praise:
Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth

Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep.
All these with ceaseless praise his works behold
Both day and night: how often from the steep 680
Of echoing hill or thicket have we heard
Celestial voices to the midnight air,
Sole, or responsive each to other's note,
Singing their great Creator? oft in bands

686

690

While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk,
With heavenly touch of instrumental sounds
In full harmonic number join'd, their songs
Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to heaven.
Thus talking hand in hand alone they pass'd
On to their blissful bower; it was a place
Chosen by the sov'reign Planter, when he fram'd
All things to man's delightful use: the roof
Of thickest covert was inwoven shade,
Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew
Of firm and fragrant leaf; on either side
Acanthus and each odorous bushy shrub
Fenc'd up the verdant wall; each beauteous flow'r,
Iris all hues, roses, and jessamin
[wrought

695

Rear'd high their flourish'd heads between, and

677 walk the earth] The same expression occurs in P. L. vii. 477. 'Creep the ground.' Cicero de Finibus, ii. c. 34. Maria ambulavisset.' See Wakef. Lucret. ii. v. 206.

688 Divide] Sil. Ital. vii. 154.

'Cum buccina noctem

Divideret.'

Richardson.

Mosaic; under foot the violet,

Crocus, and hyacinth with rich inlay

700

Broider'd the ground, more colour'd than with stone
Of costliest emblem: other creature here,

Beast, bird, insect, or worm, durst enter none;
Such was their awe of man. In shadier bower
More sacred and sequester'd, though but feign'd,
Pan or Sylvanus never slept; nor Nymph,
Nor Faunus haunted. Here in close recess
With flowers, garlands, and sweet-smelling herbs,
Espoused Eve deck'd first her nuptial bed,
And heav'nly choirs the Hymenæan sung,
What day the genial angel to our sire
Brought her in naked beauty more adorn'd,
More lovely than Pandora, whom the Gods
Endow'd with all their gifts, and O too like
In sad event, when to the unwiser son
Of Japhet brought by Hermes she ensnar'd
Mankind with her fair looks, to be aveng'd
On him who had stole Jove's authentic fire.

705

710

715

Thus at their shady lodge arriv'd, both stood 720 Both turn'd, and under open sky adored

The God that made both sky, air, earth, and heaven Which they beheld, the moon's resplendent globe,

703 emblem] Inlay. Arte pavimenti, atque emblemati vermiculato.' Bentley.

705 shadier] shadie, 2nd ed.

719 authentic fire]

'Or him who stole from Jove narthecal fire.' Bentl. MS. 723 moon] Virg. Æn. vi. 725. 'Lucentemque globum lunæ.'

Hume.