231

236

This be thy just circumference, O world!
Thus God the heaven created," thus the earth,
Matter unform'd and void: darkness profound
Cover'd the abyss; but on the watery calm
His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread,
And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth,
Throughout the fluid mass; but downward purged
The black, tartareous, cold, infernal dregs,
Adverse to life: then founded, then conglobed
Like things to like; the rest to several place 240
Disparted, and between spun out the air;
And earth, self-balanced, on her centre hung.
Let there be light, said God; and forthwith

light

18

246

Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure,
Sprung from the deep; and from her native east
To journey through the aery gloom began,
Sphered in a radiant cloud, for yet the sun
Was not; she in a cloudy tabernacle

250

Sojourn'd the while. God saw the light was good; And light from darkness by the hemisphere Divided light the day, and darkness night

He named. Thus was the first day even and morn:
Nor past uncelebrated, nor unsung

By the celestial quires, when orient light
Exhaling first from darkness they beheld;

255

Birth-day of heaven and earth: with joy and

The hollow universal orb they fill'd,

And touch'd their golden harps, and hymning

praised

"

God and his works; Creator him they sung,

20

Both when first evening was, and when first morn.
Again, God said, Let there be firmament 261
Amid the waters, and let it divide

The waters from the waters: and God made
The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure,
Transparent, elemental air, diffused

In circuit to the uttermost convex

265

270

Of this great round; partition firm and sure,
The waters underneath from those above
Dividing for as earth, so he the world
Built on circumfluous waters calm, in wide
Crystalline ocean, and the loud misrule
Of Chaos far removed; lest fierce extremes
Contiguous might distemper the whole frame:
And heaven 21 he named the firmament: so even
And morning chorus sung the second day.

22

275

280

The earth was form'd, but in the womb as yet Of waters, embryon immature involved, Appear'd not: over all the face of earth Main ocean flow'd, not idle; but, with warm Prolific humour softening all her globe, Fermented the great mother to conceive, Satiate with genial moisture; when God said, Be gather'd now, ye waters " under heaven, Into one place, and let dry land appear. Immediately the mountains huge appear Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave Into the clouds; their tops ascend the sky: So high as heaved the tumid hills, so low Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep, Capacious bed of waters: thither they Hasted with glad precipitance, uproll'd,

285

290

As drops on dust conglobing from the dry:
Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct,

For haste; such flight the great command impress'd

295

On the swift floods: as armies at the call
Of trumpets (for of armies thou hast heard)
Troop to their standard; so the watery throng,
Wave rolling after wave, where way they found,
If steep, with torrent rapture; if through plain,
Soft ebbing: nor withstood them rock or hill; 300
But they, or under ground, or circuit wide
With serpent errour wandering, found their way,
And on the washy ooze deep channels wore ;
Easy, ere God had bid the ground be dry,

All but within those banks, where rivers now 305
Stream, and perpetual draw their humid train.
The dry land, earth; and the great receptacle
Of congregated waters, he call'd seas:

23

And saw that it was good; and said, Let the earth Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding seed, And fruit-tree yielding fruit after her kind, Whose seed is in herself upon the earth.

311

316

He scarce had said, when the bare earth, till then
Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorn'd,
Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad
Her universal face with pleasant green;
Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flower'd,"
Opening their various colours, and made gay
Her bosom, smelling sweet: and, these scarce
blown,

Forth flourish'd thick the clustering vine, forth

crept

VOL. III.

320

B

The swelling gourd, up stood the corny reed
Embattled in her field, and the humble shrub,
And bush with frizzled hair implicit : last

Rose, as in dance, the stately trees, and spread
Their branches hung with copious fruit, or gemm'd
Their blossoms: with high woods the fields were
crown'd,

326

With tufts the valleys, and each fountain-side; With borders long the rivers: that earth now Seem'd like to heaven, a seat where gods might dwell,

330

Or wander with delight, and love to haunt
Her sacred shades: though God had yet not

rain'd

Upon the earth, and man to till the ground
None was; but from the earth a dewy mist

Went up, and water'd all the ground, and each
Plant of the field; which, ere it was in the

earth,

God made, and every herb, before it grew

335

On the green stem: God saw that it was good: So even and morn recorded the third day.

340

Again the Almighty spake, Let there be lights High in the expanse of heaven, to divide The day from night; and let them be for signs, For seasons, and for days, and circling years; And let them be for lights, as I ordain Their office in the firmament of heaven,

345

To give light on the earth; and it was so.
And God made two great lights, great for their

use

To man, the greater to have rule by day,

The less by night, altern; and made the stars,
And set them in the firmament of heaven
To illuminate the earth, and rule the day
In their vicissitude, and rule the night,
And light from darkness to divide. God saw,
Surveying his great work, that it was good:
For of celestial bodies first the sun,

350

A mighty sphere, he framed, unlightsome first, 355 Though of ethereal mould: then form'd the moon Globose, and every magnitude of stars,

361

And sow'd with stars the heaven, thick as a field :
Of light by far the greater part he took,
Transplanted from her cloudy shrine, and placed
In the sun's orb, made porous to receive
And drink the liquid light; firm to retain
Her gather'd beams, great palace now of light.
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 small peculiar, though from human sight
So far remote, with diminution seen.

365

First in his east the glorious lamp was seen, 370 Regent of day, and all the horizon round Invested with bright rays, jocund to run

His longitude through heaven's high road; the

gray

Dawn, and the Pleiades, before him danced,25
Shedding sweet influence: 26 less bright the moon,
But opposite in level'd west was set,
His mirrour, with full face borrowing her light
From him; for other light she needed none

376