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From all the ends of the Earth, to celebrate And reverence thee, their great progenitor, But this pre-eminence thou hast lost, brought down To dwell on even ground now with thy sons. Yet doubt not but in valley and in plain, God is, as here, and will be found alike Present; and of his presence many a sign Still following thee, still compassing thee round With goodness and Paternal love, his face Express, and of his steps the track divine. Which that thou mayst believe, and be confirmed Ere thou from hence depart, know, I am sent To shew thee what shall come in future days To thee, and to thy offspring; good with bad Expect to hear, supernal grace contending With sinfulness of men; thereby to learn True patience, and to temper joy with fear And pious sorrow, equally inured By moderation either state to bear, Prosperous or adverse. So shalt thou lead Safest thy life, and best prepared endure Thy mortal passage when it comes. Ascend This hill; let Eve-for I have drenched her eyes-Here sleep below, while thou to foresight wakest; As once thou sleptest, while she to life was formed.

To whom thus Adam gratefully replied: Ascend, I follow thee, safe guide, the path Thou leadest me; and to the hand of Heaven submit, However chastening; to the evil turn My obvious breast, arming to overcome By suffering, and earn rest from labour won, If so I may attain. So both ascend In the visions of God. It was a hill, Of Paradise the highest, from whose top, The hemisphere of earth, in clearest ken, Stretched out to the amplest reach of prospect, lay,

Not higher that hill, nor wider looking round, Whereon, for different cause, the Tempter set Our second Adam, in the wilderness, To show him all Earth's kingdoms,1 and their glory. His eye might there command wherever stood City of old or modern fame, the seat Of mightiest empire, from the destined walls Of Cambalu, seat of Cathaian2 Cham, And Samarcand by Oxus, Temir's throne, To Paquin, of Sinæan kings; and thence To Agra, and Lahor, of Great Mogul, Down to the golden Chersonese;4 or where The Persian in Ecbatan sat, or since In Hispahan; or where the Russian Czar In Moscow; or the Sultan in Bizance,5 Turchestan-born; nor could his eye not ken The empire of Negus to his utmost port Ercoco, and the less maritime kings, Mombaza, and Quiloa, and Melind, And Sofala-thought Ophir-to the realm Of Congo, and Angola farthest south: Or thence from Niger flood to Atlas mount The kingdoms of Almanzor, Fez and Sus, Morocco, and Algiers, and Tremisen; On Europe thence, and where Rome was to sway The world. In spirit, perhaps, he also saw Rich Mexico, the seat of Montezume, And Cusco in Peru, the richer seat Of Atabalipa, and yet unspoiled Guiana, whose great city Geryon's sons Call El Dorado. But to nobler sights

PARADISE LOST.

All Earth's kingdoms. - This description is in part literal, or seems to be so; but Milton must have known that,

rom many causes, his readers could only regard it as a vision. \ Cathaian, —Cathai was accounted the residenc of the great Zinghis Khan.

^&lt;sup>1</sup> Temir.—Timûr Lung—Tamerlane.

Golden Chersonese.—Peninsula of Molucca.

^\ Bizance. - Byzantium, Constantinople. \ Turchestan-born.—Descended from a race which had migrated from Turchestân. \El Dorado.—The country in which the unfortunate Raleigh had hoped to realize large wealth.