XV.

Yea Truth and Justice then

Will down return to men,

Orb'd in a rainbow; and, like glories wearing, Mercy will sit between,

Thron'd in celestial sheen,

145

With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steer

And heav'n, as at some festival,

[ing:

Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall.

XVI.

But wisest Fate says, no,

This must not yet be so,

The babe lies yet in smiling infancy, That on the bitter cross

Must redeem our loss;

So both himself and us to glorify;

Yet first to those ychain'd in sleep,

150

[the deep,

143 Orb'd] In ed. 1645.

Th' enamell'd arras of the rainbow wearing;
And Mercy set between,' &c.

160

Shall from the surface to the centre shake;

When at the world's last session,

[throne.

The dreadful Judge in middle air shall spread his

XVIII.

And then at last our bliss

Full and perfect is,

But now begins; for from this happy day The old Dragon under ground

In straiter limits bound,

Not half so far casts his usurped sway,

And wroth to see his kingdom fail,
Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail.

The oracles are dumb,

XIX.

No voice or hideous hum

165

170

Runs thro' the arched roof in words deceiving. Apollo from his shrine

Can no more divine,

With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving. No nightly trance, or breathed spell

Inspires the pale-ey'd priest from the prophetic cell.

XX.

The lonely mountains o'er,

And the resounding shore,

172 Swinges] See Cowley's Davideis, p. 313.

'Pectora tum longæ percellit verbere caudæ.'

A voice of weeping heard and loud lament; From haunted spring, and dale

Edg'd with poplar pale,

The parting genius is with sighing sent; With flow'r-inwoven tresses torn

185

The Lars, and Lemures moan with midnight

In urns, and altars round,

A drear and dying sound

[plaint;

Affrights the Flamens at their service quaint;

And the chill marble seems to sweat,

195

While each peculiar Pow'r foregoes his wonted seat.

XXII.

Peor and Baälim

Forsake their temples dim,

With that twice-batter'd God of Palestine;

183 weeping] Matthew, ii. 18.

"In Rama was there a

voice heard, lamentation and weeping,' Warton.

185 poplar pale] Hall's Satires, ed. Sing. p. 93. The

palish poplar;' and 169, tree.' Virg. Ecl. ix. 39.

and palish twigs of deadly poplar 'Candida populus.'

191 Lars] Lemures, et Larvas, et Empusas.' Miltoni Prolus. P. 80.

197 Peor] See B. Martini Var. Lectiones, p. 131, 132.

And mooned Ashtaroth,

Heav'n's queen and mother both,

Now sits not girt with tapers' holy shine; The Lybic Hammon shrinks his horn,

200

In vain the Tyrian maids their wounded Thammuz

mourn.

XXIII.

And sullen Moloch fled,

Hath left in shadows dread

His burning idol all of blackest hue; In vain with cymbals ring

They call the grisly king,

205

In dismal dance about the furnace blue : The brutish Gods of Nile as fast,

210

Isis and Orus, and the dog Anubis haste.

Nought but profoundest hell can be his shroud; In vain with timbrell'd anthems dark

The sable-stoled sorcerers bear his worshipp'd ark.

200 mooned] Milton added this word to our language. Todd. 215 Trampling] Benlowes's Theophila, p. 237.

Of wide hornd oxen trampling grass with lowings loud.'

XXV.

He feels from Juda's land

The dreaded Infant's hand,

rays

The of Bethlehem blind his dusky eyn; Nor all the Gods beside,

Longer dare abide,

Not Typhon huge ending in snaky twine:

Our babe, to show his Godhead true,

225

[crew.

Can in his swaddling bands control the damned

XXVI.

So when the sun in bed,

Curtain'd with cloudy red,

Pillows his chin upon an orient wave, The flocking shadows pale

Troop to th' infernal jail,

230

Each fetter'd ghost slips to his several grave; And the yellow-skirted Fayes [maze. Fly after the night-steeds, leaving their moon-lov'd

231 chin] T. Warton has not remarked the use of this word in old poetry; when it brought with it no associations of familiarity or burlesque. Chapman's Hom. Il. p. 113, 'Both goddesses let fall their chins.' Odyss. p. 303. 310, Jove shook his sable chin.' The Ballad of Gil Morrice, 158, And kiss'd baith mouth and chin,' 169, And syne she kiss'd his bluidy cheeke, and syne his bluidy chin.' And Percy's Reliques, iii. 57, Our Lady bore up her chinne.' 232 shadows] M. Bowle refers to Mids. Night Dream, act iii, sc. ult.

And yonder shines,' &c.