From hence he shall acquire

As much as thou hast lost;

Since the supreme Inhabitant of Heaven Receives the humble, and dethrones the proud.

GOD THE FATHER.

Adam, arise, since I to thee impart

A spirit warm from my benignant breath :
Arise, arise, first man,

And joyous let the world

Embrace its living miniature in thee!

Adam. O marvels new, O hallowed, O divine,

Eternal object of the angel host:

Why do I not possess tongues numerous

As now the stars in heaven?

Now then, before

A thing of earth so mean,

See I the great Artificer divine?

Mighty Ruler supernal,

If 'tis denied this tongue

To match my obligation with my thanks,

Behold my heart's affection,

And hear it speaking clearer than my tongue,
And to thee bending lower

Than this my humble knee.

Now, now, O Lord, in ecstasy devout,

Let my mind mount, and passing all the clouds, Passing each sphere, even up to heaven ascend, And there behold the stars, a seat for man! Thou Lord, who all the fire of genuine love Convertest to thyself,

Transform me into thee, that I a part

Even of thyself, may thus acquire the power
To offer praises not unworthy thee.

THE ANGELS SING.

To smile in paradise,

Great demigod of earth, direct thy step;
There like the tuneful spheres,

Circle the murmuring rills

Of limpid water bright;

There the melodious birds

Rival angelic quires;

There lovely flowers profuse

Appear as vivid stars;

The snowy rose is there,

A silver moon, the heliotrope a sun :

What more can be desired,

By earth's new lord in fair corporeal vest,

Than in the midst of earth to find a heaven?

Adam. O ye harmonious birds!

Bright scene of lovely flowers.

But what delightful slumber
Falls on my closing eyes?
I lay me down, adieu

Unclouded light of day, sweet air adieu!

GOD THE FATHER.

Adam, behold I come,

Son dear to me, thou son

Of an indulgent sire;

Behold the hand that never works in vain ;
Behold the hand that joined the elements,
That added heaven to heavens,

That filled the stars with light,

Gave lustre to the moon,
Prescribed the sun his course,

And now supports the world,

And forms a solid stage for thy firm step.
Now sleeping, Adam from thy opened side
The substance I will take

That shall have woman's name, and lovely form.

THE ANGELS SING.

Immortal works of an immortal Maker!

Ye high and blessed seats

Of this delightful world,

Ye starry seats of heaven,

Trophies divine, productions pre-ordained;

O power! O energy!

Which out of shadowy horror formed the Sun!

Eve. What heavenly melody pervades my heart, Ere yet the sound my ear! inviting me

To gaze on wonders, what do I behold,

What transformations new;

Is earth become the heaven?

Do I behold his light

Whose splendour dazzles the meridian sun?

Am I the creature of that plastic hand,

Who formed of nought the angels and the heavens ?

Thou sovereign Lord! whom lowly I adore,

A love so tender penetrates my heart,

That while my tongue ventures on utterance,
The words with difficulty

Find passage from my lips;

For in a tide of tears,

(That sighs have caused to flow) they seem absorbed.

Thou pure celestial love

Of the benignant power,

Who pleased to manifest on earth his glory,

Now to this world descends,

To draw from abject clay

The governor of all created things:

Lord of the hallowed and concealed affection,

Thou in whom love glows with such fervent flame,
Inspirit even my tongue

With suitable reply, that these dear vales

And sylvan scenes may hear

Thanks, that to thee I should devote, my Sire,
But if my tongue be mute, speak thou, my heart.

GOD THE FATHER.

Adam, awake! and cease

To meditate in rapturous trance profound
Things holy and abstruse,

And the deep secrets of the Trinal Lord.

Adam. Where am I? where have I been? what Sun Of triple influence that dims the day

Now from my eye withdraws, where is he vanished? O hallowed miracles

Of this imperial seat,

Of these resplendent suns,

Which though divided, form

A single ray of light immeasurable,
Embellishing all Heaven,

And giving grace and lustre
To every winged Seraph;
Divine mysterious light,
Flowing from sovereign Good,
To him alone thou art known,

Who mounts to thee an eagle in his faith.
What rose of snowy hue and sacred form,
In these celestial bowers,

Wet with Empyreal dews, have I beheld
Opening its bosom to the suns! or rather
One of these suns making the rose its Heaven;
And in a moment's space,

(O marvels most sublime,)

With deluges of light,

And in a lily's form,

Rise from that lovely virgin bosom blest

Can suns be lilies then,

And lilies children of the maiden rose?

