Severing each kind, and scumm'd the bullion drose :
A third as soon had form'd within the ground
A various mould; and from the boiling cells
By strange conveyance fill'd each hollow nook :
As in an organ, from one blast of wind,
To many a row of pipes the sound.board breathes,
Agon out of the earth a fabric buge
Rose like an exhalation, with the sound
Of dulcet symphonies, and voices sweet,
Built like a temple, where pilasters round
Were set, and Doric pillars, overlaid
With golden architrave: nor did ibere want
Cornice, or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven;
The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon,
Nor great Alcairo, such magnificence
Equall'd in all their glories, to inshrine
Belus, or Serapis, their gods; or seat
Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove
In-wealth and luxury. Th'ascending pile
Stood fix'd her stately height: and straight the doors
Op’ning their brazen folds, discover wide
Within her ample spaces o'er the smooth
And level pavement: from the arched roof,
Pendent by subtle magic, many a row
Of starry lamps, and blazing cressets, fed
With Naphiha and Asphaltus, yielded ligbut
As from a sky. The hasty multitude
Admiring enter'd, and the work some praise,
And some the architect: his hand was known
In heaven by many a tow'red structure high,
Where sceptred angels held their residence,
And sat as princes; whom the supreme King
Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,
Eacb in his bierarchy, the orders bright:
Nor was his name unheard, or unador'd,
In ancient Greece; aud in Ausonian land
Men call'd lim Mulciber; and how be fell
From heaven they fabled, thrown by angry Jove
Sheer o'er the crystal battlements; from moru
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A summer's day; and with the setting sun

Millions of faming swords, drawn from the thighs
Of mighty cherubim: the sudden blaze
Far round illumined hell; highly they raged
Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms
Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war,
Hurling defiance toward the vault of heaven.

There stood a bill not far, whose grisly top
Belch'd fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire
Shone with a glossy scurf; undoubted sign
That in bis womb was hid metallic ore,
The work of sulphur. Thither, wing'd with speed
A numerous brigade hasten'd: as when bands
Of pioneers, with spade and pickax arm'd,
Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field,
Or cast a rampart, Mammon led them on,
Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell
From heaven; for e'en in heaven bis looks and

thoughts Were always downward bent; admiring more The riches of heaver's pavement, trodden gold, Than ought divine or holy, else enjoy’d In vision beatific: by him first Men also, and by his suggestion taught, Rapsack'd the centre, and with pious hands Rifled the bowels of their mother earth For treasures, better hid. Soon bad his crew Open'd into the bill a spacious wound, And digg’d out ribs of gold. Let none admire That riches grow in hell; that soil may best Deserve the precious bane. And here let those Who boast in mortal things, and wondering tell, Of Babel, and the works of Mempbian kings, Learn how their greatest monuments of fame, And strength and art, are easily outdone By spirits reprobate, and in an hour What in an age they with incessant toil And bands innumerable scarce perform. Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared, That underneath had veins of liquid fire Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude Wilb wondrous art founded the massy ore,

Severing each kind, and scumm'd the bullion dross:
A third as soon had form’d within the ground
A various mould; and from the boiling cells
By strange.conveyance fill'd each bollow nook:
As in an organ, from one blast of wind,
To many a row of pipes the sound-board breathes.
Anon out of the earth a fabric huge
Rose like an exbalation, with the sound
Of dulcet symphonies, and voices sweet,
Built like a temple, where pilasters round
Were set, and Doric pilfars, overlaid
With golden architrave: nor did there want
Cornice, or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven;
The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon,
Nor great Alcairo, such magpificence
Equall'd in all their glories, to inshrine
Belus, or Serapis, their gods; or seat
Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove
In-wealth and luxury. Tl’ascending pile
Stood fix'd her stately beigli: and straight the doors
Op'ning their brazen folds, discover wide
Within her ample spaces o'er the smooth
And level pavement: from the arched roof,
Pendent by subtle magic, many a row
Of starry lamps, and blazing.cressets, fed
With Naphtha and Asphaltus, yielded light
As from a sky. The hasty multitude
Adiniring enter'd, and the work some praise,
And some the architect: his hand was known
In heaven by many a tow'red structure high,
Wbere sceptred angels held their residence,
And sat as princes; whom the supreme King
Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,
Each in his hierarchy, the orders bright:
Nor was his naine unheard, or unador'd,
In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land
Men callid him Mulciber; and how he fell
From heaven they fabled, thrown by angry Jove
Sheer o'er the crystal battlements; from morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A summer's day; and with the setting sun

Dropp'd from the zenith like a falling star,
On Lemnos th' Ægean isle: thus they relate,
Erring; for he with this rebellious rout
Fell long before ; nor ought avail'd hiin now
T' have built in heaven high towers; nor did he 'scape
By all his engines, but was headlong sent
With his industrious crew to build in hell.

Meanwhile the winged heralds by command
Of sov'reign power, with awful ceremony
And trumpets' sound, throughout the host proclaim
A solemn council forthwith to be held
At Pandemonium, the high capital
Of Satan and his peers: their summons callid,
From every band and squared regiment,
By place or choice the worthiest, they anon
With hundreds, and with thousands, trooping came
Attended: all access was throng'd, the gates
And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall
(Though like a cover'd field, where champions bold
Wont ride in arm’d, and at the soldan's chair
Defied the best of Panim chivalry
To mortal combat, or career with lance)
Thick swarm’d, both on the ground, and in the air,
Brush'd with the hiss of rustling wings. As bees
In spring time, when the sun with Taurus rides,
Pour forth their populous youth about the hive
In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers,
Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank,
(The suburb of their straw-built citadel,)
New rubb'd with balm, expatiate and confer,
Their state-affairs: so thick the airy crowd
Swarm'd and were straiten'd; till the signal given,
Behold a wonder! they but now who seem'd
In bigness to surpass earth's giant sons,
Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room
Throng numberless, like that pygmean race
Beyond the Indian mount; or fairy elves,
Whose midnight revels, by a forest side,
Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,
Or dreams he sees; while overhead the moon
Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth

Wheels her pale corse; they on their mirth and dance
Intent, with jocund music charm his ear:
At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.
Thus incorporeal spirits to smallest forms
Reduc'd their shapes immense; and were at large,
Though without number still, amidst the hall
Of that infernal court. But far within,
And in their own dimensions like themselves,
The great seraphic lords and cherubim,
In close recess and secret conclave sat;
A thousand demi-gods on golden seats,
Frequent and full! After short silence then,
And summons read, the great consult began.