And of pure, now purer air,
Meets his approach; and to the heart inspires
Vernal delight and joy:
now gentle gales,
Fanning their odoriferous wings dispense
Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole
Those balmy spoils. As when to them who sail
Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past
Mozambic, off at sea north-east winds blow
Sabean odours, from the spicy shore
Of Araby the bless'd; with such delay
Well pleas'd, they slack their course; and many a league
Cheer'd with the grateful smell old Ocean smiles:
So entertain'd those odorous sweets

_Paradise Lost_, iv. 152.


Another passage, scarcely less poetical, and, in moral beauty, far
superior, affords a still more striking coincidence:

The merchant, who towards spicy regions sails,
Smells their perfume far off, in adverse gales;
With blasts which thus against the faithful blow,
Fresh odorous breathings of God's goodness flow.

_Bp. Ken. Works_, i. 494.