These blossoms also, and those dropping gums,
That lie bestrown, unsightly and unsmooth,
Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease;
Meanwhile, as nature wills, night bids us rest.”
To whom thus Eve, with perfect beauty adorned:
"My author1 and disposer, what thou bidd❜st,
Unargued 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 seasons2 and their change-all please alike.
Sweet is the breaths 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
Of grateful evening mild; then silent night,
With this her solemn bird,5 and this fair moon,
And these the gems of heaven, her starry train:
But neither breath or 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 star-light, without thee is sweet."

"THESE are Thy glorious works, Parent of good,
Almighty! Thine this universal frame,

(1) Author-because Eve was made out of Adam.

(2) Seasons-the different periods and changes of the day, not of the year; this sense is determined by the lines that follow.

(3) Sweet is the breath, &c.-Addison remarks that "the variety of images in this passage is infinitely pleasing," and that "the recapitulation of each image, with a little varying of the expression, makes one of the finest turns of words" he had ever seen. See "Tatler," No. 114.

(4) Charm-i. e. song, from carmen, a song.

(5) Solemn bird-Milton calls the nightingale "most melancholy" in "Il Penseroso;" in both passages, referring rather to the circumstances under which the bird sings than to the tone of its music.

(6) "Paradise Lost," book v.

(7) These are, &c.-"The morning hymn is written in imitation of one of those psalms [the 148th for instance] where, in the overflowings of gratitude and praise,

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.
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 heaven-
On earth, join all ye creatures, to extol
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 moru
With thy bright circlet, praise him in thy sphere,
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
Moon !2 that now meet'st the orient sun, now fliest,
With the fixed stars-fixed in their orb that flies;
And ye five others wandering fires! that move
In mystic dance4 not without song, resound
His praise, who out of darkness called up light.
Air, and ye elements! the eldest birth
Of nature's womb, that in quaternion5 run
Perpetual circle, multiform, and mix

And nourish all things; let your ceaseless change
Vary to our great Maker still new praise.

the Psalmist calls not only upon the angels, but upon the most conspicuous parts of the inanimate creation, to join with him in extolling their common Maker. Invocations of this nature fill the mind with glorious ideas of God's works, and awaken that divine enthusiasm which is so natural to devotion."-Addison.

(1) Speak ye who, &c.-" He is unspeakable-no creature can speak worthily of him as he is, but speak ye who are best able, ye angels, &c."-Newton.

(2) Moon, &c.-The construction is:-Thou moon that now meetest and now fliest the orient sun, together with the fixed stars-fixed in their orb which fliesand ye five other wandering fires, or planets, &c.

(3) Five other, &c.-i. e. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus-considering the reference to the morning star as not marking any particular planet.

(4) Mystic dance, &c.—In allusion to the music of the spheres. (See extracts from Shakspere, p. 287.)

(5) In quaternion run-i. e, "that in a fourfold mixture and combination run a perpetual circle, one element continually changing into another."-Newton.

1

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,
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.
Fountains, and ye that warble1 as ye flow,
Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise.
Join voices, all ye living souls !2 ye birds,
That singing, up to heaven-gates ascend,
Bear on your wings, and in your notes his praise.
Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk
The earth, or 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.
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!

THE SENTENCE OF EXPULSION FROM PARADISE.4

THE archangel5 soon drew nigh,

Not in his shape celestial, but as man
Clad to meet man: over his lucid arms
A military vest of purple flowed,
Livelier than Melibœan, or the grain

(1) Ye that warble, &c.-i. e. ye streams that issue from the fountains, and warble forth melodious murmurs as ye flow, &c.

(2) Souls-creatures in general.

(3) Up to heaven-gate, &c.-Most probably taken from Shakspere's line (see p. 172), "Hark! hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings."

(4) "Paradise Lost," book xi.

(5) The archangel-Michael, whom the rabbinical writers name the minister of severity, is suitably chosen by Milton for the execution of God's sentence upon Adam and Eve. As a warrior he is represented in military costume, and as Addison remarks, "his person, his port, and behaviour, are suitable to a spirit of the highest rank, and exquisitely described in these lines."

(6) Livelier than, &c.—i. e. of a livelier colour and richer dye than the purple of Meliboa, in Thessaly, or Tyre (Sarra).

