Eve. I well foresee, whene’er thy suit I grant,
That I my much-loved sovereignty shall want: 
Or like myself some other may be made,
And her new beauty may thy heart invade.

Adam. Could heaven some greater master-piece devise,
Set out with all the glories of the skies,
That beauty yet in vain he should decree. 
Unless he made another heart for me.

Eve. With how much ease I, whom I love, believe! 
Giving myself, my want of worth I grieve. 
Here, my inviolable faith I plight,
So, thou be my defence, I, thy delight. [Exeunt, he leading her.

ACT III.

SCENE I.—­Paradise.

  LUCIFER.

Lucif. Fair place! yet what is this to heaven, where I
Sat next, so almost equalled the Most High? 
I doubted, measuring both, who was more strong;
Then, willing to forget time since so long,
Scarce thought I was created:  Vain desire
Of empire in my thoughts still shot me higher,
To mount above his sacred head:  Ah why,
When he so kind, was so ungrateful I? 
He bounteously bestowed unenvied good
On me:  In arbitrary grace I stood: 
To acknowledge this, was all he did exact;
Small tribute, where the will to pay was act. 
I mourn it now, unable to repent,
As he, who knows my hatred to relent,
Jealous of power once questioned:  Hope, farewell;
And with hope, fear; no depth below my hell
Can be prepared:  Then, Ill, be thou my good;
And, vast destruction, be my envy’s food. 
Thus I, with heaven, divided empire gain;
Seducing man, I make his project vain,
And in one hour destroy his six days pain. 
They come again, I must retire.

  Enter ADAM and EVE.

Adam. Thus shall we live in perfect bliss, and see,
Deathless ourselves, our numerous progeny. 
Thou young and beauteous, my desires to bless;
I, still desiring, what I still possess.

Eve. Heaven, from whence love, our greatest blessing, came,
Can give no more, but still to be the same. 
Thou more of pleasure may’st with me partake;
I, more of pride, because thy bliss I make.

Adam. When to my arms thou brought’st thy virgin love,
Fair angels sung our bridal hymn above: 
The Eternal, nodding, shook the firmament,
And conscious nature gave her glad consent. 
Roses unbid, and every fragrant flower,
Flew from their stalks, to strew thy nuptial bower: 
The furred and feathered kind the triumph did pursue,
And fishes leaped above the streams, the passing pomp to view.

Eve. When your kind eyes looked languishing on mine,
And wreathing arms did soft embraces join,
A doubtful trembling seized me first all o’er;
Then, wishes; and a warmth, unknown before: 
What followed was all ecstasy and trance;
Immortal pleasures round my swimming eyes did dance,
And speechless joys, in whose sweet tumult tost,
I thought my breath and my new being lost.