The confort of his reign: and by them food
Orchus, and Ades, and the dreaded name
Of Demogorgon: Rumor next, and Chance,
And Tumult, and Confufion all imbroil'd,
And Difcord with a thousand various mouths.
T'whom Satan turning boldly, thus... Ye Pow'rs,
And fpirits, of this nethermoft abyss,
Chaos, and Ancient Night! I come no spy
With purpose to explore, or to disturb,
The fecrets of your realm; but by constraint
Wand'ring this darkfome defart, as my way
Lies through your spacious empire up to light,
Alone, and without guide, half lost, I seek
What readiest path leads where your gloomy
bounds

Confine with heav'n: or if fome other place
From your dominion won, th' ethereal King
Poffeffes lately, thither to arrive.

I travel this Profound.: direct my course,
Directed, no mean recompenfe it brings
To your behoof: if I that region loft,
All ufurpation thence expell'd, reduce
To her original darkness, and your fway
(Which is my prefent journey) and once more
Erect the ftandard there of Ancient Night;
Yours be th' advantage all, mine the revenge!

Thus Satan; and him thus the anarch old, With fault'ring fpeech, and vifage incompos'd,. Anfwer'd. I know thee, ftranger, who thou art 2 That mighty leading Angel who of late

Tome I

Made head against heav'n's King, tho' overthrown?
I faw, and heard; for fuch a num'rous hoft
Fled not in filence through the frighted Deep,
With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,

Confufion worfe confounded; and heav'n-gates
Pour'd out by millions her victorious bands
Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here
Keep refidence ; if all I can will ferve,
That little which is left fo to defend,
Encroach'd on still through our inteftine broiles
Weak'ning the fceptre of old Night: first hell,
Your dungeon, ftretching far and wide beneath :
Now lately heav'n, and earth, another world
Hung o'er my realm, link'd in a golden chain,
To thar fide heav'n from whence your legions fell.
If that way be your walk, you have not far;
So much the nearer danger: go, and speed!
Havoc, and fpoil, and ruin are my gain.

He ceas'd, and Satan ftaid not to reply,
But glad that now his fea should find a shore
With fresh alacrity, and force renew'd,
Springs upwards, like a pyramid of fire,
Into the wild expanfe; and through the shock
Of fighting elements, on all fides round
Environ'd, wins his way: harder befet,
And more endanger'd, than when Argo pafs'd
Through Bosphorus, betwixt the juftling rocks;
Or when Ulyffes on the Larboard shunn'd
Charybdis, and by th' other whirlpool steer'd.
So he with difficulty, and labor hard

Mov'd on with difficulty and labor he;

:

But he once paft, foon after, when man fell,
Strange alteration! Sin, and Death, a-main
Following his track (fuch was the will of heav'n ! ).
Pav'd after him a broad and beaten way
Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf
Tamely endur'd a bridge of wondrous length,
From hell continu'd, reaching th' utmost orb
Of this frail world; by which the spirits perverfe
With eafie intercourse pass to and fro,
To tempt or punish mortals, except whom
God and good Angels guard by special grace.
But now at laft the facred influence
Of light appears, and from the walls of heav'n
Shoots far into the bofom of dim night
A glimmering dawn: here Nature first begins
Her fartheft verge, and Chaos to retire,
As from her ourmoft works a broken foe,
With tumult lefs, and with lefs hoftile din ;
That Satan with lefs toil, and now with ease,
Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light;
And like a weather-beaten veffel holds

Gladly the port, though shrouds and tackle torn:
Or in the emptier wafte, resembling air,
Weighs his spread wings, at leifure to behold
Far off th' empyreal heav'n, extended wide
In circuit, undetermin'd fquare or round:
With opal tow'rs, and battlements adorn'd
Of living faphir, (once his native feat ! )
And faft by, hanging in a golden chain,

This pendant world, in bigness as a star
Of smallest magnitude, close by the moon.
Thither full fraught with mischievous revenge,
Accurs'd, and in a curfed hour he hies..

The End of the Second Book.

God fitting on his throne fees Satan flying towards this world, then newly created; shews him to the Son who fat at his right hand; foretells the fuccefs of Satan in perverting mankind clears his own juftice and wifdom from all imputation, having created Man free, and able enough to bave withstood his tempter; yet declares his purpofe of grace towards him, in regard he fell not of his own malice, as did Satan, but by him feduc'd. The Son of God renders praifes to his Father for the manifeftation of his gracious purpofe towards. Man; but God again declares, that grace cannot be extended towards Man without the fatisfaction of