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 hands Will keep from wilderness with ease, as wide As we need walk, till younger hands ere long Assist us. But if much converse perhaps Thee satiate, to short absence I could yield; For solitude sometimes is best society,