This and this man was born in her;

High God shall fix her fast.
6. The Lord shall write it in a scroll

That ne'er shall be outworn,
When he the nations doth inroll;

That this man there was born. 7. Both they who sing, and they who dance,

With sacred songs are there;
In thee fresh brooks and soft streams glance,

And all my fountains clear.

PSALM LXXXVIII.

1. LORD GOD, that dost me save and keep,

All day to thee I cry;
And all night long before thee weep,

Before thee prostrate lie.
2. Into thy presence let my prayer,

With sighs devout ascend ;
And to my cries, that ceaseless are,

Thine ear with favour bend.
3. For, cloy'd with woes and trouble store,

Surcharged my soul doth lie;
My life, at Death's uncheerful door,

Unto the grave draws nigh.
4. Reckonid I am with them that pass

Down to the dismal pit :
I am a man; but weak, alas !

And for that name unfit.
5. From life discharged, and parted quite,

Among the dead to sleep ;
And like the slain in bloody fight,

That in the grave lie deep.
Whom thou rememberest no more,

Dost never more regard ;
Them, from thy hand deliver'd o’er,

Death's hideous house hath barr'd. 6. Thou in the lowest pit profound

Hast set me all forlorn,
Where thickest darkness hovers round,

In horrid deeps to mourn.
7: Thy wrath, from which no shelter saves,

Full sore doth press on me;
Thou break’st upon me all thy waves,

And all thy waves break me.
8. Thou dost my friends from me estrange,

And makest me odious,
Me to them odious, for they change,

And I here pent up thus.

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9. Through sorrow and affliction great,

Mine eyes grow dim and dead :
Lord, all the day I thee entreat,

My hands to thee I spread.
10. Wilt thou do wonders on the dead ?

Shall the deceased arise,
And praise thee from their loathsome bed

With pale and hollow eyes ?
11. Shall they thy loving-kindness tell,

On whom the grave hath hold ?
Or they, who in perdition dwell,

Thy faithfulness unfold ?
12. In darkness can thy mighty hand

Or wondrous acts be known ?
Thy justice in the gloomy land

Of dark oblivion ?
13. But I to thee, O Lord, do cry,

Ere yet my life be spent ;
And up to thee my prayer doth hie,

Each morn, and thee prevent.
14. Why wilt thou, Lord, my soul forsake,

And hide thy face from me,
15. That am already bruised, and shake

With terrour sent from thee?
Bruised and afflicted, and so low

As ready to expire;
While I tby terrours undergo,

Astonish'd with thine ire.
16. Thy fierce wrath over me doth flow;

Thy threatenings cut me through:
17. All day they round about me go;

Like waves they me pursue.
18. Lover and friend thou hast removed,

And sever'd from me far:
They fly me now whom I have loved,

And as in darkness are.

A PARAPHRASE ON PSALM CXIV e.
This and the following Psalm were done by the author at fifteen years old.

WHEN the blest seed of Terah's faithful son,
After long toil, their liberty had won;
And past from Pharian fields to Canaan land,
Led by the strength of the Almighty's band;
Jehovah's wonders were in Israel shown,

His praise and glory was in Israel known. e This and the following Psalm are Milton's earliest performances. The first he afterwards translated into Greek.-T. WARTON.

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That saw the troubled sea, and shivering fled,
And sought to hide his froth-becurled head
Low in the earth; Jordan's clear streams recoil,
As a faint host that hath received the foil f.
The high, huge-bellied mountains skip, like rams
Amongst their ewes : the little hills, like lambs.
Why fled the ocean? And why skipt the mountains ?
Why turned Jordan toward his crystal fountains ?
Shake, Earth; and at the presence be aghast
Of Him that ever was, and aye shall last;
That glassy floods from rugged rocks can crush,
And make soft rills from fiery flint-stones gush !

PSALM CXXXVI.