GOD THE FATHER.

The Heaven's too lofty, and too low the world;

Suffice it that in vain

Man's humble intellect

Attempts to sound the depths of deeds divine :

Press in the fond embraces of thy heart

The consort of thy bosom,

And let her name be Eve.

Adam. O my beloved companion,

Support of my existence,

My glory and my power,

Flesh of my flesh, and of my bone the bone,

Behold I clasp thy bosom

In plenitude of pure and hallowed love.

GOD THE FATHER.

I leave you now, my children; rest in peace,
Receive my blessing, and so fruitful prove
That for your offspring earth may scarce suffice!
Man, be thou lord of all that now the sun
Warms or the ocean laves; impose a name
On every thing that flies, or runs, or swims.
Now through the ear descending to your soul
Receive the immutable decree; hear, Adam,
Let thy companion hear, and in your hearts
Made the abode of love,

Cherish the mighty word!

Of fruits whatever from a spreading branch
Each copious tree may offer to your hands,
Of dainty viands whatsoe'er abound
In this delightful garden,
This paradise of flowers,
The gay delight of man,
The treasure of the earth,

The wonder of the world, the work of God,
These, O my son, these thou art free to taste:
But of the Tree comprising Good and Evil
Under the pain of dying

To him who knows not death,

Be now the fruit forbidden!

I leave ye now, and through my airy road,
Departing from the world, return to Heaven.

THE SERAPHIM SING.

Let every airy cloud on earth descend,
And luminous and light

Repose with God upon this glowing sphere!
Then let the stars descend,

Descend the moon and sun,

Forming bright steps to the empyreal world,
And each rejoice that the supreme Creator
Has deigned to visit what his hand produced.

Adam. O scene of splendour, viewing which I see

The glories of my God in lovelier light,

How through my eyes do you console my heart!
See, at a single nod of our great Sire,

(Dear partner of my life,)

Fire bursting forth with elemental power!

The Sea, Heaven, Earth, their properties assume,
And air grows air, although there were before
Nor fire, nor heaven, nor air, nor earth, nor sea.
Behold the azure sky, in which ofttimes
The lovely glittering star

Shall wake the dawn, attired in heavenly light,

The herald of the morn,

To spread the boundless lustre of the day;
Then shall the radiant sun,

To gladden all the world,

Diffuse abroad his energy of light;
And when his eye is weary of the earth,
The pure and silvery moon

And the minuter stars

Shall form the pomp of night.

Behold where fire o'er every element,
Lucid and light, assumes its lofty seat!
Behold the simple field of spotless air
Made the support of variegated birds,
That with their tuneful notes

Guide the delightful hours!

See the great bosom of the fertile earth

With flowers embellished and with fruits mature!

See on her verdant brow she seems to bear
Hills as her crown, and as her sceptre trees!
Behold the ocean's fair cerulean plain,

That 'midst its humid sands and vales profound,
And 'midst its silent and its scaly tribes,
Rolls over buried gold and precious pearl,

And crimson coral raising to the sky

Its wavy head with herbs and amber crowned!
Stupendous all proclaim

Their Maker's power and glory.

Eve. All manifest thy might,

O Architect divine!

Adam. Dear partner, let us go

Where to invite our step

God's other wonders shine, a countless tribe.

SCENE II.

Lucifer. Who from my dark abyss

Calls me to gaze on this excess of light?

What miracles unseen

Showest thou to me, O God?

Art thou then tired of residence in heaven?

Why hast thou formed on earth

This lovely paradise?

And wherefore place in it

Two earthly demi-gods of human mould?

Say thou vile architect,

Forming thy work of dust,

What will befall this naked, helpless man,
The sole inhabitant of glens and woods?

Does he then dream of treading on the stars?
Heaven is impoverished, and I, alone
The cause, enjoy the ruin I produced.
Let him unite above