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XXIV.

But who, alas! shall teach my ruder breast
The names and deeds of these heroic kings;
Or downy Muse, which now but left the nest,
Mount from her bush to Heav'n with new born wings?
Thou sacred maid! which from fair Palestine,

Through all the world hast spread thy brightest shine, Kindle thy shepherd swain, with thy light flaming eyn. XXV.

Sacred Thespio! which in Sinai's grove,

First took'st thy being and immortal breath,
And vaunt'st thy offspring from the highest Jove,
Yet deign'st to dwell with mortals here beneath,
With vilest earth, and men more vile residing;
Come holy virgin, to my bosom gliding;

With thy glad angel light my blind-fold footsteps guiding.
XXVI.

And thou, dread Spirit! which at first didst spread

On those dark waters thy all-opening light;

Thou who of late (of thy great bounty led)

This nest of hellish fogs, and Stygian night,
With thy bright orient Sun hast fair renew'd,

And with unwonted day hast it endu'd ;

Which late, both day, and thee, and most itself eschew'd. XXVII.

Dread Spirit! do thou those sevʼral bands unfold;

Both which thou sent'st, a needful supplement

To this lost Isle, and which with courage bold,

Hourly assail thy rightful regiment;

And with strong hand oppress and keep them under.
Raise now my humble vein to lofty thunder,

That Heav'n and Earth may sound, resound thy praise with wonder.

XXVIII.

The Island's prince, of frame celestial,

Is rightly call'd th' all-seeing Intellect;
All glorious bright, such nothing is terrestrial;
Whose sun-like face, and most divine aspect,
No human sight may ever hope desery :
For when himself on's self reflects his eye,
Dull and amaz'd he stands at so bright majesty.
XXIX.

Look, as the sun, whose ray and searching light,
Here, there, and every where itself displays,
No nook or corner flies his piercing sight;
Yet on himself when he reflects his rays,

Soon back he flings the two bold vent'ring gleam,
Down to the Earth the flames all broken stream;
Such is this famous prince, such his unpierced beam.
XXX.

His strangest body is hot bodily,

But matter without matter; never fill'd,
Nor filling; though within his compass high,
All Heav'n and Earth, and all in both are held;
Yet thousand thousand Heavens he could contain,
And still as empty as at first remain:

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And when he takes in most, readiest to take again.

XXXI.

Though travelling all places, changing none:

Bid him soar up to Heav'n, and thence down throwing The centre search, and Dis' dark realm; he's gone, Returns, arrives, before thou saw'st him going: And while his weary kingdom safely sleeps All restless night he watch and warding keeps : Never his careful head on resting pillow sleeps. M

XXXII.

In ev'ry quarter of this blessed Isle

Himself both present is, and president;
Nor once retires (ah, happy realm the while,
That by no officer's lewd lavishment,

With greedy lust and wrong, consumed art!)
He all in all, and all' in ev'ry part,

Doth share to each his due, and equal dole impart.
XXXIII.

He knows nor death, nor years, nor feeble age;
But as his time, his strength and vigour grows:
And when his kingdom by intestine rage,

Lies broke and wasted, open to his foes;

And batter'd sconce now flat and even lies;

Sooner than thought to that Great Judge he flies; Who weighs him just reward of good, or injuries. XXXIV.

For he the judge's viceroy here is plac'd;
Where if he live, as knowing he may die,
He never dies, but with fresh pleasure grac'd,
Bathes his crown'd head in soft eternity;

Where thousand joys and pleasures ever new, And blessings thicker than the morning dew, With endless sweets rain down on that immortal crew. XXXV.

There golden stars set in the crystal snow;

There dainty joys laugh at white-headed caring; There day no night, delight no end shall know; Sweets without surfeit; fulness without sparing; And by its spending, growing happiness : There God himself in glory's lavishness Diffus'd in all, to all, is all full blessedness

XXXVI.

But if he here neglects his Master's law,

And with those traitors 'gainst his Lord rebel,
Down to the deeps ten thousand fiends him draw;
Deeps, where night, death, despair, and horrour dwell,
And in worst ills, still worse expecting, fears:
Where fell despite for spite his bowels tears;
And still increasing grief, and torment never wears.
XXXVII.

Pray'rs there are idle, death is woo'd in vain ;
In midst of death, poor wretches long to die:
Night without day, or rest, still doubling pain;
Woes spending still, yet still their end less nigh :
The soul there restless, helpless, hopeless lies;
The body frying roars, and roaring fries :

There's life that never lives, there's death that never dies.
XXXVIII.

Hence while unsettled here he fighting reigns,
Shut in a tow'r where thousand enemies
Assault the fort; with wary care and pains
He guards all entrance, and by divers spies
Searcheth into his foes and friend's designs,
For most he fears, his subjects' wav'ring mind;
This tower then only falls when treason undermines.
XXXIX.

Therefore while yet he lurks in earthly tent,
Disguis'd in worthless robes and poor attire,
Try we to view his glory's wonderment,
And get a sight of what we so admire:

For when away from this sad place he flies,
And in the skies abides, more bright than skies ;
Too glorious is his fight for our dim mortal eyes,

XL.

So curl'd-head Thetis, water's feared queen,
But bound in cauls of sand, yields not to sight;
And planet's glorious king may best be seen,
When some thin cloud dims his too piercing light,
And neither none (nor all his face discloses :)
For when his bright eye full our eye opposes,
None gains his glorious sight, but his own sight he loses,
XLI.

Within the castle sit eight counsellors,

That help him in this tent to govern well; Each in his room a sev'ral office bears : Three of his inmost private council deal

In great affairs: five of less dignity

Have outward courts, and in all actions pry, But still refer the doom to courts more fit and high. XLII.

Those five fair brethren which I sung of late,

For their just number called the Pentarchy;

The other three, three pillars of the state:
The first in midst of that high tow'r doth lie,

(The chiefest mansion of this glorious king)
The judge and arbiter of every thing,

Which those five brethren's posts into his office bring.
XLIII,

Of middle years, and seemly personage,

Father of laws, the rule of wrong and right;
Fountain of judgment, therefore wondrous sage,
Discreet, and wise, of quick and nimble sight:
Not those sev'n sages might him parallel;
Nor he whom Pythian maid did whilome tell
To be the wisest man, that then on Earth did dwell,

*The common sense.

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