One day and night, in all their vaft furvey
Useless befides; reafoning I oft admire,
How nature wife and frugal could commit
Such difproportions, with fuperfluous hand
nobler bodies to create,

So

many

Greater fo manifold, to this one ufe,

For aught appears, and on their orbs impose
Such restless revolution day by day

Repeated, while the fedentary earth,
That better might with far less compass move,
Serv'd by more noble than herself, attains
Her end without leaft motion, and receives,
As tribute, fuch a fumless journey brought
Of incorporeal fpeed, her warmth and light;
Speed, to defcribe whofe swiftnefs number fails.

So fpake our fire, and by his countenance feem'd
Ent'ring on ftudious thoughts abftrufe, which Eve
Perceiving, where fhe fat retir'd in fight,
With lowlinefs majestic from her feat,

And grace that won who faw to wish her stay,
Rofe, and went forth among her fruits and flow'rs,
To vifit how they profper'd, bud and bloom,
Her nursery; they at her coming fprung,
And touch'd by her fair tendance gladlier grew.
Yet went fhe not, as not with fuch difcourfe
Delighted, or not capable her ear

Of what was high: Such pleasure she referv'd
Adam relating, fhe fole auditrefs;

Her husband the relator fhe preferr'd
Before the Angel, and of him to ask

Chofe rather; he, the knew, would intermix
Grateful digreffions, and folve high dispute

With conjugal careffes; from his lip

Not words alone pleas'd her. O when meet now
Such pairs, in love and mutual honour join'd?
With goddefs-like demeanour forth she went;
Not unattended; for on her, as queen,
A pomp of winning graces waited still,
And from about her fhot darts of defire
Into all eyes, to wish her still in fight.
And Raphael now to Adam's doubt propos'd
Benevolent and facile thus reply'd.

To ask or fearch I blame thee not; for Heav'n Is as the book of God before thee fet,

Wherein to read his wondrous works, and learn
His feafons, hours, or days, or months, or years.
This to attain, whether heav'n move or earth,
Imports not, if thou reckon right; the rest
From Man or Angel the great Architect
Did wifely to conceal, and not divulge
His fecrets to be fcann'd by them who ought
Rather admire; or, if they lift to try
Conjecture, he his fabric of the heav'ns
Hath left to their difputes, perhaps to move
His laughter at their quaint opinions wide
Hereafter, when they come to model heav'n,
And calculate the stars, how they will wield
The mighty frame, how build, unbuild, contrive
To fave appearances, how gird the sphere
With centric and eccentric fcribbled o'er,
Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb.

Already by thy reasoning this I guess,

Who are to lead thy offspring, and supposest

That bodies bright and greater should not serve

The less not bright, nor heav'n such journeys run,
Earth fitting ftill, when the alone receives
The benefit. Confider first, that great
Or bright infers not excellence: The earth,
Though, in comparison of heav'n, so small,
Nor glift'ring, may of folid good contain
More plenty than the fun that barren fhines,
Whose virtue on itself works no effect,
But in the fruitful earth; there first receiv'd
His beams, unactive elfe, their vigour find.
Yet not to earth are those bright luminaries
Officious, but to thee, earth's habitant.
And for the Heav'n's wide circuit, let it fpeak
The Maker's high magnificence, who built
So fpacious, and his line strech'd out fo 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 ufes to his Lord best known.
The swiftness of thofe circles attribute,
Though numberlefs, to his omnipotence,
That to corporeal fubftances could add

Speed almost spiritual; me thou think'st not flow,
Who fince the morning-hour set out from Heav'n,
Where God refides, and ere mid-day arriv'd

In Eden; distance inexpreffible

By numbers that have name.

But this I urge,

Admitting motion in the heav'ns, to show
Invalid that which thee to doubt it mov'd;
Not that I fo affirm, though so it seem
To thee who hast thy dwelling here on earth.
God, to remove his ways from human sense,

Plac'd Heav'n from Earth fo far, that earthly fight,
If it prefume, might err in things too high,
And no advantage gain. What if the fun
Be center to the world, and other ftars
By his attractive virtue and their own
Incited, dance about him various rounds?

Their wand'ring courfe now high, now low, then hid,
Progreffive, retrograde, or standing still,

In fix thou feeft; and what if fev'nth to these
The planet Earth, fo ftedfast though she seem,
Infenfibly three different motions move?
Which elfe to feveral fpheres thou muft afcribe,
Mov'd contrary with thwart obliquities;
Or fave the fun his labour, and that swift
Nocturnal and diurnal rhomb fuppos'd,

Invisible elfe above all stars, the wheel

Of day and night; which needs not thy belief,
If earth induftrious of herself fetch day
Travelling eat, and with her part averfe

From the fun's beam meet night, her other part
Still luminous by his ray.
What if that light

Sent from her through the wide tranfpicuous air
To the tereftrial moon be as a star

Enlight'ning her by day, as the by night
This earth reciprocal, if land be there,

Fields and inhabitants: Her fpots thou feest
As clouds, and clouds may rain, and rain produce
Fruits in her foften'd foil, for fome to eat
Allotted there; and other funs perhaps,

With their attendant moons, thou wilt defcry
Communicating male and female light,
Which two great fexes animate the world,

Stor'd in each orb perhaps with some that live.
For fuch vaft room in nature unpoffefs'd

By living foul, defert and defolate,

Only to fhine, yet scarce to contribute
Each orb a glimpse of light, convey'd fo far
Down to this habitable, which returns
Light back to them, is obvious to difpute.
But whether thus these things, or whether not,
Whether the fun predominant in heav'n
Rife on the earth, or earth rise on the fun,
He from the east his flaming road begin,
Or fhe from weft her filent courfe advance
With inoffenfive pace, that spinning sleeps
On her foft axle, while fhe paces even,

And bears thee soft with the smooth air along,
Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid;
Leave them to God above, him ferve and fear;
Of other creatures, as him pleases best,
Where ever plac'd, let him dispose: Joy thou
In what he gives to thee, this Paradise
And thy fair Eve: Heav'n is for thee too high
To know what paffes there; be lowly wife :
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 Heav'n.

To whom thus Adam, clear'd of doubt, reply'd. How fully haft thou fatisfy'd me, pure Intelligence of Heav'n, Angel ferene, And freed from intricacies, taught to live The eafieft way, nor with perplexing thoughts