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OW Morn, her rosy steps in the eastern clime
Advancing, sow'd the earth with orient pearl,
When Adam waked, so custom'd: for his sleep
Was aëry-light, from pure digestion bred,
And temperate vapours bland, which the only sound
Of leaves and fuming rills, Aurora's fan,

Lightly dispersed, and the shrill matin song
Of birds on every bough; so much the more
His wonder was to find unwaken'd Eve
With tresses discomposed, and glowing cheek,
As through unquiet rest: he, on his side
Leaning, half raised, with looks of cordial love
Hung over her enamour'd, and beheld
Beauty which, whether waking or asleep,
Shot forth peculiar graces; then with voice
Mild as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes,
Her hand soft touching, whisper'd thus: "Awake,
My fairest, my espoused, my latest found,
Heaven's last, best gift, my ever-new delight!
Awake the morning shines, and the fresh field
Calls us; we lose the prime to mark how spring
Our tender plants, how blows the citron grove,
What drops the myrrh, and what the balmy reed;
How Nature paints her colours, how the bee
Sits on the bloom, extracting liquid sweet."

Such whispering waked her, but with startled eye On Adam, whom embracing, thus she spake :

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"O sole in whom my thoughts find all repose,

My glory, my perfection! glad I see

Thy face and morn return'd; for I this night
(Such night till this I never pass'd) have dream'd,
If dream'd, not, as I oft am wont, of thee,
Works of day past, or morrow's next design;
But of offence and trouble, which my mind
Knew never till this irksome night. Methought
Close at mine ear one call'd me forth to walk
With gentle voice; I thought it thine: it said,
Why sleep'st thou, Eve? now is the pleasant time,
The cool, the silent, save where silence yields
To the night-warbling bird that, now awake,

Tunes sweetest his love-labour'd song; now reigns
Full-orb'd the moon, and, with more pleasing light,
Shadowy sets off the face of things; in vain,

If none regard; Heaven wakes with all his eyes,
Whom to behold but thee, Nature's desire?
In whose sight all things joy, with ravishment
Attracted by thy beauty still to gaze.

I rose as at thy call, but found thee not:

To find thee I directed then my walk;

And on, methought, alone I pass'd through ways
That brought me on a sudden to the tree
Of interdicted knowledge; fair it seem'd,
Much fairer to my fancy than by day;

And, as I wondering look'd, beside it stood

One shaped and wing'd like one of those from heaven

By us oft seen his dewy locks distill'd

Ambrosia on that tree he also gazed;

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And, O, fair plant,' said he, with fruit surcharged, Deigns none to ease thy load, and taste thy sweet, Nor God nor man? Is knowledge so despised? Or envy, or what reserve forbids to taste? Forbid who will, none shall from me withhold Longer thy offer'd good; why else set here?' This said, he paused not, but with venturous arm He pluck'd, he tasted; me damp horror chill'd At such bold words vouch'd with a deed so bold: But he thus, overjoy'd; O fruit divine, Sweet of thyself, but much more sweet thus cropt, Forbidden here, it seems, as only fit

For gods, yet able to make gods of men ;

And why not gods of men; since good, the more
Communicated, more abundant grows,

The Author not impair'd, but honour'd more?

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Here, happy creature, fair angelic Eve!
Partake thou also happy though thou art,
Happier thou may'st be, worthier canst not be :
Taste this, and be henceforth among the gods
Thyself a goddess, not to earth confined,
But sometimes in the air, as we; sometimes
Ascend to heaven, by merit thine, and see
What life the gods live there, and such live thou.'
So saying, he drew nigh, and to me held,

Even to my mouth of that same fruit held part
Which he had pluck'd: the pleasant savoury smell
So quicken'd appetite that I, methought,
Could not but taste. Forthwith up to the clouds
With him I flew, and underneath beheld

The earth outstretch'd immense, a prospect wide
And various; wondering at my flight and change
To this high exaltation; suddenly

My guide was gone, and I, methought, sunk down,
And fell asleep; but, O, how glad I waked
To find this but a dream." Thus Eve her night
Related, and thus Adam answer'd sad :

"Best image of myself, and dearer half,
The trouble of thy thoughts this night in sleep
Affects me equally; nor can I like
This uncouth dream, of evil sprung, I fear,
Yet evil whence? in thee can harbour none,
Created pure. But know that, in the soul,
Are many lesser faculties, that serve
Reason as chief: among these, Fancy next
Her office holds; of all external things,
Which the five watchful senses represent,
She forms imaginations, aery shapes,
Which Reason, joining or disjoining, frames
All what we affirm or what deny, and call

Our knowledge or opinion; then retires.
Into her private cell, when Nature rests.
Oft, in her absence, mimic Fancy wakes
To imitate her; but misjoining shapes,
Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams;
Ill matching words and deeds long past or late.
Some such resemblances, methinks, I find
Of our last evening's talk, in this thy dream,
But with addition strange; yet be not sad.
Evil into the mind of God or man

May come and go, so unapproved, and leave
No spot or blame behind; which gives me hope
That what in sleep thou didst abhor to dream,
Waking thou never wilt consent to do.

Be not dishearten'd, then, nor cloud those looks,
That wont to be more cheerful and serene
Than when fair morning first smiles on the world,
And let us to our fresh employments rise
Among the groves, the fountains, and the flowers,
That open now their choicest bosom'd smells,
Reserved from night, and kept for thee in store."

So cheer'd he his fair spouse, and she was cheer'd ; But silently a gentle tear let fall

From either eye, and wiped them with her hair;
Two other precious drops that ready stood,
Each in their crystal sluice, he, ere they fell,
Kiss'd, as the gracious signs of sweet remorse
And pious awe, that fear'd to have offended.

So all was clear'd, and to the field they haste.
But first from under shady arborous roof,
Soon as they forth were come to open sight
Of day-spring, and the sun, who, scarce up risen,
With wheels yet hovering o'er the ocean-brim,
Shot parallel to the earth his dewy ray,

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