She gathers, tribute large, and on the board

Heaps with unsparing hand; for drink the grape
She crushes, inoffensive must, and meaths

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From many a berry', and from sweet kernels press'd
She tempers dulcet creams, nor these to hold
Wants her fit vessels pure, then strews the ground
With rose and odours from the shrub unfum'd.

MEANWHILE Our primitive great sire, to meet
His God-like guest, walks forth, without more train
Accompanied than with his own complete

Perfections in himself was all his state,

More solemn than the tedious pomp that waits
On princes, when their rich retinue long
Of horses led, and grooms besmear'd with gold,
Dazzles the crowd, and sets them all agape.
Nearer his presence Adam though not aw'd,
Yes with submiss approach and reverence meek,
As to' a superior nature, bowing low,

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Thus said. Native of Heav'n, for other place

None can than Heav'n such glorious shape contain;

Since by descending from the thrones above,

Those happy places thou hast deign'd awhile

To want, and honour these, vouchsafe with us
Two' only, who yet by sov'reign gift possess
This spacious ground, in yonder shady bower
To rest, and what the garden choicest bears
To sit and taste, till this meridian heat
Be over and the sun more cool decline.

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WHOM thus th' angelic Virtue answer'd mild.

Adam, I therefore came, nor art thou such

Created, or such place hast here to dwell,

As may not oft invite, though Spi'rits of Heav'n,
To visit thee, lead on then where thy bower
O'ershades; for these mid-hours, till evening rise,
I have at will. So to the sylvan lodge
They came, that like Pomona's arbour smil'd
With flow'rets deck'd and fragrant smells; but Eve
Undeck'd save with herself, more lovely fair
Than Wood-Nymph, or the fairest Goddess feign'd
Of three that in mount Ida naked strove,
Stood to entertain her guest from Heav'n; no veil
She needed, virtue proof; no thought infirm
Alter'd her cheek. On whom the Angel Hail
Bestow'd, the holy salutation us'd

Long after to bless Mary, second Eve.

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HAIL Mother of Mankind, whose fruitful womb Shall fill the world more numerous with thy sons, Than with these various fruits the trees of God Have heap'd this table. Rais'd of grassy turf Their table was, and mossy seats had round, And on her ample square from side to side All autumn pil'd, though spring and autumn here Danc'd hand in hand. A while discourse they hold; No fear lest dinner cool; when thus began

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Our author. Heav'nly stranger, please to taste

1 hese bounties, which our Nourisher, from whom

All perfect good, unmeasur`d out, descends,

To us for food and for delight hath caus'd

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The earth to yield; unsavoury food perhaps

To spiritual natures; only this I know,

That one celestial Father gives to all.

To whom the Angel Therefore what he gives

(Whose praise be ever sung) to Man in part

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Spiritual, may of purest Spi'rits be found

No' ingrateful food: and food alike those pure
Intelligential substances require,

As doth your rational; and both contain

Within them every lower faculty

Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell, touch, taste, Tasting concoct, digest, assimilate,

And corporeal to incorporeal turn.

For know, whatever was created, needs

To be sustain'd and fed; of elements

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The grosser feeds the purer, earth the sea,

Earth and the sea feed air, the air those fires
Ethereal, and as lowest first the moon;

Whence in her visage round those spots, unpurg'd
Vapours not yet into her substance turn'd.
Nor doth the moon no nourishment exhale
From her moist continent to higher orbs.
The sun, that light imparts to all, receives
From all his alimental recompence

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In humid exhalations, and at even

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Sups with the ocean. Though in Heav'n the trees
Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines

Yield nectar; though from off the boughs each morn
We brush mellifluous dews, and find the ground
Cover'd with pearly grain : yet God hath here
Varied his bounty so with new delights,
As may compare with Heaven; and to taste

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Think not I shall be nice. So down they sat,
And to their viands fell; nor seemingly

The Angel, nor in mist, the common gloss
Of Theologians; but with keen dispatch

Of real hunger, and concoctive heat

To transubstantiate: what redounds, transpires
Through Spi'rits with ease; nor wonder; if by fire
Of sooty coal th' empyric alchemist

Can turn, or holds it possible to turn,

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Then had the sons of God excuse to' have been

Enamour'd at that sight; but in those hearts

Love unlibidinous reign'd, nor jealousy

Was understood, the injur'd lover's Hell.

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THUS when with meats and drinks they had suffic'd,

Not burden'd nature, sudden mind arose

In Adam, not to let th' occasion pass

Giv'n him by this great conference to know
Of things above his world, and of their being
Who dwell in Heav'n, whose excellence he saw
Transcend his own so far, whose radiant forms
Divine effulgence, whose high pow'r so far
Exceeded human, and his wary speech
Thus to th' empyreal minister he fram'd.
INHABITANT with God, now know I well
'Thy favour, in this honour done to Man,

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Under whose lowly roof thou hast vouchsaf'd

To enter, and these earthly fruits to taste,

Food not of Angels, yet accepted so,

As that more willingly thou couldst not seem

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At Heav'n's high feasts to' have fed: yet what compare?

To whom the winged Hierarch reply'd.

O Adam, one Almighty is, from whom

All things proceed, and up to him return,

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If not deprav'd from good, created all
Such to perfection, one first matter all,
Endued with various forms, various degrees
Of substance, and in things that live, of life;
But more refin'd, more spiritous, and pure,
As nearer to him plac'd or nearer tending
Each in their several active spheres assign'd,
Till body up to spirit work, in bounds
Proportion'd to each kind. So from the root
Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves
More airy, last the bright consummate flower
Spirits odorous breathes: flow'rs and their fruit,

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Man's nourishment, by gradual scale sublim'd,

To vital spi'rits aspire, to animal,

To intellectual; give both life and зense,

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Fancy and understanding; whence the soul
Reason receives, and reason is her being,
Discursive, or intuitive; discourse

Is oftest yours, the latter most is ours,

Differing but in degree, of kind the same.

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Wonder not then, what God for you saw good
If I refuse not, but convert, as you,