Its ornaments sublime!

SATAN. Pardon, O pardon, if my humble thought
Aspiring by my tongue

Too high, perhaps offend your sovereign ear!
Long as this man shall rest

Alive, and breathe on earth,
Exhausted we must bear

Fierce war, in endless terror of the Word.

LUCIFER. Man yet shall rest alive, he yet shall breathe,

And sinning even to death,

This new-made race of mortals

Shall cover all the earth,

And reign o'er all its creatures;
His soul shall prove eternal,

The image of his God.

Yet shall the Incarnate Word, I trust, be foil'd.
BEELZEBUB. Oh! precious tidings to angelic ears,
That heal the wounds of all our shatter'd host.

LUCIFER. Let man exist to sin, since he by sinning
Shall make the weight of sin his heritage,
Which shall be in his race

Proclaim'd original;

So that mankind existing but to sin,

And sinning still to death,

And still to error born,

In evil hour the Word

Will wear the sinner's form, if rightly deem'd

The enemy of sin.

Now rise, ye Spirits, from the dark abyss,

You who would rest assured

That man the sinner is now doom'd to death.

SCENE THE FOURTH.

MELECANO, LURCONE, LUCIFER, SATAN, and Beelzebub.

MELECANO. Command us,mighty Lord; what are thy wishes? Would'st thou extinguish the new-risen sun?

Behold what stores I bring

Of darkness and of fire!

Alas! with fury Melecano burns.

S. c.-6.

Z

Behold I clasp thy bosom

In plenitude of pure and hallow'd love.

GOD THE FATHER.

I leave you now, my children; rest in peace,
Receive my blessing, and so fruitful prove
That for your offspring earth may scarce suffice!
Man, be thou lord of all that now the sun
Warms or the ocean laves; impose a name
On every thing that flies, or runs, or swims.
Now through the ear descending to your soul
Receive the immutable decree; hear, Adam,
Let thy companion hear, and in your hearts
Made the abode of love,

Cherish the mighty word!

Of fruits whatever from a spreading branch
Each copious tree may offer to your hands,
Of dainty viands whatsoe'er abound
In this delightful garden,
This paradise of flowers,
The gay delight of man,

The treasure of the earth,

The wonder of the world, the work of God,
These, O my son, these thou art free to taste:
But of the Tree comprising Good and Evil
Under the pain of dying

To him who knows not death,
Be now the fruit forbidden!

I leave ye now, and through my airy road,
Departing from the world, return to Heaven.

THE SERAPHIM SING.

Let every airy cloud on earth descend,
And luminous and light

Repose with God upon this glowing sphere!
Then let the stars descend,

Descend the moon and sun,

Forming bright steps to the empyreal world,
And each rejoice that the supreme Creator
Has deign'd to visit what his hand produced.

ADAM. O scene of splendour, viewing which I see

The glories of my God in lovelier light,

How through my eyes do you console my heart!

See, at a single nod of our great Sire, (Dear partner of my life,)

Fire bursting forth with elemental power!

The Sea, Heaven, Earth, their properties assume, And air grows air, although there were before Nor fire, nor heaven, nor air, nor earth, nor sea. Behold the azure sky, in which ofttimes

The lovely glittering star

Shall wake the dawn, attired in heavenly light,
The herald of the morn,

To spread the boundless lustre of the day;
Then shall the radiant sun,

To gladden all the world,

Diffuse abroad his energy of light;
And when his eye is weary of the earth,
and silvery moon

The pure

And the minuter stars

Shall form the pomp of night.

Behold where fire o'er every element,
Lucid and light, assumes its lofty seat!
Behold the simple field of spotless air
Made the support of variegated birds,
That with their tuneful notes
Guide the delightful hours!

See the great bosom of the fertile earth

With flowers embellish'd and with fruits mature!

See on her verdant brow she seems to bear
Hills as her crown, and as her sceptre trees!
Behold the ocean's fair cerulean plain,

That 'midst its humid sands and vales profound,
And 'midst its silent and its scaly tribes,
Rolls over buried gold and precious pearl,
And crimson coral raising to the sky

Its wavy head with herbs and amber crown'd!
Stupendous all proclaim

Their Maker's power and glory.

EVE. All manifest thy might,

O Architect divine!

ADAM. Dear partner, let us go Where to invite our step

God's other wonders shine, a countless tribe.

SCENE THE SECOND.

LUCIFER. Who from my dark abyss Calls me to gaze on this excess of light? What miracles unseen

Show'st thou to me, O God?

Art thou then tired of residence in heaven?

Why hast thou form'd on earth

This lovely paradise?

And wherefore place in it

Two earthly demi-gods of human mould?
Say thou vile architect,

Forming thy work of dust,

What will befall this naked, helpless man,
The sole inhabitant of glens and woods?
Does he then dream of treading on the stars?
Heaven is impoverish'd, and I, alone

The cause, enjoy the ruin I produced.
Let him unite above

Star upon star, moon, sun,

And let his Godhead toil

To re-adorn and re-illume his Heaven!

Since in the end derision

Shall prove his works, and all his efforts vain :
For Lucifer alone was that full light

Which scatter'd radiance o'er the plains of heaven.
But these his present fires, are shade and smoke,
Base counterfeits of my more potent beams.

I reck not what he means to make his heaven,

Nor care I what his creature man may be.
Too obstinate and firm

Is my undaunted thought,

In proving that I am implacable

'Gainst Heaven, 'gainst Man, the Angels, and their God.

SCENE THE THIRD.

SATAN, BEELZEBUB, and Lucifer.

SATAN. To light, to light to raise the embattled brows, A symbol of the firm and generous heart That ardent dwells in the unconquer'd breast. Must we then suffer such excessive wrong? And shall we not with hands, thus talon-arm'd, Tear out the stars from their celestial seat;

And as our sign of conquest,

Down in our dark abyss

Shall we not force the sun, and moon to blaze,
Since we are those, who in dread feats of arms

Warring amongst the stars,

Made the bright face of Heaven turn pale with fear? To arms! to arms! redoubted Beelzebub!

Ere yet 'tis heard around,

To our great wrong and memorable shame,

That by the race of man (mean child of clay)
The stars expect a new sublimity.

BEELZEBUB. I burn with such fierce flame,
Such stormy venom deluges my soul,

That with intestine rage

My groans like thunder sound, my looks are lightning,
And
my extorted tears are fiery showers!

'Tis needful therefore from my brow to shake
The hissing serpents that o'erstrade my visage,
To gaze upon these mighty works of Heaven,
And the new demi-gods.

Silent be he, who thinks

(Now that this man is form'd,)

To imitate his voice and thus exclaim,

Distressful Satan, ye unhappy spirits,

How wretched is your lot, from being first,

Fallen and degenerate, lost as ye are ;

Heaven was your station once, your seat the stars,

And your great Maker God!

Now abject wretches, having lost for ever,

Eternal morn and each celestial light,

Heaven calls you now the denizens of woe.

Instead of moving in the solar road,

You press the plains of everlasting night;
And for your golden tresses,

And looks angelical,

Your locks are snaky, and your glance malign,
Your burning lips a murky vapour breathe,
And every tongue now teems with blasphemy,
And all blaspheming raise

A cloud sulphureous of foam and fire;
Arm'd with the eagle's talon, feet of goat,
And dragon's wing, your residence in fire,