To whom the Angel with contracted brow.

Accuse not Nature, she hath done her part;

Do thou but thine; and be not diffident

Of Wisdom; she deserts thee not, if thou

Dismiss not her, when most thou needest her nigh,

By attributing overmuch to things

Less excellent, as thou thyself perceivest.

For, what admirest thou, what transports thee so,

An outside? fair, no doubt, and worthy well

Thy cherishing, thy honouring, and thy love;

Not thy subjection: Weigh with her thyself;

Then value: Oft-times nothing profits more

Than self-esteem, grounded on just and right

Well managed; of that skill the more thou knowest,

The more she will acknowledge thee her head,

And to realities yield all her shows:

Made so adorn for thy delight the more,

So awful, that with honour thou mayest love

Thy mate, who sees when thou art seen least wise.

But if the sense of touch, whereby mankind

Is propagated, seem such dear delight

Beyond all other; think the same vouchsafed

To cattle and each beast; which would not be

To them made common and divulged, if aught

Therein enjoyed were worthy to subdue

The soul of man, or passion in him move.

What higher in her society thou findest

Attractive, human, rational, love still;

In loving thou dost well, in passion not,

Wherein true love consists not: Love refines

The thoughts, and heart enlarges; hath his seat

In reason, and is judicious; is the scale

By which to heavenly love thou mayest ascend,

Not sunk in carnal pleasure; for which cause,

Among the beasts no mate for thee was found.”

To whom thus, half abashed, Adam replied.

“Neither her outside formed so fair, nor aught

In procreation common to all kinds,

(Though higher of the genial bed by far,

And with mysterious reverence I deem,)

So much delights me, as those graceful acts,

Those thousand decencies, that daily flow

From all her words and actions mixed with love

And sweet compliance, which declare unfeigned

Union of mind, or in us both one soul;

Harmony to behold in wedded pair

More grateful than harmonious sound to the ear.

Yet these subject not; I to thee disclose

What inward thence I feel, not therefore foiled,

Who meet with various objects, from the sense

Variously representing; yet, still free,

Approve the best, and follow what I approve.

To love, thou blamest me not; for Love, thou sayest,

Leads up to Heaven, is both the way and guide;

Bear with me then, if lawful what I ask:

Love not the heavenly Spirits, and how their love

Express they? by looks only? or do they mix

Irradiance, virtual or immediate touch?”

To whom the Angel, with a smile that glowed

Celestial rosy red, Love’s proper hue,

Answered. “Let it suffice thee that thou knowest

Us happy, and without love no happiness.

Whatever pure thou in the body enjoyest,

(And pure thou wert created) we enjoy

In eminence; and obstacle find none

Of membrane, joint, or limb, exclusive bars;