To virtue I impute not, or count part

Of what I suffer here; if Nature need not,
Or God support Nature without repast
Though needing, what praise is it to endure?
But now I feel I hunger, which declares
Nature hath need of what she asks; yet God
Can satisfy that need some other way,
Though hunger still remain: so it remain
Without this body's wasting, I content me,
And from the sting of famine fear no harm,
Nor mind it, fed with better thoughts that feed
Me hung'ring more to do my Father's will.

It was the hour of night, when thus the Son
Communed in silent walk, then laid him down
Under the hospitable covert nigh

Of trees thick interwoven; there he slept

And dream'd as appetite is wont to dream,

250

255

200

Of meats and drinks, Nature's refreshment sweet;

Him thought, he by the brook of Cherith stood, 266
And saw the ravens with their horny beaks
Food to Elijah bringing even and morn,

Though ravenous, taught to' abstain from what they

He saw the prophet also how he fled
Into the desert, and how there he slept

[brought;

271

Under a juniper; then how awaked

He found his supper on the coals prepared,

And by the angel was bid rise and eat,

And eat the second time after repose,

275

The strength whereof sufficed him forty days;

Sometimes that with Elijah he partook,

Or as a guest with Daniel at his pulse.

Thus wore out night, and now the herald lark Left his ground-nest, high tow'ring to descry

280

The Morn's approach, and greet her with his song:
As lightly from his grassy couch uprose
Our Saviour, and found all was but a dream,
Fasting he went to sleep, and fasting waked :
Up to a hill anon his steps he rear'd,
From whose high top to ken the prospect round,
If cottage were in view, sheep-cote or herd;

285

259. Jonn iv. 34.

266. Him thought, as we say, me thought. 1 Kings xvi. a, 0. and xix. 4. Dan. i.

Y

But cottage, herd, or sheep-cote none he saw
Only' in a bottom saw a pleasant grove,
With chaunt of tuneful birds resounding loud;
Thither he bent his way, determined there
To rest at noon, and enter'd soon the shade
High rooft, and walks beneath, and alleys brown,
That open'd in the midst a woody scene;
Nature's own work it seem'd (Nature taught Art)
And to a superstitious eye the haunt

290

296

Of wood-gods and wood-nymphs; he view'd it round, When suddenly a man before him stood,

Not rustic as before, but seemlier clad,

As one in city' or court, or palace bred,

300

And with fair speech these words to him address'd:
With granted leave officious I return,

But much more wonder that the Son of God
In this wild solitude so long should bide
Of all things destitute, and well I know
Not without hunger. Others of some note.
As story tells, have trod this wilderness;
The fugitive bond-woman with her son
Outcast Nebaioth, yet found here relief
By a providing angel; all the race

305

310

Rain'a from Heav'n manna; and that prophet bold

Of Israel here had famish'd, had not God

Native of Thebez, wand'ring here was fed

Twice by a voice inviting him to eat:

Of thee these forty days none hath regard,

315

Forty and more deserted here indeed.

To whom thus Jesus: What conclud'st thou hence?

They all had need, I, as thou seest, have none.
How hast thou hunger then? Satan replied:

Tell me, if food were now before thee set,
Would'st thou not eat? Thereafter as I like
The giver, answer'd Jesus. Why should that
Cause thy refusal? said the subtle fiend.
Hast thou not right to all created things?
Owe not all creatures by just right to thee

320

325

308. Gen. xvi. 6. Nebaioth was the eldest son of Ishmael, and it is supposed is here put by mistake for the latter. 313. Thelez, Tishbe, where Elijah was born, hence the allusion. The wilderness in which our Saviour was at this time, was not the same with those in which Hagar, &c. are represented as wanJerius

Duty and service not to stay till bid,

But tender all their power? nor mention 1
Meats by the law unclean, or offer'd first

330

To idols, those young Daniel could refuse;
Nor proffer'd by an enemy, though who
Would scruple that, with want oppress'd? Behold,
Nature ashamed, or, better to express,

Troubled that thou shouldst hunger, hath purvey'd
From all the elements her choicest store

To treat thee as beseems, and as her Lord,
With honour: only deign to sit and eat.

He spake no dream, for as his words had end,

Our Saviour lifting up his eyes beheld

In ample space under the broadest shade
A table richly spread, in regal mode,
With dishes piled, and meats of noblest sort
And savour, beasts of chase, or fowl of
game,
In pastry built, or from the spit, or boil'd,
Gris-amber-steam'd; all fish from sea or shore,
Freshet, or purling brook, of shell or fin,
And exquisitest name, for which was drain'd
Pontus, and Lucrine bay, and Afric coast.
Alas! how simple, to these cates compared,
Was that crude apple that diverted Eve!
And at a stately side-board, by the wine
That fragrant smell diffused, in order stood
Tall stripling youths rich clad, of fairer hue
Than Ganymed or Hylas; distant more
Under the trees now tripp'd, now solemn stood,
Nymphs of Diana's train, and Naiades,
With fruits and flow'rs from Amalthea's horn,
And ladies of th' Hesperides, that seem'd
Fairer than feign'd of old, or fabled since

325

340

345

350

355

Of faery damsels met in forest wide
By knights of Logres, or of Lyones,
Lancelot, or Pelléas, or Pellenore :

360

And all the while harmonious airs were heard

Of chiming strings, or charming pipes, and winds Of gentlest gale Arabian odours fann'd

344. Gris-amber, Ambergris was formerly used to great excess in the flavouring of certain dishes.

347. The places here mentioned were famous in antiquity for their fish. 349. Diverted, in the Latin sense, turned aside.

From their soft wings, and Flora's earliest smells. 338 Such was the splendour, and the Tempter now

His invitation earnestly renew'd.

What doubts the Son of God to sit and eat? These are not fruits forbidden; no interdict Defends the touching of these viands pure; Their taste no knowledge works, at least of evil, But life preserves, destroys life's enemy, Hunger, with sweet restorative delight.

370

375

All these are spirits of air, and woods, and springs,
Thy gentle ministers, who come to pay
Thee homage, and acknowledge thee their Lord:
What doubt'st thou, Son of God? sit down and eat.

To whom thus Jesus temp'rately reply'd:
Said'st thou not that to all things I had right?
And who withholds my power that right to use? 380
Shall I receive by gift what of my own,

When and where likes me best, I can command?

I can at will, doubt not, as soon as thou,
Command a table in this wilderness,
And call swift flights of angels ministrant
Array'd in glory on my cup to' attend:

Why shouldst thou then obtrude this diligence,

385

In vain, where no acceptance it can find?
And with my hunger what hast thou to do?

Thy pompous delicacies I contemn,

390

And count thy specious gifts no gifts but guiles.

To whom thus answer'd Satan malecontent:

That I have also power to give thou seest;

If of that power I bring thee voluntary

What I might have bestow'd on whom I pleased, 395 And rather opportunely in this place

Chose to impart to thy apparent need,

Why shouldst thou not accept it? but I see

What I can do or offer is suspect;

Of these things others quickly will dispose,

400

Whose pains have earn'd the far-fet spoil. With that Both table and provision vanish'd quite

With sound of harpies' wings, and talons heard;

873: Defends; as in Par. Lost, like the French defendre, to forbid. 385. So in Shakspeare's Hamlet, Act 5, Sc. 6. 401. Fet, instead of fetched, for softness; the word is used by Chaucer, Spenser, &c.

Only th' impórtune Tempter still remain'd,
And with these words his temptation pursued:

By hunger, that each other creature tames,
Thou art not to be harm'd; therefore not moved;
Thy temperance invincible besides,
For no allurement yields to appetite,
And all thy heart is set on high designs,

405

410

High actions; but where with to be achieved?
Great acts require great means of enterprise;

Thou art unknown, unfriended, low of birth,
A carpenter thy father known, thyself
Bred up in poverty and straits at home,
Lost in a desert here and hunger-bit:

415

420

Which way, or from what hope, dost thou aspire
To greatness? whence authority derivest ?
What followers, what retinue, canst thou gain,
Or at thy heels the dizzy multitude,
Longer than thou canst feed them on thy cost?
Money brings honour, friends, conquest, and realms:
What raised Antipater the Edomite,

And his son Herod placed on Judah's throne

(Thy throne), but gold that got him puissant friends? Therefore, if at great things thou would'st arrive, 420 Get riches first, get wealth, and treasure heap,

Not difficult, if thou hearken to me;

Riches are mine, Fortune is in my hand;

They whom I favour thrive in wealth amain, 430
While Virtue, Valour, Wisdom, sit in want.

To whom thus Jesus patiently reply'd:
Yet wealth without these three is impotent
To gain dominion, or to keep it gain'd.
Witness those ancient empires of the earth,
In highth of all their flowing wealth dissolved:
But men endued with these have oft attain'd
In lowest poverty to highest deeds;
Gideon, and Jephtha, and the shepherd lad,

435

420. This verse is elliptical, and requires the verb gain to be understood.

423. Antipater was the father of Herod, whom it is supposed he got raised to the throne of Judea, through the influence of his wealth.

429. This temptation as well as that of the feast, the reader will recognise as the invention of the poet, and not forming a part of the Scripture narrative.

439. The shepherd lud, David.