With hideous ruin and combustion, down To bottomless perdition; there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fire, Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms.
Nine times the space that measures day and night To mortal men, he with his horrid crew Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf, Confounded, though immortal: but his doom Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought Both of lost happiness and lasting pain Torments him: round he throws his baleful That witnessed huge affliction and dismay, Mix'd with obdurate pride and steadfast hate : At once, as far as angels' ken, he views The dismal situation waste and wild : A dungeon horrible on all sides round,
As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames No light; but rather darkness visible Served only to discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace And rest can never dwell; hope never comes That comes to all; but torture without end Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed : Such place eternal justice had prepared For those rebellious; here their prison ordained In utter darkness, and their portion set As far removed from God and light of heaven, As from the centre thrice to th' utmost pole.
Adam and Eve's Morning Hymn.
To the field they haste,
But first, from under shady arborous roof Soon as they forth were come to open sight Of day-spring and the sun, who, scarce uprisen, With wheels yet hovering o'er the ocean-brim, Shot parallel to the earth his dewy ray, Discovering in wide landscape all the east Of Paradise and Eden's happy plains,
Lowly they bowed adoring, and began Their orisons, each morning duly paid In various style; for neither various style Nor holy rapture wanted they to praise Their Maker, in fit strains pronounced, or sung Unmeditated; such prompt eloquence
Flowed from their lips, in prose or numerous verse; More tuneable than needed lute or harp To add more sweetness; and they thus began: "These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, Almighty! Thine this universal frame,
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 morn 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, that now meets the orient sun, now fly'st, With the fixed stars, fixed in their orb that flies; And ye five other wandering fires, that move In mystic dance 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 quaternion run Perpetual circle, multiform, and mix
And nourish all things; let your ceaseless change Vary to our great Maker still new praise. Ye mists and exhalations, that now rise From hill or steaming lake, dusky or gray,
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 warble, as ye flow, Melodious murmurs, warbling tune His praise. Join voices, all ye living souls; ye birds, That singing up to heaven-gate ascend, Bear on your wings and in your notes his praise. Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk The earth, and 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."
Now came still evening on, and twilight grey Had in her sober livery all things clad; Silence accompanied; 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 pleased. Now glowed the firmament With living sapphires: Hesperus, that led The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon, Rising in clouded majesty, at length, Apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light, And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.
When Adam thus to Eve:-" Fair consort! the hour Of night, and all things now retired 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 slumberous weight, inclines Our eyelids: other creatures all day long Rove idle, unemployed, and less need rest; Man hath his daily work of body or mind Appointed, which declares his dignity, And the regard of Heaven on all his ways; While other animals inactive 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; Meanwhile, as nature wills, night bids us rest." To whom thus Eve, with perfect beauty adorned: "My author 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 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 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!"
A Song for St. Cecilia's Day.
FROM harmony, from heavenly harmony, This universal frame began: When Nature underneath a heap Of jarring atoms lay,
And could not heave her head,
The tuneful voice was heard from high,- Arise, ye more than dead."
Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry, In order to their stations leap; And Music's power obey,
From harmony, from heavenly harmony, This universal frame began:
From harmony to harmony
Through all the compass of the notes it ran, The diapason closing full in Man.
What passion cannot Music raise and quell? When Jubal struck the chorded shell, His listening brethren stood around, And, wondering, on their faces fell To worship that celestial sound:
Less than a god they thought there could not dwell Within the hollow of that shell,
That spoke so sweetly, and so well. What passion cannot Music raise and quell?
The trumpet's loud clangour
Excites us to arms, With shrill notes of anger,
And mortal alarms, The double double double beat Of the thundering drum Cries, Hark! the foes come;
Charge, charge! 'tis too late to retreat.
The soft complaining flute In dying notes, discovers
The woes of hopeless lovers,
Whose dirge is whispered by the warbling lute.
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