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Paradiſe loſt.
Book 4.
One Gate there onely was, and that look'd Eaſt
On th' other ſide: which when th' arch-fellon ſaw
Due entrance he diſdaind, and in contempt, 180
At one flight bound high overleap'd all bound
Of Hill or higheſt Wall, and ſheer within
Lights on his feet. As when a prowling Wolfe,
Whom hunger drives to ſeek new haunt for prey,
Watching where Shepherds pen thir Flocks at eeve
In hurdl'd Cotes amid the field ſecure,
Leaps o're the fence with eaſe into the Fould:
Or as a Thief bent to unhoord the caſh
Of ſome rich Burgher, whoſe ſubſantial dores,
Croſs-barrd and bolted faſt, fear no aſſault, 190
In at the window climbes, or o're the tiles;
So clomb this firſt grand Thief into Gods Fould:
So ſince into his Church lewd Hirelings climbe.
Thence up he flew, and on the Tree of Life,
The middle Tree and higheſt there that grew,
Sat like a Cormorant; yet not true Life
Thereby regaind, but fat deviſing Death
To them who liv'd; nor on the vertue thought
Of that life-giving Plant, but only us'd
For proſpect, what well us'd had bin the pledge 200
Of immortalitie. So little knows
Any, but God alone, to value right
The good before him, but perverts beſt things
To worſt abuſe, or to thir meaneſt uſe.
Beneath him with new wonder now he views
To all delight of human ſenſe expos'd
In narrow room Natures whole wealth, yea more,
A Heaven on Earth: for bliſsful Paradiſe
Of God the Garden was, by him in the Eaſt
On th' other ſide: which when th' arch-fellon ſaw
Due entrance he diſdaind, and in contempt, 180
At one flight bound high overleap'd all bound
Of Hill or higheſt Wall, and ſheer within
Lights on his feet. As when a prowling Wolfe,
Whom hunger drives to ſeek new haunt for prey,
Watching where Shepherds pen thir Flocks at eeve
In hurdl'd Cotes amid the field ſecure,
Leaps o're the fence with eaſe into the Fould:
Or as a Thief bent to unhoord the caſh
Of ſome rich Burgher, whoſe ſubſantial dores,
Croſs-barrd and bolted faſt, fear no aſſault, 190
In at the window climbes, or o're the tiles;
So clomb this firſt grand Thief into Gods Fould:
So ſince into his Church lewd Hirelings climbe.
Thence up he flew, and on the Tree of Life,
The middle Tree and higheſt there that grew,
Sat like a Cormorant; yet not true Life
Thereby regaind, but fat deviſing Death
To them who liv'd; nor on the vertue thought
Of that life-giving Plant, but only us'd
For proſpect, what well us'd had bin the pledge 200
Of immortalitie. So little knows
Any, but God alone, to value right
The good before him, but perverts beſt things
To worſt abuſe, or to thir meaneſt uſe.
Beneath him with new wonder now he views
To all delight of human ſenſe expos'd
In narrow room Natures whole wealth, yea more,
A Heaven on Earth: for bliſsful Paradiſe
Of God the Garden was, by him in the Eaſt
Of
