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PARADISE LOST.

Tempting, stirred in me sudden appetite To pluck and eat; whereat I waked, and found Before mine eyes all real, as the dream Had lively shadowed. Here had now begun My wandering, had not He, who was my guide Up hither, from among the trees appeared, Presence Divine. Rejoicing, but with awe, In adoration at His feet I fell Submiss.1 He reared me, and, Whom thou sought'st I am, Said mildly, Author of all this thou seest Above, or round about thee, or beneath. This Paradise I give thee; count it thine To till and keep, and of the fruit to eat. Of every tree that in the garden grows Eat freely with glad heart; fear here no dearth. But of the tree, whose operation brings Knowledge of good and ill, which I have set The pledge of thy obedience and thy faith, Amid the garden by the tree of life-Remember what I warn thee-shun to taste, And shun the bitter consequence; for know, The day thou eat'st thereof, my sole command Transgressed, inevitably thou shalt die, From that day mortal, and this happy state Shalt lose, expelled from hence into a world Of woe and sorrow. Sternly He pronounced The rigid interdiction, which resounds Yet dreadful in mine ear, though in my choice Not to incur; but soon His clear aspect Returned, and gracious purpose thus renewed: Not only these fair bounds, but all the earth To thee and to thy race I give; as lords Possess it, and all things that therein live, Or live in sea, or air; beast, fish, and fowl.

Submiss. - Bowing down, submissive.

PARADISE LOST. My tongue obeyed, and readily could name Whatever I saw. Thou Sun, said I, fair light, And thou enlightened Earth, so fresh and gay, Ye hills, and dales, ye rivers, woods, and plains, And ye that live and move, fair creatures, tell, Tell if ye saw, how came I thus, how here? Not of myself; by some great Maker then, In goodness and in power pre-eminent. Tell me how may I know Him, how adore; From whom I have that thus I move and live, And feel that I am happier than I know? While thus I called, and strayed I knew not whither, From where I first drew air, and first beheld This happy light; when answer none returned, On a green shady bank, profuse of flowers, Pensive I sat me down: there gentle sleep First found me, and with soft oppression seized My drowsed sense, untroubled, though I thought I then was passing to my former state Insensibly, and forthwith to dissolve. When suddenly stood at my head a dream, Whose inward apparition gently moved My fancy to believe I yet had being, And lived. One came, me thought, of shape divine, And said, Thy mansion wants thee, Adam; rise, First man, of men innumerable ordained First father! Called by thee, I come thy guide

To the garden of bliss, thy seat prepared.

And over fields and waters, as in air

So saying, by the hand he took me, raised,

Smooth sliding without step, last led me up

A circuit wide enclosed, with goodliest trees

A woody mountain, whose high top was plain,

Planted, with walks and bowers; that what I saw

Of earth before scarce pleasant seemed. Each tree,

Loaden with fairest fruit, that hung to the eye