"The sixth, and of Creation last, arose

With evening harps and matin; when God said,
'Let the Earth bring forth soul living in her kind,
Cattle, and creeping things, and beast of the earth,
Each in their kind!' The Earth obeyed, and, straight
Opening her fertile womb, teemed at a birth
Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms,

Limbed and full-grown. Out of the ground up rose,
As from his lair, the wild beast, where he wons
In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den—
Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walked;
The cattle in the fields and meadows green:
Those rare and solitary, these in flocks
Pasturing at once and in broad herds, upsprung.
The grassy clods now calved; now half appeared
The tawny lion, pawing to get free

His hinder parts-then springs, as broke from bonds,
And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the ounce,
The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole
Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw
In hillocks; the swift stag from underground

Bore up his branching head; scarce from his mould
Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved
His vastness; fleeced the flocks and bleating rose,
As plants; ambiguous between sea and land,
The river-horse and scaly crocodile.

At once came forth whatever creeps the ground,
Insect or worm. Those waved their limber fans
For wings, and smallest lineaments exact
In all the liveries decked of summer's pride,
With spots of gold and purple, azure and green;
These as a line their long dimension drew,
Streaking the ground with sinuous trace: not all
Minims of nature; some of serpent kind,
Wondrous in length and corpulence, involved
Their snaky folds, and added wings. First crept
The parsimonious emmet, provident

Of future, in small room large heart enclosed-
Pattern of just equality perhaps

Hereafter joined in her popular tribes

Of commonalty. Swarming next appeared

The female bee, that feeds her husband drone
Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells

With honey stored. The rest are numberless,

And thou their natures know'st, and gav'st them

names,

Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown

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460

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480

490

The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field,
Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes
And hairy mane terrific, though to thee
Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.

"Now Heaven in all her glory shone, and rolled Her motions, as the great First Mover's hand

First wheeled their course; Earth, in her rich attire
Consummate, lovely smiled; Air, Water, Earth,
By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was
walked,

Frequent; and of the sixth Day yet remained.
There wanted yet the master-work, the end
Of all yet done-a creature who, not prone
And brute as other creatures, but endued
With sanctity of reason, might erect
His stature, and, upright with front serene
Govern the rest, self-knowing, and from thence
Magnanimous to correspond with Heaven,
But grateful to acknowledge whence his good

Descends; thither with heart, and voice, and eyes
Directed in devotion, to adore

And worship God Supreme, who made him chief

Of all his works. Therefore the Omnipotent

Eternal Father (for where is not He

Present?) thus to his Son audibly spake :

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510

'Let us make now Man in our image, Man In our similitude, and let them rule

520

Over the fish and fowl of sea and air,

Beast of the field, and over all the earth,

And every creeping thing that creeps the ground!'

This said, he formed thee, Adam, thee, O Man,
Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breathed.
The breath of life; in his own image he
Created thee, in the image of God

Express, and thou becam'st a living soul.

Male he created thee, but thy consort

Female, for race; then blessed mankind, and said,

530

'Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth; Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold Over fish of the sea, and fowl of the air,

And every living thing that moves on the Earth!'
Wherever thus created-for no place

Is yet distinct by name-thence, as thou know'st,
He brought thee into this delicious grove,

This Garden, planted with the trees of God,
Delectable both to behold and taste,

And freely all their pleasant fruit for food

540

Gave thee. All sorts are here that all the earth

yields,

Variety without end; but of the tree

Which tasted works knowledge of good and evil
Thou may'st not; in the day thou eat'st, thou diest.
Death is the penalty imposed; beware,

And govern well thy appetite, lest Sin

Surprise thee, and her black attendant, Death.
"Here finished He, and all that he had made
Viewed, and, behold! all was entirely good.
So even and morn accomplished the sixth Day;
Yet not till the Creator, from his work
Desisting, though unwearied, up returned,
Up to the Heaven of Heavens, his high abode,
Thence to behold this new-created World,
The addition of his empire, how it showed
In prospect from his throne, how good, how fair,
Answering his great idea. Up he rode,
Followed with acclamation, and the sound
Symphonious of ten thousand harps, that tuned
Angelic harmonies. The Earth, the Air
Resounded (thou remember'st, for thou heard'st),
The heavens and all the constellations rung,
The planets in their stations listening stood,
While the bright pomp ascended jubilant.

Open, ye everlasting gates!' they sung;

Open, ye Heavens, your living doors! let in
The great Creator, from his work returned
Magnificent, his six days' work, a World!
Open, and henceforth oft; for God will deign
To visit oft the dwellings of just men
Delighted, and with frequent intercourse
Thither will send his winged messengers
On errands of supernal grace.' So sung

The glorious train ascending. He through Heaven,
That opened wide her blazing portals, led
To God's eternal house direct the way-

A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold,

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560

570

And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear
Seen in the Galaxy, that milky way

Which nightly as a circling zone thou seest

580

Powdered with stars. And now on Earth the seventh

Evening arose in Eden-for the sun

Was set, and twilight from the east came on,
Forerunning night-when at the holy mount
Of Heaven's high-seated top, the imperial throne
Of Godhead, fixed for ever firm and sure,

The Filial Power arrived, and sat him down
With his great Father; for he also went
Invisible, yet stayed (such privilege

Hath Omnipresence) and the work ordained,

590

Author and end of all things, and, from work

Now resting, blessed and hallowed the seventh Day,

As resting on that day from all his work;

But not in silence holy kept: the harp

Had work, and rested not; the solemn pipe
And dulcimer, all organs of sweet stop,
All sounds on fret by string or golden wire,
Tempered soft tunings, intermixed with voice
Choral or unison; of incense clouds,
Fuming from golden censers, hid the Mount.
Creation and the Six Days' acts they sung:-
'Great are thy works, Jehovah! infinite

Thy power! what thought can measure thee, or

tongue

Relate thee greater now in thy return

Than from the Giant-angels? Thee that day

Thy thunders magnified; but to create

Is greater than created to destroy.

Who can impair thee, mighty King, or bound
Thy empire? Easily the proud attempt
Of Spirits apostate, and their counsels vain,
Thou hast repelled, while impiously they thought
Thee to diminish, and from thee withdraw
The number of thy worshipers. Who seeks
To lessen thee, against his purpose, serves
To manifest the more thy might; his evil

Thou usest, and from thence creat'st more good.
Witness this new-made World, another Heaven
From Heaven-gate not far, founded in view
On the clear hyaline, the glassy sea;
Of amplitude almost immense, with stars
Numerous, and every star perhaps a world
Of destined habitation-but thou know'st

Their seasons; among these the seat of men,
Earth, with her nether ocean circumfused,

Their pleasant dwelling-place. Thrice happy men,

And sons of men, whom God hath thus advanced,

Created in his image, there to dwell

And worship him, and in reward to rule

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610

620

Over his works, on earth, in sea, or air,
And multiply a race of worshipers

630

Holy and just! thrice happy, if they know
Their happiness, and persevere upright!'

N

"So sung they, and the Empyrean rung
With halleluiahs. Thus was Sabbath kept.
And thy request think now fulfilled, that asked
How first this World and face of things began,
And what before thy memory was done
From the beginning, that posterity,

Informed by thee, might know. If else thou seek'st
Aught, not surpassing human measure, say.”

640

THE END OF THE SEVENTH BOOK.