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Ufelefs befides; reafoning I oft admire,

How nature wife and frugal could commit
Such difproportions, with fuperfluous hand
So many nobler bodies to create,
Greater fo manifold, to this one ufè,

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For aught appears, and on their orbs impofe
Such reftlefs revolution day by day

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Repeated, while the fedentary, earth,

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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 fumlefs journey brought
Of incorporeal speed, her warmth and light;
Speed, to defcribe whofe fwiftness number fails.
So fpake our fire, and by his count'nance feem'd
Ent'ring on ftudious thoughts abftrufe; which Eve 40-
Perceiving, where fhe fat retir'd in fight,

With lowlinefs majestic from her feat,

And grace that won who faw to wifh her stay,
Rofe, and went forth among her fruits and flowers,.
To vifit how they profper'd, bud and bloom,
Her nursery; they at her coming fprung,
And touch'd by her fair tendence gladlier grew.
Yet went fhe not, as not with such discourse

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Delighted, or not capable her ear

Of what was high: fuch pleasure she referv'd,

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Adam relating, the fole auditress;

Her husband the relator fhe preferr'd

Before the angel, and of him to ask

Chofe rather; he, fhe knew, would intermix

Grateful digreffions, and folve high difpute

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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 goddesslike demeanor forth fhe 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,

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To afk 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 heaven move, or earth,
Imports not, if thou reckon right; the reft
From man or angel the great Architect
Did wifely to conceal, and not divulge.
His fecrets to be scann'd by them who ought
Rather admire; or if they lift to try
Conjecture, he his fabric of the heavens
Hath left to their difputes, 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 fave appearances, how gird the sphere
With centric and eccentric fcribbled o'er,
Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb.

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Already by thy reafoning this I guefs,.
Who art to lead thy offspring,, and fuppofest
That bodies bright and greater fhould not ferve
The lefs not bright, nor heaven fuch 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 heaven, fo fmall,
Nor glift'ring, may of folid good contain
More plenty than the fun that barren fhines,

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Whofe virtue on itself works no effect,

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But in the fruitful earth; there first receiv'd
His beams, unactive effe, 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 fpacious, and his line ftretch'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 fmall partition, and the rest
Ordain'd for ufes to his Lord best known.
The fwiftness of thofe circles, attribute,
Though numberlefs, to his omnipotence,
That to corporeal substances could add

Speed almoft fpiritual: me thou think'ft not flow,
Who fince the morning hour fet out from heaven,
Where God refides, and ere mid-day arriv'd

In Eden; distance inexpreffible

But this I urge;.

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By numbers that have name.
Admitting motion in the heavens, to fhow
Invalid that which thee to doubt it mov'd;
Not that I fo affirm, though fo it feem
To thee who haft thy dwelling here on earth
God, to remove his ways from human fenfe,
Plac'd heaven from earth fo far, that earthly fight,.

If it prefume, might err in things too high,

And no advantage gain. What if the fun
Ba centre to the world, and other ftars
By his attractive virtue and their own

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Incited, dance about hin various rounds ?

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Their wand'ring course now high, now low, then hid,,

Progreffive, retrograde,. or standing still,

In fix thou feest; and what if fev'nth to these

The planet earth, so stedfast though the feem,

Infenfibly three different motions move?

Which elfe to several spheres thou must ascribe,

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

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Of day and night; which needs not thy belief,
If earth industrious of herself fetch day
Travelling east, and with her part averfe
From the fun's beam meet night, her other part
Still luminous by his ray. What if that light
Şent from her through the wide transpicuous air,、
To the terreftrial moon be as a star

Enlight'ning her by day, as the by night

This earth? reciprocal, if land be there,

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Fields and inhabitants: her fpots thou feeft

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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;

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Which two great fexes animate the world,

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

By living foul; defert and defolate,

Only to fhine, yet scarce to contribúte

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Each orb a glimpse of light, convey'd fo far

Down to this habitable, which returns

Light back to them, is obvious to dispute.

But whether thus thefe things, or whether not;
Whether the fun predominant in heaven

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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 fpinning fleeps:

On her foft axle, while the paces even,

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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,
Wherever place'd,. let him difpofe: joy thou
In what he gives to thee, this Paradife,
And thy fair Eve; heaven 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 175
Live, in what ftate, 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, reply'd!

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God hath bid dwell' far off all anxious cares,,

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And not moleft us, unless we ourselves

Seek them with wand'ring thoughts, and notions vain: But apt the mind or fancy is to rove

Uncheck'd, and of her roving is no end;

Till warn'd, or by experience taught, fhe learn, 190
That not to know at large of things remote
From use, obfcure and subtle, but to know
That which before us lies in daily life;
Is the prime wisdom: what is more, is fume,
Or emptinefs, or fond impertinence,
And renders us, in things that most concern,
Unpractis'd, unprepar'd, and ftill to feek..
Therefore from this high pitch let us descend'
A lower flight, and fpeak of things at hand!

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