That  was  the  earth.  Thereon  in  a
paradise  of  trees  and  flowers  walked
Adam  and  Eve,  the  last  and  the  fair-
est of  all  Grod*s  creatures.
Meanwhile  the  rebel  host  lay  roll-
ing in  the  fiery  gulf  underneath
chaos.  The  bottom  of  chaos  was
hell.  Above  it  was  chaos  proper,
a  thick,  black,  sweltering  element.
Above  it  again  was  the  new  experi-
mental world,  cut  out  of  it  like  a
mine,  and  brilliant  with  stars  and
galaxies.  And  high  over  all  behind
the  stars  and  galaxies  was  heaven
itself.  Satan  and  his  crew  lay  roll-
ing in  hell,  the  fiery  element  under-
neath chaos.  Chaos  lay  between
them  and  the  new  world.  Satan  was
the  first  to  awake  out  of  stupor  and
realise  the  whole  state  of  the  case,
what  had  occurred,  what  was  to  be
their  future  condition  of  being,  and
what  remained  to  be  attempted.  In
the  first  dialogue  between  him  and
Beelzebub  we  see  that,  even  thus
early,  he  had  ascertained  what  his
function  was  to  be  for  the  future,
decided  in  what  precise  mode  of  being
he  could  make  his  existence  most
pungent  and  perceptible.
"Of  this  be  sure.
To  do  aught  good  never  will  be  oar  task,
But  ever  to  do  eril  our  sole  delight.
