Surveying his great work, that it was good: For of celeftial bodies firft the fun
A mighty fphere he fram'd, unlightsome first, Though of ethereal mold: then form'd the moon Globofe, and every magnitude of stars,
And fow'd with ftars the Heav'n thick as a field: Of light by far the greater part he took, Transplanted from her cloudy fhrine, and plac'd 360 In the fun's orb, made porous to receive And drink the liquid light, firm to retain Her gather'd beams, great palace now of light.1 Hither as to their fountain other stars Repairing, in their golden urns draw light, And hence the morning planet gilds her horns; By tincture or reflection they augment Their fmall peculiar, though from human fight So far remote, with diminution feen. First in his eaft the glorious lamp was feen, Regent of day, and all th' horizon round Invested with bright rays, jocund to run
His longitude through Heav'n's high road; the gray Dawn, and the Pleiades before him danc'd
Shedding fweet influence: lefs bright the moon
But oppofit in level'd weft was fet
His mirror, with full face borrowing her light From him, for other light fhe needed none In that afpéct, and ftill that diftance keeps Till night, then in the east her turn fhe fhines, Revolv'd on Heav'n's great axle, and her reign With thousand lesser lights dividual holds,
With thousand thousand stars, that then appear'd Spangling the hemifphere: then firft adorn'd With their bright luminaries that set and rose, Glad evening and glad morn crown'd the fourth day. And God faid, Let the waters generate Reptil with spawn abundant, living foul: And let fowl fly above the earth, with wings Display'd on the' open firmament of Heaven. And God created the great whales, and each
Soul living, each that crept, which plenteously The waters generated by their kinds,
And every bird of wing after his kind;
And faw that it was good, and blefs'd them, faying, Be fruitful, multiply, and in the feas
And lakes and running streams the waters fill; And let the fowl be multiply'd on th' earth. Forthwith the founds and feas, each creek and bay With fry innumerable swarm, and fhoals Of fish that with their fins and shining scales Glide under the green wave, in fculls that oft Bank the mid fea: part fingle or with mate Graze the fea weed their pasture, and through groves Of coral ftray, or sporting with quick glance Show to the fun their wav'd coats dropt with gold, Or in their pearly fhells at ease, attend Moift nutriment, or under rocks their food In jointed armour watch: on fmooth the feal, And bended dolphins play: part huge of bulk Wallowing unwieldy', enormous in their gate Tempeft the ocean: there leviathan,
Hugeft of living creatures, on the deep Stretch'd like a promontory fleeps or swims And seems a moving land, and at his gills Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out a sea. Mean while the tepid caves, and fens and shores Their brood as numerous hatch, from th' egg that foon Bursting with kindly rupture forth disclos'd
Their callow young, but feather'd soon and fledge 420 They fumm'd their pens, and foaring th' air fublime With clang defpis'd the ground, under a cloud In profpect; there the eagle and the stork On cliffs and cedar tops their eyries build: Part loofly wing the region, part more wife In common, rang'd in figure wedge their way, Intelligent of feafons, and fet forth
Their aery caravan high over feas
Flying, and over lands with mutual wing
Eafing their flight; fo fteers the prudent crane Her annual voyage, borne on winds; the air Flotes, as they pafs, fann'd with unnumber'd plumes: From branch to branch the smaller birds with fong Solac'd the woods, and spread their painted wings Till ev'n, nor then the folemn nightingale 435 Ceas'd warbling, but all night tun'd her foft lays : Others on filver lakes and rivers bath'd Their downy breaft; the fwan with arched neck Between her white wings mantling proudly, rows Her state with oary feet; yet oft they quit The dank, and rising on stiff pennons, tower The mid aereal fky: Others on ground
Walk'd firm; the crested cock whose clarion founds The filent hours, and th' other whose gay train Adorns him, color'd with the florid hue
Of rainbows and starry' eyes. The waters thus With fish replenish'd, and the air with fowl, Evening and morn folemniz'd the fifth day. The fixth, and of creation last arose
With evening harps and matin, when God faid, 450 Let th' earth bring forth foul living in her kind, Cattle and creeping things, and beast of th' earth, Each in their kind. The earth obey'd, and strait Opening her fertil womb teem'd at a birth Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms, Limb'd and full grown out of the ground up As from his lair the wild beaft where he wons In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den; Among the trees in pairs they rofe, they walk'd: The cattel in the fields and meadows green: Those rare and folitary, these in flocks Pafturing at once, and in broad herds upfprung. The graffy clods now calv'd, now half appear'd The tawny lion, pawing to get free
His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds, And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the ounce, The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole
Rifing, the crumbled earth above them threw In hillocs: the fwift ftag from under ground Bore up his branching head: fcarce from his mold 470 Behemoth biggest born of earth upheav'd
His vaftness: fleec'd the flocks and bleating rofe,
As plants: ambiguous between fea and land
The river-horse and fcaly crocodile.
At once came forth whatever creeps the ground, 475 Infect or worm: thofe wav'd their limber fans For wings, and smallest lineaments exact In all the liveries deck'd of fummer's pride With spots of gold and purple', azure and green: These as a line their long dimension drew, Streaking the ground with finuous trace; not all Minims of nature; fome of ferpent kind, Wondrous in length and corpulence, involv'd Their fnaky folds, and added wings. Firft crept The parfimonious emmet, provident
Of future, in small room large heart inclos'd, Pattern of just equality perhaps
Hereafter, join'd in her popular tribes
Of commonalty: fwarming next appear'd
The female bee, that feeds her hufband drone
Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells
With honey ftor'd: the rest are numberless,
And thou their natures know'ft, and gave them names, Needlefs to thee repeated; nor unknown
The ferpent fubtlest beast of all the field, Of huge extent fometimes, with brazen eyes And hairy mane terrific, though to thee
Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.
Now Heav'n in all her glory fhone, and roll'd Her motions, as the great firft Mover's hand First wheel'd their courfe; earth in her rich attire Confummate lovely fmil'd; air, water, earth,
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