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From large bestow'd, where Nature multiplies
Her fertile growth, and by disburdening grows
More fruitful, which instructs us not to spare.

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To whom thus Eve. Adam, earth's hallow'd mould, Of God inspir'd! small store will serve, where store, All seasons, ripe for use hangs on the stalk;

Save what by frugal storing firmness gains
To nourish, and superfluous moist consumes:

But I will haste, and from each bough and brake,
Each plant and juiciest gourd, will pluck such choice
To entertain our Angel-guest, as he,

Beholding, shall confess, that here on Earth
God hath dispens'd his bounties as in Heaven.
So saying, with dispatchful looks in haste
She turns, on hospitable thoughts intent
What choice to choose for delicacy best,
What order, so contriv'd as not to mix
Tastes not well join'd, inelegant, but bring
Taste after taste, upheld with kindliest change;
Bestirs her then, and from each tender stalk
Whatever Earth, all-bearing mother, yields
In India East or West, or middle shore
In Pontus1 or the Punick2 coast, or where
Alcinous reign'd,3 fruit of all kinds, in coat
Rough, or smooth rind, or bearded husk, or shell,
She gathers, tribute large, and on the board
Heaps with unsparing hand; for drink, the grape
She crushes, inoffensive must, and meaths4
From many a berry, and from sweet kernels press'd
She tempers dulcet creams; nor these to hold
Wants her fit vessels pure; then strows the ground
With rose and odours from the shrub unfum'd.

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''Pontus' part of Asia.- Punick coast:' part of Africa. - 'Where Alcinous reign'd:' an island in the Ionian Sea, now called Corfu.- Meaths : ' sweet drinks like mead.

Meanwhile our primitive greatsire, to meet
His Godlike 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 croud, and sets them all agape.
Nearer his presence Adam, though not aw'd,
Yet with submiss approach, and reverence meek,
As to a superiour nature, bowing low,
Thus said. Native of heaven, for other place
None can than Heaven such glorious shape contain ;
Since, by descending from the thrones above,
Those happy places thou hast deign'd a while
To want, and honour these, vouchsafe with us
Two only, who yet by sovran 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.

Whom thus the Angelick 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 Spirits of Heaven,
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's1 arbour smiled,
With flowerets deck'd, and fragrant smells; but Eve,
Undeck'd save with herself, more lovely fair
Than Wood-Nymph, or the fairest goddess feign'd

'Pomona :' goddess of fruit-trees.
I

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Of three that in mount Ida naked strove,

Stood to entertain her guest from Heaven; 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 blest Mary, second Eve.

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 ;
Nor fear lest dinner cool; when thus began
Our author. Heavenly stranger, please to taste
These bounties, which our Nourisher, from whom
All perfect good, unmeasur'd out, descends,
To us for food and for delight hath caus'd

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 Spiritual, may of purest Spirits 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.

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''Three: Venus, Juno, and Minerva, for the golden apple, given by Paris

to Venus.

For know, whatever was created needs
To be sustain'd and fed: Of elements

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

In humid exhalations, and at even

Sups with the ocean. Though in Heaven 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
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 despatch
Of real hunger, and concoctive heat

To transubstantiate: What redounds, transpires
Through Spirits with ease; nor wonder; if by fire
Of sooty coal the empirick alchemist

Can turn, or holds it possible to turn,
Metals of drossiest ore to perfect gold,
As from the mine. Meanwhile at table Eve
Minister'd naked, and their flowing cups
With pleasant liquours crown'd: O innocence
Deserving Paradise! if ever, then,

Then had the sons of God excuse to have been

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Enamour'd at that sight; but in those hearts
Love unlibidinous reign'd, nor jealousy
Was understood, the injur'd lover's hell.

Thus when with meats and drinks they had suffic'd, Not burden'd nature, sudden mind arose

In Adam, not to let the occasion pass

Given him by this great conference to know
Of things above his world, and of their being
Who dwell in Heaven, whose excellence he saw
Transcend his own so far; whose radiant forms,
Divine effulgence, whose high power, so far
Exceeded human and his wary speech,
Thus to the empyreal minister he fram'd:

Inhabitant with God, now know I well,
Thy favour, in this honour done to Man;
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 could'st not seem

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At Heaven's high feasts to have fed: yet what compare? To whom the winged Hierarch replied.

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O Adam, One Almighty is, from whom
All things proceed, and up to him return,
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 spirituous 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 aery, last the bright consummate flower

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