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And grace that won who saw to wish her stay,
Rose, and went forth among her fruits and flowers,
To visit how they prosper'd, bud and bloom,
Her nursery; they at her coming sprung,

And, touch'd by her fair tendance, gladlier grew.
Yet went she not, as not with such discourse
Delighted, or not capable her ear

Of what was high; such pleasure she reserv'd,
Adam relating, she sole auditress;

Her husband the relater she preferr'd
Before the Angel, and of him to ask

Chose rather; he, she knew, would intermix
Grateful digressions, and solve high dispute
With conjugal caresses; from his lip

Not words alone pleas'd her. O! when meet now
Such pairs, in love and mutual honour join'd?
With Goddess-like demeanour forth she went,
Not unattended; for on her, as Queen,
A pomp of winning Graces waited still,
And from about her shot darts of desire
Into all eyes, to wish her still in sight.
And Raphael now, to Adam's doubt propos'd,
Benevolent and facile thus replied.

To ask or search, I blame thee not; for Heaven Is as the book of God before thee set,

Wherein to read his wonderous works, and learn His seasons, hours, or days, or months, or years : This to attain, whether Heaven move or Earth,

Plate

2

Imports not, if thou reckon right; the rest
From Man or Angel the great Architect
Did wisely to conceal, and not divulge
His secrets to be scann'd by them who ought
Rather admire; or, if they list to try
Conjecture, he his fabrick of the Heavens
Hath left to their disputes, perhaps to move
His laughter at their quaint opinions wide
Hereafter; when they come to model Heaven
And calculate the stars, how they will wield
The mighty frame; how build, unbuild, contrive
To save appearances; how gird the sphere
With centrick and eccentrick scribbled o'er,
Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb :

Already by thy reasoning this I guess,

Who art to lead thy offspring, and supposest
That bodies bright and greater should not serve
The less not bright, nor Heaven such journeys run,
Earth sitting still, when she alone receives
The benefit: Consider first, that great
Or bright infers not excellence: the Earth
Though, in comparison of Heaven, so small,
Nor glistering, may of solid good contain
More plenty than the sun that barren shines ;
Whose virtue on itself works no effect,

But in the fruitful Earth; there first receiv'd
His beams, unactive else, their vigour find.
Yet not to Earth are those bright luminaries

Officious; but to thee, Earth's habitant.
And for the Heaven's wide circuit, let it speak
The Maker's high magnificence, who built

So spacious, and his line stretch'd out so far;
That Man may know he dwells not in his own;
An edifice too large for him to fill,

Lodg'd in a small partition; and the rest
Ordain'd for uses to his Lord best known.
The swiftness of those circles áttribute,
Though numberless, to his Omnipotence,
That to corporeal substances could add

Speed almost spiritual: Me thou think'st not slow,
Who since the morning-hour set out from Heaven
Where God resides, and ere mid-day arriv'd

In Eden; distance inexpressible

But this I urge,

By numbers that have name.
Admitting motion in the Heavens, to shew
Invalid that which thee to doubt it mov❜d;
Not that I so affirm, though so it seem

To thee who hast thy dwelling here on Earth.
God, to remove his ways from human sense,
Plac'd Heaven from Earth so far, that earthly sight,
If it presume, might err in things too high,
And no advantage gain. What if the sun
Be center to the world; and other stars,

By his attractive virtue and their own
Incited, dance about him various rounds?

Their wandering course now high, now low, then

hid,

Progressive, retrogade, or standing still,

In six thou seest; and what if seventh to these
The planet earth, so stedfast though she seem,
Insensibly three different motions move?
Which else to several spheres thou must ascribe,
Mov'd contrary with thwart obliquities;
Or save the sun his labour, and that swift
Nocturnal and diurnal rhomb suppos'd,

Invisible else above all stars, the wheel
Of day and night; which needs not thy belief,
If earth, industrious of herself, fetch day
Travelling east, and with her part averse

From the sun's beam meet night, her other part
Still luminous by his ray.

What if that light, Sent from her through the wide transpicuous air, To the terrestrial moon be as a star, Enlightening her by day, as she by night

This earth? reciprocal, if land be there,
Fields and inhabitants: Her spots thou seest

As clouds, and clouds may rain, and rain produce
Fruits in her soften'd soil for some to eat
Allotted there; and other suns perhaps,
With their attendant moons, thou wilt descry,
Communicating male and female light;

Which two great sexes animate the world,
Stor'd in each orb perhaps with some that live,
For such vast room in nature unpossess'd
By living soul, desart and desolate,

Only to shine, yet scarce to cóntribute
Each orb a glimpse of light, convey'd so far
Down to this habitable, which returns

Light back to them, is obvious to dispute.
But whether thus these things, or whether not;
Whether the sun predominant in Heaven,
Rise on the earth; or earth rise on the sun;
He from the east his flaming road begin ;
Or she from west her silent course advance,
With inoffensive pace that spinning sleeps
On her soft axle, while she paces even,
And bears thee soft with the smooth air along;
Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid;
Leave them to God above; him serve, and fear!
Of other creatures, as him pleases best,
Wherever plac'd, let him dispose; joy thou
In what he gives to thee, this Paradise
And thy fair Eve; Heaven is for thee too high
To know what passes there; be lowly wise :
Think only what concerns thee, and thy being;
Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there
Live, in what state, condition, or degree;
Contented that thus far hath been reveal'd
Not of Earth only, but of highest Heaven.
To whom thus Adam, clear'd of doubt, replied.
How fully thou hast satisfied me, pure
Intelligence of Heaven, angel serene!
And, freed from intricacies, taught to live

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