Of Sarra, worn by kings and heroes old
In time of truce:1 Iris had dipped2 the woof:
His starry helm unbuckled showed him prime
In manhood were youth ended; by his side,
As in a glistering zodiac, hung the sword,
Satan's dire dread ;4 and in his hand5 the spear.
Adam bowed low; he, kingly, from his state
Inclined not, but his coming thus declared:

66

Adam, Heaven's high behest no preface needs:
Sufficient that thy prayers are heard; and death,
Then due by sentence when thou didst transgress,
Defeated of his seizure; many days

Given thee of grace, wherein thou mayst repent,
And one bad act with many deeds well done
Mayst cover: well may then thy Lord, appeased,
Redeem thee quite from death's rapacious claim;
But longer in this Paradise to dwell

Permits not to remove thee I am come,
And send thee from the garden forth, to till
The ground whence thou wast taken-fitter soil."
He added not; for Adam at the news
Heart-struck, with chilling gripe of sorrow stood,
That all his senses bound: Eve, who unseen
Yet all had heard, with audible lament

Discovered soon the place of her retire.7

Oh unexpected stroke,8 worse than of death!
Must I thus leave thee, Paradise? thus leave
Thee, native soil! these happy walks and shades,
Fit haunt of gods? where I had hope to spend,

(1) In time of truce-i. e. of peace.

Milton speaks of "weeds of peace" in

"L'Allegro"-meaning, as here, gorgeous and costly robes.

(2) Iris had dipped, &c.-The rainbow had dyed it in grain, and therefore more durably.

(3) Zodiac-zone or belt.

(4) Satan's dire dread-in allusion to its use in the great conflict between Satan and Michael, described in the sixth book of "Paradise Lost."

(5) In his hand-i. e. in his hand (was) the spear.

(6) Sufficient, &c.-The construction appears to be, It is sufficient that thy prayers are heard, that death is defeated of his seizure, and that many days are graciously given thee, &c.

(7) Retire-retirement.

(8) Oh unexpected stroke, &c.-"Eve's complaint," remarks Addison, "is wonderfully beautiful; the sentiments are not only proper to the subject, but have something in them particularly soft and womanish."

Quiet, though sad, the respite of that day
That must be mortal to us both. O flowers,
That never will in other climate grow-
My early visitation, and my last

At even-which I bred up with tender hand
From the first opening bud, and gave ye names!
Who now shall rear ye to the sun, or rank
Your tribes, and water from the ambrosial fount?
Thee, lastly, nuptial bower! by me adorned
With what to sight or smell was sweet! from thee
How shall I part, and whither wander down
Into a lower world, to this1 obscure

And wild?

How shall we breathe2 in other air
Less pure, accustomed to immortal fruits ?"
Whom thus the angel interrupted mild :-
"Lament not, Eve, but patiently resign
What justly thou hast lost; nor set thy heart,
Thus over-fond, on that which is not thine:
Thy going is not lonely; with thee goes
Thy husband; him to follow thou art bound;
Where he abides, think there thy native soil."
Adam by this from the cold sudden damp
Recovering, and his scattered spirits returned,
To Michael thus his humble words addressed:

"Celestial! whether among the thrones, or named
Of them the highest ;-for such of shape may seem1
Prince above princes! gently hast thou told
Thy message, which might else in telling wound,
And in performing end us; what besides5
Of sorrow, and dejection, and despair,
Our frailty can sustain, thy tidings bring;

(1) To this-i. e. compared to this.

(2) How shall we breathe, &c.-The antithesis between "air" and "fruits" does not appear very apt, but there is an evident ellipsis, the sense of which may perhaps be thus given :-How shall we breathe the gross air [which nourishes only mortal fruits] after being accustomed, &c.

(3) Celestial, &c.-" Adam's speech," says Addison, "abounds with thoughts which are equally moving [with those in Eve's complaint], but of a more masculine and elevated turn. Nothing can be conceived more sublime and poetical than the following passage in it :-This most afflicts me, &c.'"

(4) Such of shape, &c.-Such in appearance may he be who is a prince over princes.

(5) What besides, &c.-i. e. thou hast executed thy mission gently, and in so doing, thou hast forborne to wound or kill us; but setting this aside (“ besides”) thy tidings involve the extreme of sorrow, dejection, &c.