Not such as our dull gardens proudly wear,
Whom weathers taint, and winds' rude kisses tear:
Such, I believe, was the first rose's hue,

Which at God's word in beauteous Eden grew; 740
Queen of the flowers which made that orchard gay!
The morning blushes of the spring's new day.

With sober pace an heavenly maid walks in, Her looks all fair; no sign of native sin Through her whole body writ; immoderate grace 745 Spoke things far more than human in her face: It casts a dusky gloom o'er all the flowers; And with full beams their mingled light devours! An Angel straight broke from a shining cloud, And press'd his wings, and with much reverence

bow'd;

750

Again he bow'd, and grave approach he made, And thus his sacred message sweetly said: [call "Hail, full of Grace! thee the whole world shall "Above all blest; Thee, who shalt bless them all.

Thy virgin womb in wondrous sort shall shroud 755 "Jesus the God (and then again he bow'd);

"Conception the great Spirit shall breathe on thee; "Hail thou! who must God's wife, God's mother,

"be !"

With that, his seeming form to heaven he rear'd; She low obeisance made, and disappear'd,

Lo! a new star three eastern sages see

(For why should only earth a gainer be ?)
They saw this Phosphor's infant-light, and knew
It bravely usher'd in a Sun as new:

760

765

They hasted all this Rising Sun t' adore ;
With them rich myrrh and early spices bore:
Wise men! no fitter gift your zeal could bring;
You'll in a noisome stable find your King.
Anon a thousand devils run roaring in ;
Some with a dreadful smile deform'dly grin;
Some stamp their cloven paws, some frown, and tear
The gaping snakes from their black-knotted hair;
As if all grief, and all the rage of hell,

770

Were doubled now, or that just now they fell :
But, when the dreaded maid they entering saw, 775
All fled with trembling fear and silent awe.
In her chaste arms th' eternal infant lies,
Th' Almighty voice chang'd into feeble cries.
Heaven contain'd virgins oft, and will do more ;
Never did virgin contain Heaven before.
Angels peep round to view this mystick thing,
And Halleluiah round, all Halleluiah sing.

eye;

780

785

No longer could good David quiet bear Th' unwieldy pleasure which o'erflow'd him here: It broke the fetters, and burst ope his Away the timorous forms together fly: Fix'd with amaze he stood; and time must take, To learn if yet he were at last awake. Sometimes he thinks that Heaven this vision sent, And order'd all the pageants as they went; 790 Sometimes, that only 't was wild Phansy's play, The loose and scatter'd relicks of the day.

When Gabriel (no blest spirit more kind or fair) Bodies and clothes himself with thicken'd air;

All like a comely youth in life's fresh bloom; 795
Rare workmanship, and wrought by heavenly loom!
He took for skin a cloud most soft and bright,
That ere the mid-day sun pierc'd through with light;
Upon his cheeks a lively blush he spread,
Wash'd from the morning beauties' deepest red; 800
An harmless flaming meteor shone for hair,
And fell adown his shoulders with loose care;
He cuts out a silk mantle from the skies,
Where the most spritely azure pleas'd the eyes;
This he with starry vapours spangles all, 805
Took in their prime, ere they grow ripe and fall:
Of a new rainbow, ere it fret or fade,
The choicest piece took out, a scarf is made:
Small streaming clouds he does for wings display,
Not virtuous lovers' sighs more soft than they; 810
These he gilds o'er with the sun's richest rays,
Caught gliding o'er pure streams on which he plays.
Thus drest, the joyful Gabriel posts away,

And carries with him his own glorious day,
Through the thick woods: the gloomy shades awhile
Put on fresh looks, and wonder why they smile; 816
The trembling serpents close and silent lie;

820

The birds obscene far from his passage fly;
A sudden spring waits on him as he goes,
Sudden as that which by creation rose:
Thus he appears to David; at first sight
All earth-bred fears and sorrows take their flight.
In rushes joy divine, and hope, and rest;

A sacred calm shines through his peaceful breast.

"Hail, man belov'd! from highest heaven," said he;

66

My mighty master sends thee health by me. 826 "The things thou saw'st are full of truth and light, "Shap'd in the glass of the divine foresight:

"Ev'n now old Time is harnessing the years "To go in order thus. Hence, empty fears! 830 "Thy fate's all white; from thy blest seed shall "spring

"The promis'd Shilo, the great mystick King: "Round the whole earth his dreaded name shall

"sound,

"And reach to worlds that must not yet be found: "The Southern clime him her sole lord shall style, "Him all the North, ev'n Albion's stubborn isle, "My fellow-servant, credit what I tell.” Straight into shapeless air unseen he fell.

838

THE

THIRD BOOK

OF

THE DAVIDEIS.