1

A God, leap'd fondly into Ae na flames, 470
Empedocles: and he who to, enjo

Plato's Elyfium, leap'd into the Sea,
Cleombrotus: and many more too long,
Embryoes and idiots, Eremits, and Friars
White, Black and Gray, with all their trum.
475
Here Pilgrims roam, that ftray'd fo far to feek
In Golgotha him dead, who lives in Heav'n:
And they who, to be fure of Paradife,
Dying put on the weeds of Dominic

pery.

Or in Francifcan think to pals difguis'd; 480
They pals the Planets feven, and pass the fix'd,
And that crystalline sphere, whose ballance
weighs

The trepidation talk'd, and that firft mov'd;
And now Saint Peter at Heav'n's wicket feems
To wait them with his keys, and now at
foot

485
Of Heav'n's ascent they lift their feet, when lo!
A violent cross wind from either coaft
Blows them transverse, ten thousand lea-

gues awry

Into the devious air: then might ye fee
Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wea-

rers toft

4.90

Neap
And flutter'd into rags; then reliques, beads,
Indulgences, Difpenfes, Pardons, Bulla,
The fport of winds. All these upwhirl'd aloft
Ꮐ

Fly o'er the backfide of the world far off
Into a Limbo large and broad, fince call'd 495
The Paradife of Fools, to few unknown
Long after now unpeopled; and untrod
All this dark globe the Fiend found as he
pass'd,

And long he wander'd, till at last a gleam
Of dawning light turn'd thither ward in

His travel'd steps; far diftant he defcries
Afcending by degrees magnificent
Up to the wall of Heav'n a, structure high;
At top whereof, but far more rich appeard
The work as of a kingly palace-gate, 505
With frontispiece of diamond and gold
Embellifh'd; thick with sparkling orient gems
The portal fhone, inimitable on earth.
By model, or by fhading pencil drawn.
The ftairs were fuch as whereon Jacob

Angels afcending, and defcending, bands
Of guardians bright, when he from Efau fled
To Padan- Aram, in the field of Luz,
Dreaming by night under the open sky,
And waking cry'd This is the gate of
Heav'n.

515 Each stair myfterioufly was meant, nor ftood There always, but drawn up to Heav'n fometimes

Viewless; and underneath á bright fea flow'd
Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon
Who after came from earth, failing arriv'd, 520
Wafted by Angels, or flew o'er the lake
Rap'd in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds.
The stairs were then let down, whether to dare
The Fiend by easy afcent, or aggravate
His fad exclufion from the doors of blifs: 525
Direct against which open'd from beneath,
Juft o'er the blissful feat of Paradife,

A paffage down to th' earth, a pallage wide,
Wider by far than that of after-times

Over mount Sion, and, though that were

Over the Promis'd Land to God fo dear,
By which, to vifit oft thofe happy tribes,
On high behefts his Angels to and fro
Pass'd frequent, and his eye with choice regard,
From Paneas the fount of Jordan's flood 535
To Beërfaba, where the Holy Land
Borders on Egypt and th' Arabian shore;
So wide the opening feem'd, where bounds
were fet

To darkness, fuch as bound the ocean wave.
Satan from hence, now on the lower stair 540
That fcal'd by steps of gold to Heaven gate,
Looks down with wonder at the fudden view
Of all this world at once. As when a scout
Thro' dark and defart ways with peril gone

cau

All night, at last by break of chearful dawn 545
Obtains the brow of fome high-climbing hill,
Which to his eye difcovers unaware
The goodly profpect of fome foreign land
Firft feen, or fome renown'd metropolis
With gliftering fpires and pinnacles adorn'd 550
Which now the rifing Sun gilds with his
beams:

Such wonder feis'd, though after Heaven seen,
The fpirit malign; but much more envy seis'd'
At fight of all this world beheld fo fair.
Round he furveys, and well might, where
he ftood

So high above the circling canopy

555

Of night's extended fhade, from eaftern point Of Libra, to the fleecy ftar that bears Andromeda far off Atlantic feas

Beyond th' horizon: then from pole to pole 560 He views in breadth, and without longer pause Down right into the world's first region throws His flight precipitant, and winds with ease Through the pure marble air his oblique way Amongst innumerable stars, that shone 565 Stars diftant, but nigh hand feem'd other worlds;

Or other worlds they feem'd, or happy ifles, Like thofe Hefperian gardens fam'd of old, Fortunate fields, and groves, and flow'ry

vales,

Thrice happy ifles, but who dwelt happy

there

1

.570

575

He lay'd not tho inquire. Above them all
The golden fun, in fplendor likest Heav'n,
Allur'd his eye: thither his course he bends
Through the calm firmament: but up or down,
By centre, or eccentric, hard to tell,
Or longitude, where the great luminary
Aloof the vulgar conftellations thick,
That from his lordly eye keep distance due,
Difpenfes light from far; they as they move
Their starry dance in numbers that com-

pute

580 Days, months and years, tow'rds his all chea

ring lamp

Turn fwift their various motions, or are `turn'd

By his magnetic beam, that gently warms
The universe, and to each inward part
With gentle penetration, though unseen, 585
Shoots invisible virtue even to the deep;
So wondrously was fet his station bright.
There lands the Fiend, a fpot like which
perhaps

Aftronomer in the fun's lucent orb
Through his glaz'd optic tube yet never
590

faw.

The place he found beyond expreffion bright, Compar'd with ought on earth, metal or ftone: