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Come, I fay, thou powerful God,
And thy Leaden charming Rod,
Dipt in the Lethean Lake,
O'er his wakeful Temples fhake,
Left he fhou'd fleep and never wake.

Nature, alafs! why art thou fo
Obliged to thy greatest Foe?

Sleep that is thy best Repast

Yet of Death it bears a taft,

And both are the fame thing at last.

Denham

XXX.

To Sir Richard Fanfhaw, upon his Tranflation of Paftor Fido.

Such is our Pride, our Folly, or our Fate,
That few but fuch as cannot write, tranflate.
But what in them is want of Art, or Voice,
In thee is either Modefty or Choice.

While this great Piece, restor'd by thee, doth stand
Free from the Blemish of an Artless Hand;
Secure of Fame, thou justly doft efteem
Lefs Honour to Create, than to Redeem.
Nor ought a Genius lefs than his that writ,
Attempt Tranflation; for tranfplanted Wit,
All the Defects of Air and Soil doth fhare,
And colder Brains like colder Climates are:
In vain they toil, fince nothing can beget
A vital Spirit, but a vital Heat.

That fervile Path thou nobly doft decline
Of tracing Word by Word, and Line by Line.

Thofe

Thofe are the labour'd Births of flavish Brains,
Not the Effects of Poetry, but Pains;

Cheap vulgar Arts, whofe Narrowness affords
No Flight for Thoughts,but poorly sticks at Words:
A new and nobler way thou doft purfue
To make Tranflations and Tranflators too.
They but preferve the Afhes, thou the Flame,
True to his Senfe, but truer to his Fame.
Foording his Current where thou find'st it low
Let'ft in thine own to make it rife and flow;
Wifely reftoring whatfoever Grace

It loft by change of Times, or Tongues, or Place.
Nor fetter'd to his Numbers, and his Times,
Betray'ft his Mufick to unhappy Rhimes,
Nor are the Nerves of his compacted Strength
Stretch'd and diffolv'd into unfinnewed Length:
Yet after all, left we fhould think it thine,
Thy Spirit to his Circle doft confine.

New Names, new Dreffings, and the modern Caft,
Some Scenes from Perfons alter'd, had out-fac'd
The World, it were thy Work; for we have known
Some thank'd and prais'd for what was lefs their own.
That Mafter's Hand which to the Life can trace
The Airs, the Lines, and Features of the Face,
May with a free and bolder Stroke express
A vary'd Pofture, or a flatt'ring Dress;

He cou'd have made thofe like, who made the reft,
But that he knew his own Design was beft.

Denham.

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XXXI.

Eve of herfelf to Adam.

O whom thus Eve reply'd. O thou for whom, And from whom I was form'd,Flesh of thy Flesh, And without whom am to no end; my Guide And Head, what thou haft faid is juft and right, For we to God indeed all Praises owe, And daily Thanks, I chiefly who enjoy So far the happier Lot, enjoying thee Pre-eminent by fo much odds, while thou Like Confort to thy felf can'ft no where find. That Day I oft remember, when from Sleep I first awak'd, and found my felf repos'd Under a Shade of Flowers, much wond'ring where And what I was, whence thither brought, and how. Not diftant far from thence a murmuring Sound Of Waters iffu'd from a Cave, and spread Into a liquid Plain, then ftood unmov'd, Pure as th' Expanfe of Heav'n; I thither went With unexperienc'd Thought, and laid me down On the Green Bank, to look into the clear Smooth Lake, that to me feem'd another Sky. As I bent down to look, juft opposite, A Shape within the watry Gleam appear'd Bending to look on me, I ftarted back, It started back, but pleas'd I foon return'd, Pleas'd it return'd as foon with anfwering Looks Of Sympathy and Love; there I had fixt Mine Eyes till now, and pin'd with vain Defire, Had not a Voice thus warn'd me, What thou feeft, What there thou feeft, fair Creature, is thy felf, With thee it came and goes; but follow me,

And

And I will bring thee where no Shadow ftays
Thy coming and thy foft Embraces, he
Whofe Image thou art, him thou fhalt enjoy
Infeparably thine, to him fhalt bear
Multitudes like thy felf, and thence be call'd
Mother of Humane Race: What could I do,
But follow ftraight, invifibly thus led?
Till I efpy'd thee, fair indeed and tall,
Under a Platane, yet methought lefs fair,
Lefs winning foft, lefs amiably mild

Than that fmooth watry Image; back I turn'd
Thou following cry'dft aloud, Return fair Eve,
Whom fly'ft thou? Whom thou fly'ft of him thou
His Flefh, his Bone; to give thee Being I lent (art,
Out of my Side to thee, nearest my Heart
Subftantial Life, to have thee by my Side
Henceforth an individual Solace Dear;
Part of my Soul I feek thee, and thee claim
My other Self: With that thy gentle Hand
Seiz'd mine, I yielded, and from that time fee
How Beauty is excell'd by Manly Grace
And Wisdom, which alone is truly fair.

So fpake our general Mother, and with Eyes
Of conjugal Attraction unreprov'd

And meek furrender, half embracing lean'd
On our firft Father, half her fwelling Breaft
Naked met his under the flowing Gold
Of her loose Treffes hid: He in Delight
Both of her Beauty and fubmiffive Charms
Smil'd with fuperior Love, as Jupiter
On Juno fmiles, when he impregns the Clouds
That fhed May-Flowers, and prefs'd her Matron Lip
With Kiffes pure. Afide the Devil turn'd

For Envy, yet with jealous Leer malign

Ey'd them askance, and to himself thus plain'd.

E 2

Milton, I. 4

XXX

XXXII.

Adam's Account of the Creation of Eve, and their Marriage.

GOD ended, or I heard no more, for now
My Earthly by his Heav'nly overpower'd,
Which it had long ftood under, ftrain'd to th'
In that C leftial Colloquy fublime,

(height

As with an Object that excels the Senfe,
Dazl'd and fpent, funk down, and fought repair
Of Sleep, which inftantly fell on me, call'd
By Nature as in Aid, and clos'd mine Eyes.
Mine Eyes he clos'd, but open left the Cell
Of Fancy, my internal Sight, by which
Abstract as in a Trance methought I faw,
Tho fleeping, where I lay, and faw the Shape
Still Glorious, before whom awake I ftood,
Who ftooping open'd my Left Side, and took
From thence a Rib, with Cordial Spirits warm,
And Life-Blood ftreaming fresh, wide was the
(Wound,
But fuddenly with Flefh fill'd up and heal'd:
The Rib he form'd and fashion'd with his Hands;
Under his forming Hands a Creature grew,
Man-like, but different Sex, fo lovely Fair,
That what feem'd fair in all the World feem'd now
Mean, or in her fumm'd up, in her contain'd,
And in her Looks, which from that time infus'd
Sweetness into my Heart, unfelt before,
And into all things from her Air infpir'd
The Spirit of Love and amorous Delight.
She difappear'd, and left me dark, I wak'd
To find her, or for ever to deplore
Her lofs, and other Pleafures all abjure:

When

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