and fro; there fhall ye both be fed, and fill'd immeafurably, for all Things shall be your Prey.

HE ceas'd here, for they both feem'd highly pleas'd, and DEATH grinn'd horrible a ghaftly Smile, at hearing that his Hunger fhould be fatisfy'd, and bleft his Maw, that was deftin'd to fo good an Hour; his bad Mother did not rejoice lefs, who thus fpake to her Father SATAN:

By the Command of Heaven's all-powerful King, and by due Right, I keep the Key of this infernat Pit; forbidden by him to unlock thefe Adamantine Gates; DEATH ftands ready to interpofe his Dart against all Force, not fearing to be over-match'd by any Thing created: But what do I owe to his Commands above, who hates me, and hath thrust me down hither into this Gloom of profound Hell, to fit here employ'd in this hateful Office, once an Inhabitant of Heaven and heavenly-born, yet has doom'd me to remain here in perpetual Agony and Pain, encompafs'd round with the Terrors and Clamours of my own Brood, that feed themfelves with my Bowels? Thou art my Father, my Author, thou gavest me Being; whom should I obey and follow but thee? Thou wilt foon lead me to that new World of Light and Happiness, where among the Gods who live at Eafe, I fhall reign voluptuously at thy Right-Hand, Time without End.

As fhe faid this, fhe took from her Side the fatal Key, the fad Inftrument of all our Woe, and rolling her inaky Train towards the Gate, forthwith drew up the great Portcullice; which, excepting herself, not all the combin'd Powers of Hell could once have. mov'd; then turns the intricate Wards in the Keyhole, and with Eafe unfaftens every Boit and Bar, tho' of maffy Iron, or of folid Rock: Upon a fud

den

den the infernal Doors fly open, with a moft violent Rebound, and grating Noife of the Hinges, and jarring Sound like harth Thunder, that the lowest Bottom of Hell's Caverns fhook.

THUS fhe open'd the Gates, but to fhut them again was beyond her Power; they stood fo wide open, that an Army with all its Body and Wings extended, marching under fpread Enfigns, might pafs through, with all their Horfes and Chariots, tho' rank'd but in loose Order: So wide they stood, and caft forth a vaft Smoak and red Flame, like the Mouth of a Furnace. Before their Eyes there fuddenly appear'd the Secrets of the raging Deep; a dark infinite Ocean, without Dimenfion or Bound whatsoever; where Length, Breadth, Height, and Time, and Place are loft; where eldest NIGHT and CHAOS, the firft Anceftors of Nature, hold continual Anarchy, amongst the Noise of endless Strife, and keep their Station by Confufion For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four fierce Champions, ftrive here for Mastery, and bring to Battle the imperfect Particles of the firft Matter; and they fwarm populous, each by Nature tending to their own Factions, in their feveral Clans, whether light, heavy, fharp, fmooth, fwift, or flow, being numberless as the Sands of BARCA, (e) or the fcorched Soil of CYRENE, (f) which is lifted up with warring

(c) Barea; Carthag. i. e. A Dejart; or from Amilcar Barca, the Father of Hannibal, who is faid to have founded it. A large, fandy, barren and dry Country in Africa; lo called from the capital City of it, lying on the Weft of Egypt, on the Mediter anean Sea, between Egypt and ipali, 600 Miles from Eaft to eft, and 120 Miles from South

to North: Others call it the Sandy Lybia: The chief City is 550 Miles from Alexandria in Egypt. Barca feparates Egypt from Cyrene.

(d) Cyrene; Carthag. from Cyreno; i. e. a Fountain, which fprings from a Mountain of the fame Name there; a very barren fandy Province of Lybia, pwards the Great Syrtis, lying

upon

warring Winds, and driven about the Air. What these most adhere to, rules for a Moment; CHAOS fits Umpire, and by his Decifion embroils the Fray the more, by which he reigns; next him the high Arbiter CHANCE governs all: Such was this wild Abyss, the deep Womb of Nature, and not unlikely but it fhall be her Grave, made up of neither Sea, nor Shore, nor Air, nor Fire, but all these mix'd confufedly in their pregnant Causes, and which must for ever fight thus, unless the ALMIGHTY Maker ordain them, his dark Materials to create, and form new Worlds.

С НА Р. IV.

With what Difficulty Satan paffes the Gulph; directed by Chaos, the Power of that Place, to the Sight of this new World which he fought.

T

HE wary Fiend stood upon the Brink of Hell, and look'd for a while into this wild Abyfs; for now he had no narrow Sea to crofs, nor was his Ear lefs deafen'd with loud and ruinous Noifes, than (to compare great Things with fmall) when BELLONA, (e) bent to destroy fome capital

H

carried our Saviour's Cross to
Mount Calvary, Mat. 27. 32.
Cyrene was also called Pentapolis;
Gr. because it contained five fine
Cities of old.

