their vocal worship to the choir Of creatures wanting voice; that done, partake The season, prime for sweetest scents and airs; Then commune how that day they best may ply Their growing work; for much their work outgrew The hands’ dispatch of two, gardening so wide; And Eve first to her husband thus began:
“Adam, well may we labour still to dress This garden, still to tend plant, herb, and flower, Our pleasant task enjoined; but, till more hands Aid us, the work under our labour grows, Luxurious by restraint: what we by day Lop overgrown, or prune, or prop, or bind, One night or two with wanton growth derides, Tending to wild. Thou therefore now advise, Or hear what to my mind first thoughts present: Let us divide our labours—thou where choice Leads thee, or where most needs, whether to wind The woodbine round this arbour, or direct The clasping ivy where to climb; while I, In yonder spring of roses intermixed With myrtle, find what to redress till noon. For, while so near each other thus all day Our task we choose, what wonder if so near Looks intervene and smiles, or object new Casual discourse draw on, which intermits Our day’s work, brought to little, though begun Early, and the hour of supper comes unearned!”
To whom mild answer Adam thus returned: “Sole Eve, associate sole, to me beyond Compare above all living creatures dear! Well hast thou motioned, well thy thoughts employed How we might best fulfil the work which here God hath assigned us, nor of me shalt pass Unpraised, for nothing lovelier can be found In woman than to study household good, And good works in her husband to promote. Yet not so strictly hath our Lord imposed Labour, as to debar us when we need Refreshment, whether food, or talk between, Food of the mind, or this sweet intercourse Of looks and smiles; for smiles from reason flow, To brute denied, and are of love the food— Love, not the lowest end of human life. For not to irksome toil, but to delight, He made us, and delight to reason joined. These paths and bowers doubt not but our joint