Now that the winter's gone, the earth has lost [the frost Her snow-white robes; and now no more Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream Upon the silver lake or crystal stream. [earth, But the warm sun thaws the benumbèd And makes it tender; gives a second birth To the dead swallows; wakes in hollow tree The drowsy cuckoo and the humble bee. Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring In triumph to the world the youthful spring: The valleys, hills, and woods in rich array, Welcome the coming of the longed-for May. -:: JOHN MILTON. THE EARTHLY PARADISE. EDEN stretched her line From Auran eastward to the royal towers Of great Seleucia, built by Grecian kings, Or where the sons of Eden long before Dwelt in Telassar. In this pleasant soil His far more pleasant garden God ordained; Out of the fertile ground He caused to grow All trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste; And all amid them stood the Tree of Life, High eminent, blooming ambrosial fruit Of vegetable gold; and next to Life Our death, the Tree of Knowledge, grew fast by, [ing ill. Knowledge of good bought dear by knowSouthward through Eden went a river large, Nor changed his course, but through the shaggy hill [thrown Passed underneath ingulfed; for God had That mountain as His garden mound, high raised [veins Upon the rapid current, which, through Of porous earth with kindly thirst up drawn, Rose a fresh fountain, and with many a rill Watered the garden; thence united fell Down the steep glade, and met the nether flood, [appears; Which from his darksome passage now And now divided into four main streams Runs diverse, wandering many a famous realm [account; And country, whereof here needs no But rather to tell how, if art could tell, How from that sapphire fount the crispèd brooks, Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold, With mazy error under pendent shades Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed Flowers worthy of Paradise, which not nice art In beds and curious knots, but nature boon Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain, [smote Both where the morning sun first warmly The open field, and where the unpiercèd shade [was this place Imbrowned the noontide bowers. Thus A happy rural seat of various view : Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm, [rind Others whose fruit burnished with golden Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true, If true, here only, and of delicious taste. Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flocks Grazing the tender herb, were interposed, rose. [field Led on th' eternal spring. Not that fair Of Enna, where Proserpine gathering flowers, Herself a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis Was gathered, which cost Ceres all that pain [sweet grove To seek her through the world, nor that Of Daphne by Orontes and the inspired Castalian spring might with this Paradise Of Eden strive nor that Nyseian isle Girt with the river Triton, where old Cham, Whom Gentiles Ammon call and Libyan Jove, Hid Amalthea and her florid son [eye; Young Bacchus from his stepdame Rhea's Nor where Abassin kings their issue guard, Mount Amara, though this by some supposed True Paradise, under the Ethiop line By Nilus' head, enclosed with shining rock, ADAM AND EVE. Two of far nobler shape erect and tall, Godlike erect, with native honour clad In native majesty, seemed lords of all, And worthy seemed; for in their looks divine The image of their glorious Maker shone, Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure, Severe, but in true filial freedom placed, Whence true authority in men: though both Not equal, as their sex not equal, seemed. For contemplation he and valour formed, For softness she and sweet attractive grace; He for God only, she for God in him. So hand in hand they passed, the loveliest pair That ever since in love's embraces met; Adam the goodliest man of men since born His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve. Under a tuft of shade, that on a green Stood whisp'ring soft, by a fresh fountain side They sat them down; and after no more toil Of their sweet gard'ning labour than sufficed To recommend cool Zephyr, and made ease More easy, wholesome thirst and appetite More grateful, to their supper fruits they fell, [boughs Nectarine fruits, which the compliant Yielded them, side-long as they sat reclined On the soft downy bank damasked_with flow'rs. [rind, The savoury pulp they chew, and in the Still as they thirsted, scoop the brimming In wood or wilderness, forest or den; Sporting the lion ramped, and in his paw Dandled the kid; bears, tigers, ounces, pards, Gambolled before them; th' unwieldy elephant To make them mirth used all his might, and wreathed His lithe proboscis; close the serpent sly Or bedward ruminating: for the sun THE DESCENT OF RAPHAEL. Down thither prone in flight He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky Sails between worlds and worlds, with steady wing, Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan Winnows the buxom air; till within soar Of tow'ring eagles, to all the fowls he seems A phoenix, gazed by all, as that sole bird, His lineaments divine; the pair that clad Each shoulder broad came mantling o'er his breast With regal ornament; the middle pair Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold [his feet And colours dipped in heav'n; the third Shadowed from either heel with feathered mail [stood, Sky-tinctured grain. Like Maia's son he And shook his plumes, that heavenly fragrance filled [the bands The circuit wide. Straight knew him all Of angels under watch; and to his state, And to his message high, in honour rise; For on some message high they guessed him bound. Their glittering tents he passed, and now is come [myrrh, Into the blissful field, through groves of And flow'ring odours, cassia, nard, and balm, A wilderness of sweets; for nature here Wantoned as in her prime, and played at will [sweet, Her virgin fancies, pouring forth more Wild above rule or art; enormous bliss. THE EXILES FROM EDEN. Th' Archangel stood, and from the other hill To their fixed station all in bright array The Cherubim descended; on the ground Gilding meteorous, as ev'ning mist Tells us, the day himself's not far. Yet more and more he smiles upon Why should we then suspect or fear So smiles upon us the first morn, Than the best fortunes that do fall; And though the Princess turn her back, -:0: JOHN DRYDEN. 1631-1700. THE GOOD PARSON. For, letting down the golden chain from high, He drew his audience upward to the sky; And oft with holy hymns he charmed their ears, (A music more melodious than the spheres); For David left him, when he went to rest, His lyre; and after him he sung the best. He bore his great commission in his look ; But sweetly tempered awe, and softened all he spoke. He preached the joys of heaven and pains of hell, And warned the sinner with becoming zeal; But on eternal mercy loved to dwell. He taught the Gospel rather than the Law; And forced himself to drive; but loved to draw. For fear but freezes minds: but love, like heat, Exhales the soul sublime, to seek her native seat. To threats the stubborn sinner oft is hard, Wrapped in his crimes, against the storm prepared ; But, when the milder beams of mercy play, He melts, and throws his cumbrous cloak away. Lightning and thunder (heaven s artillery) As harbingers before th' Almighty fly: Those but proclaim His style, and disappear; [there. The stiller sound succeeds, and God is The tithes his parish freely paid he took; But never sued, or cursed with bell or book. With patience bearing wrong, but offering none, Since every man is free to lose his own. The country churls, according to their kind (Who grudge their dues, and love to be behind), The less he sought his offerings, pinched the more, And praised a priest contented to be poor. Yet of his little he had some to spare, To feed the famished and to clothe the bare; For mortified he was to that degree, A poorer than himself he would not see. "True priests," he said, "and preachers of the Word, Were only stewards of their sovereign Lord; Nothing was theirs, but all the public store; Intrusted riches, to relieve the poor. For priests, he said, are patterns for the rest, (The gold of heaven, who bear the God impressed): For, when the precious coin is kept unclean, The sovereign's image is no longer seen. If they be foul on whom the people trust, Well may the baser brass contract a rust. The prelate for his holy life he prized; The worldly pomp of prelacy despised. His Saviour came not with a gaudy show, Nor was His kingdom of the world below. Patience in want, and poverty of mind, These marks of church and churchmen he designed, And living taught, and dying left behind. The crown he wore was of the pointed thorn; In purple he was crucified, not born. They who contend for place and high degree Are not his sons, but those of Zebedee. |