(e) Bellona: Lat. i. e. The Goddess of War. A Deity among the old Romans; the Mother, Sifter, and Wife of Mars. She had many Temples, Priefts, Sacrifices, Statues and Honours

paid

pital City, ftorms it with all her battering Engines; or as if this Frame of Heaven were falling, and thefe Elements in Uproar, had torn the stedfast Earth from her Axle. (f)

AT laft SATAN fpread his wide Wings, like Sails, for Flight, and lifted up in the rifing Smoak, fpurns the Ground; thence afcending, rides intrepidly many a League, as it were in a cloudy Chair; but that Seat foon failing, he meets nothing but the vaft empty Space: At unawares, fluttering his ufelefs Wings, directly down he drops ten Thousand Fathom deep, and to this Hour he had been falling, had not the ftrong Rebuff of a flying Cloud, kindled with Fire and Nitre, hurry'd him up as many Miles aloft : That Fury over, he lights on a finking Quick-fand, and nigh founder'd, makes his Way over what was neither Sea nor good dry Land, treading the crude Subftance of the Abyfs half on Foot and half flying, that it was requifite for him now to ufe both Oar and Sail: As when a Griffin (g) with winged Courfe, over Hill, thro' Wildernefs, or moorifh Vales, purfues the ARIMASPIAN, (b) who by Stealth had taken from

paid her; and was painted with a furious Countenance, holding a Trumpet, a Whip, and fometimes a lighted Torch; to fhew the difmal Effects of War. In Time of Peace, her Temple was fhut up.

(f) Axle; Sax. Lat. Gr. i. e. Going round; A Geog. T. An Axle-Tree. Here, an imaginary Line drawn thro' the Center of the Earth, from the North to the South Pole; upon which the Earth is fuppofed to move, in its Diurnal Motion from Eaft to Weft.

his

(g) Griffin or Griffon; La1. Gr. i. e. To gripe faft or fqueeze. A fabulous, terrible and rapacious Bird, faid to be partly like an Eagle, partly like a Lion; Guardians of hidden Gold, and dedicated to Apollo, the God and Maker of Gold, i e. The Sun with the Heat of his Rays.

(b) Arimafpian; Scyth. from Ari, i. e. One and Mafpos, i, e. An Eye, One-ey'd; a People of Scythia or Little Tartary in Europe, faid to have had one Eye. The Truth is, they were expert Archers,

his watchful Cuftody the Gold that he had guarded; fo eagerly the Fiend purfues his Way over Bog or fteep Hill, thro' ftrait, rough, folid Land, or War ter, with Head, Hands, and Wings or Feet; and as he can beft, makes his Way; either fwims, or finks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. At length his Ear is affaulted with a univerfal Uproar of ftunning Sounds, and Voices all in Confufion, which were born through the hollow Darkness; undaunted he bends his Way thither, to meet there whatever Power, or Spirit of the lowermoft Abyss might refide there, of whom he might enquire, which Way the nearest Coast of Darknefs lay, that border'd upon Light; when strait, appears the Throne of CHAOS, and his dark Pavillion fpread wide upon the wafteful Deep; enthron'd with him fat dark and fable-habited NIGHT, the eldest of Things, and Confort of his Reign; and by them ftood ORCUS, (i) and HADES, (k) and the dreaded Name of DEMOGORGON: () Next RUMOUR, and CHANCE, and CONFUSION, and TUMULT, and DISCORD, with a thousand various Mouths, all these in continual Mutiny, to whom SATAN boldly turning, faid thus:

YE Powers, and Spirits of this lowermoft Abyss, CHAOS, and antient NIGHT! I come not hither as a Spy, with Purpose to pry into, or disturb the Secrets H 2

Archers, who fhut one Eye, that they might with the more Exactness hit the Mark. Alexander the Great fubdu'd them.

(i) Orcus; Lat. from the Gr. i. e. An Oath: because the Supernal Gods made their Oaths by Orcus, as well as by Styx, another Name of Hell.

(k) Hades; Gr. Lat. i. e. A dark, hidden and invifible Place'; the fame as Oreus or Hell; in

of

Holy Writ and facred Authors. It is esteem'd to be the general Receptacle of all Souls departed this Life, in a State of Expectation, till the Day of Judg

ment.

(1) Demogorgon; Lat. from the Gr. i. e. Beholding the Gor which none could do but gon, He; for the turn'd all Things that look'd on her into Stones.