The works of John Dryden, $c now first collected in eighteen volumes. $p Volume 05 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 415 pages of information about The works of John Dryden, $c now first collected in eighteen volumes. $p Volume 05.

The works of John Dryden, $c now first collected in eighteen volumes. $p Volume 05 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 415 pages of information about The works of John Dryden, $c now first collected in eighteen volumes. $p Volume 05.

  Enter LUCIFER.

Lucif. ’Tis done: 
Sick Nature, at that instant, trembled round;
And mother Earth sighed, as she felt the wound. 
Of how short durance was this new-made state! 
How far more mighty than heaven’s love, hell’s hate! 
His project ruined, and his king of clay: 
He formed an empire for his foe to sway. 
Heaven let him rule, which by his arms he got;
I’m pleased to have obtained the second lot. 
This earth is mine; whose lord I made my thrall: 
Annexing to my crown his conquered ball. 
Loosed from the lakes my regions I will lead,
And o’er the darkened air black banners spread: 
Contagious damps, from hence, shall mount above,
And force him to his inmost heaven’s remove.
                                        [A clap of thunder is heard.
He hears already, and I boast too soon;
I dread that engine which secured his throne. 
I’ll dive below his wrath, into the deep,
And waste that empire, which I cannot keep. [Sinks down.

  RAPHAEL and GABRIEL descend.

Raph. As much of grief as happiness admits
In heaven, on each celestial forehead sits: 
Kindness for man, and pity for his fate,
May mix with bliss, and yet not violate. 
Their heavenly harps a lower strain began;
And, in soft music, mourned the fall of man.

Gab. I saw the angelic guards from earth ascend,
(Grieved they must now no longer man attend:)
The beams about their temples dimly shone;
One would have thought the crime had been their own. 
The etherial people flocked for news in haste,
Whom they, with down-cast looks, and scarce saluting past: 
While each did, in his pensive breast, prepare
A sad account of their successless care.

Raph. The Eternal yet, in majesty severe,
And strictest justice, did mild pity bear: 
Their deaths deferred; and banishment, (their doom,)
In penitence foreseen, leaves mercy room.

Gab. That message is thy charge:  Mine leads me hence;
Placed at the garden’s gate, for its defence,
Lest man, returning, the blest place pollute,
And ’scape from death, by life’s immortal fruit.
                         [Another clap of thunder.  Exeunt severally.

  Enter ADAM and EVE, affrighted.

Adam. In what dark cavern shall I hide my head? 
Where seek retreat, now innocence is fled? 
Safe in that guard, I durst even hell defy;
Without it, tremble now, when heaven is nigh.

Eve. What shall we do? or where direct our flight? 
Eastward, as far as I could cast my sight,
From opening heavens, I saw descending light. 
Its glittering through the trees I still behold;
The cedar tops seem all to burn with gold.

Adam. Some shape divine, whose beams I cannot bear! 
Would I were hid, where light could not appear. 
Deep into some thick covert would I run,
Impenetrable to the stars or sun,
And fenced from day, by night’s eternal skreen;
Unknown to heaven, and to myself unseen.

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The works of John Dryden, $c now first collected in eighteen volumes. $p Volume 05 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.