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SONNETS.

I. To the Nightingale. Nightingale, that on yon bloomy spray

Ganzone.

Warbleft at eve, when all the woods are ftill, IDONSI donne e giovani amorofi

Thou with fresh hope the lover's heart doth fill,
While the jolly hours lead on propitious May.
Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day,
First heard before the fhallow cuckoo's bill,
Portend fuccefs in love; O if Jove's will
Have link'd that amorous power to thy foft lay,.
Now timely fing, ere the rude bird of hate

Foretel my hopeless doom in fome grove nigh;
As thou from year to year haft fung too late II
For my relief, yet hadft no reason why:

Whether the Mufe, or Love call thee his mate,
Both them I ferve, and of their train am I.

II.

ONNA leggiadra il cui bel nome honora
L'herbofa val di Rheno, e il nobil varco,

Bene è colui d'ogni valore scarco
Quol tuo fpirto gentil non innamora,
Che dolcemente moftra fi di fuora

De fui atti foavi giamai parco,

Ei don', che fon d'amor faette ed arco,
La onde l'alta tua virtu s'infiora.
Quando tu vaga parli, o licta canti

Che mover poffa duro alpeftre legno
Guardi ciafcun a gli occhi, ed a gli orecchi
L'entrata, chi di te fi truova indegno;
Gratia fola di fu gli vaglia, inanti
Che'l difio amorofo al cuor s'invecchi.

Q

III.

UAL in colle afpro, al imbrunir di fera
L'avezza giovinetta paftorella

Va bagnando l'herbetta ftrana e bella
Che mal fi fpande a difufata fpera
Fuor di fua natia alma primavera,
Cofi Amor meco infù la lingua fnella
Defta il fior novo di strania favella,
Mentre io di te, vezzofamente altera,
Canto, dal mio buon popol non intefo
E'l bel Tamigi cangio col bel Arno.
Amor lo volfe, ed io a l'altrui peso
Seppi ch' Amor cofa mai volfe indarno.
Deh! fofs' il mio cuor lento e'l duro feng
4 chi pianta dal ciel fi buon terreno.

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M' accoftandofi attorno, e perche fcrivi,
Perche tu fcrivi in lingua ignota e ftrana
Verfeggiando d' amor, e come t'ofi?
Dinne, fe la tua fpeme fia mai vana,
E de penfieri lo miglior t' arrivi;
Cofi mi van burlando, altri rivi
Altri lidi t'afpettan, & altre onde
Nelle cui verdi fponde

Spuntati ad hor, ad hor a la tua chioma
L'immortal guiderdon d'eterne frondi
Perche alle spalle tue foverchia foma?

Canzon dirotti, e tu per me rifpondi
Dice mia Donna, e'l fuo dir, è il mio cuore
Quefta e lingua di cui fi vanta Amore.

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Gia caddi, ov' huom dabben talhor s'impiglia.
Ne treccie d' oro, ne guancia vermiglia
M' abbaglian sì, ma fotto nova idea
Pellegrina bellezza che"! cuor bea,
Portamenti alti honefti, e nelle ciglia
Quel fereno fulgor d'amabil nero,
Parole adorne di lingua piu d' una,
E'l cantar che di mezzo l'hemifpero
Traviar ben puo la faticofa Luna,

E degli occhi fuoi auventa fi gran fuoco
Che l'incerar gli orecchi mi fia poco.

V.

ER certo i bei voftr' occhi, Donna mia

Si mi percuoton forte, come ei fuole
Per l'arene di Libia chi s'invia,
Mentre un caldo vapor (ne fentì pria)
Da quel lato fi fpinge ove me duole,
Che forfe amanti nelle lor parole
Chiaman fofpir; io non fo che fi fia :
Parte rinchiufa, e turbida fi cela

Scoffo mi il petto, e poi n'ufcendo poco
Quivi d'attorno o s'agghiaccia, o s'ingiela;
Ma quanto a gli occhi giunge a trovar loco
Tutte le notti a me fuol far piovofe
Finche mia Alba rivien colma di rofe.

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To the Lady Margaret Ley.

DAUGHTER to that good Earl, once Prefident

Of England's Council, and her Treasury, Who liv'd in both, unftain'd with gold or fee, And left them both, more in himself content, Till fad the breaking of that Parliament Broke him, as that dishoneft victory

At Charonea, fatal to liberty,

Kill'd with report that old man eloquent. Though later born than to have known the days Wherein your father florish'd, yet by you, 10 Madam, methinks I fee him living yet; So well your words his noble virtues praise, That all both judge you to relate them true, And to poffefs them, honor'd Margaret.

