ADAM PARTICIPATING IN THE GREAT TRANSGRESSION.
He scrupled not to eat
Against his better knowledge—
Earth trembled from her entrails, as again
In pangs; and Nature gave a second groan;
Sky lour'd; and, muttering thunder, some sad drops
Wept at completing of the mortal sin—
Original.
Book ix.
[354] Private correspondence
[355] See page 135.
[356] Private correspondence.
"How oft, upon yon eminence, our pace
Has slackened to a pause, and we have borne
The ruffling wind, scarce conscious that it blew,
While Admiration, feeding at the eye,
And, still unsated, dwelt upon the scene,
Thence with what pleasure have we just discerned.
The distant plough slow moving, and, beside
His labouring team, that swerved not from the track,
The sturdy swain, diminished to a boy!
Here Ouse, slow winding through a level plain
Of spacious meads with cattle sprinkled o'er,
Conducts the eye along his sinuous course,
Delighted," &c. &c.
The Task, Book I.
[358] Lord Cowper.