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XII.

On the fame.

DID but prompt the age to quit their clogs By the known rules of ancient liberty, When ftrait a barbarous noife environs me Of owls and cuckoos, affes, apes, and dogs =

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On the religious Memory of Mrs. Catharine Thomson, my Chriftian Friend, deceas'd 16 Decemb. 1646.

XVII.

To Sir Henry Vane the younger.

ANE, young in years, but in fage counfel old,

HEN faith and love, which parted from VANhan on a better fenator ne'er held WHEN

thee never,

Had ripen'd thy juft foul to dwell with God, Meekly thou didit refign this earthly load

Of death, call'd life; which us from life doth

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NYRIAC, whofe grandfire on the royal bench Of British Themis, with no mean applaufe Pronounc'd and in his volumes taught our laws, Which others at their bar fo often wrench; To-day deep thoughts refolve with me to drench 5 In mirth, that after no repenting draws; I et Euclid reft and Archimedes paufe, And what the Swede intends, and what the French.

To measure life learn thou betimes, and know Toward folid good what leads the nearest way; For other things mild Heav'n a time ordains,

And difapproves that care, though wife in show, That with fuperfluous burden loads the day, And when God fends a chearful hour, refrains.

XXII. To the fame.

CYRIA though clear,

YRIAC, this three years day these eyes,

To outward view, of blemish or of spot, Bereft of light, their seeing have forgot, Nor to their idle orbs doth fight appear Of fun, or moon, or ftar, throughout the year, 5 Or man, or woman. Yet I argue not

Against Heav'n's hand or will, nor bate a jot Of heart or hope; but ftill bear up and fleer Right onward. What fupports me, doft thou ask? The confcience, Friend, to' have lost them over

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Mine, as whom wafh'd from spot of child-bed taint
Purification in the old Law did fave,
And fuch, as yet once more I trust to have
Full fight of her in Heav'n without reftraint,
Came vefted all in white, pure as her mind:

Her face was veil'd, yet to my fancied fight 10
Love, fweetness, goodnels, in her person fhir'd
So clear, as in no face with more delight.
But O as to embrace me fhe inclin'd,

I wak'd, fhe fled, and day brought back my night.

XXIV.

On occafion of the Plague in London. Found on a glass Window at Chalfont, in Buckinglum. fire, where Milton refided during the Continuant of that Calamity.

[From Birch's Life.]

AIR mirror of foul times; whofe fragile sheen

(Aye watching o'er his faints with eye unfeen)
Spreads the red rod of angry petlilence,
To fweep the wicked and their counfels hence;
Yea, all to break the pride of luftful kings,
Who Heaven's lore reject for brutish fenfe;
As erft he fcourg'd Jeffides' fin of yore,

For the fair Hittite, when, on feraph's wings, He fent him war, or plague, or famine fore. 1

PSA L M S

Pfalm 1. Done into verse, 1653.

LESS'D is the man who hath not walk'd aftray

But Some of the wicked, and i'th way

Of finners hath not flood, and in the feat
Of fcorners hath not fat. But in the great
Jehovah's law is ever his delight,
And in his law he ftudies day and night.
He shall be as a tree which planted grows
By watery ftreams, and in his feafon knows
To yield his fruit, and his leaf fhall not fall,
And what he takes in hand fhall profper all.
Not fo the wicked, but as chaff which fann'd
The wind drives, fo the wicked fhall not stand
In judgment, or abide their trial then,
Nor finners in th' affembly of just men.

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Haft broke the teeth. This help was from the

Lord;

Thy blefling on thy people flows.

Pfalm 1v. Aug. 10, 1653.

15 ANSWER me when I call,

Th' Heathen, and as thy conquest to be sway'd Earth's utmost bounds: them fhalt thou bring full low

With iron scepter bruis'd, and them difperfe 20 Like to a potter's veffel fhiver'd fo. And now be wife at length, ye Kings averfe,

Be taught, ye Judges of the earth; with fear VOL. II.

God of my righteousness,

In ftraits and in diftrefs
Thou didst me difinthrall
And fet at large; now spare,

New pity me, and hear my earnest prayer.
Great ones, how long will ye
My glory have in fcorn,
How long be thus forborn
Still to love vanity;
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