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20

20

Let us, with a gladsome mind,
Praise the Lord, for he is kind :

For his mercies aye endure,

Ever faithful, ever sure.
Let us blaze his name abroad,
For of gods he is the God:

For his, &c.
O, let us his praises tell,
Who doth the wrathful tyrants quell:

For his, &c.
Who, with his miracles, doth make
Amazed heaven and earth to shake :

For his, &c.
Who, by his wisdom, did create
The painted heavens so full of state

For his, &c.
Who did the solid earth ordain
To rise above the watery plain :

For his, &c.
Who, by his all-commanding might,
Did fill the new-made world with light :

For his, &c.
And caused the golden-tressed sun
All the day long his course to run :

For his, &c.
The horned moon to shine by night,
Amongst her spangled sisters bright:

For his, &c.
He, with his thunder-clasping hand,
Smote the first-born of Egypt-land :
For his, &c.

As a faint host that hath received the foil. “Foil” is defeat: a substantive used in the same sense by Harrington in his “Orlando Furioso,” and by Shakspeare repeatedly.—TODD.

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30

40

45

50

55

60

65

And, in despite of Pharaoh fell,
He brought from thence his Israel :

For his, &c.
The ruddy waves he cleft in twain
Of the Erythræan main :

For. his, &c.
The floods stood still, like walls of glass,
While the Hebrew bands did pass :

For his, &c.
But full soon they did devour
The tawny king with all his power:

For his, &c.
His chosen people he did bless
In the wasteful wilderness :

For his, &c.
In bloody battle he brought down
Kings of prowess and renown:

For his, &c.
He foil'd bold Seon and his host,
That ruled the Amorrean coasi :

For his, &c.
And large-limb'd Og he did subdue,
With all his over-hardy crew :

For his, &c.
And, to his servant Israel,
He
gave

their land therein to dwell :
For his, &c.
He hath, with a piteous eye,
Beheld us in our misery :

For his, &c.
And freed us from the slavery
Of the invading enemy:

For his, &c.
All living creatures he doth feed,
And with full hand supplies their need :

For his, &c.
Let us therefore warble forth
His mighty majesty and worth :

For his, &c.
That his mansion hath on high
Above the reach of mortal eye :
For his mercies aye endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.

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75

80

85

90

95

JOANNIS MILTONI

LONDINENSIS

POEMATA;

QUORUM PLERAQUE INTRA ANNUM ÆTATIS VIGESIMUM CONSCRIPSIT.

Hæc quæ sequuntur de Auctore testimonia, tametsi ipse intelligebat non tam de se quam supra se esse dicta, eo quod præclaro ingenio viri, necnon amici, ita fere solent laudare, ut omnia suis potius virtutibus, quam veritati congruentia, nimis cupide affingant; noluit tamen horum egregiam in se voluntatem non esse notam; cum alii præsertim ut id faceret magnopere suaderent. Dum enim nimiæ laudis invidiam totis ab se viribus amolitur, sibique quod plus æquo est non attributum esse mavult, judicium interim hominum cordatorum atque illustrium quin summo sibi honori ducat, negare non potest.

JOANNES BAPTISTA MANSUS, MARCHIO VILLENSIS, NEAPOLITANUS,

AD JOANNEM MILTONIUM, ANGLUM :
UT mens, forma, decor, facies, mos, si pietas sic,

Non Anglus, verum hercle Angelus, ipse fores.

AD JOANNEM MILTONEM, ANGLUM, TRIPLICI POESEOS LAUREA CORONANDUM, Græca nimirum, Latina, atque Hetrusca, Epigramma Joannis Salsilli, Romani.

CEDE, Meles ; cedat depressa Mincius urna ;

Sebetus Tassum desinat usque loqui :
At Thamesis victor cunctis ferat altior undas,

Nam per te, Milto par tribus unus erit.

AD JOANNEM MILTONUM.
GRÆcia Mæonidem, jactet sibi Roma Maronem;

Anglia Miltonum jactat utrique parem.-SELVAGGI.

AL SIGNOR GIO. MILTONI, NOBILE INGLESE.

ODE.
ERGIMI all' Etra Ò Clio
Perche di stelle intreccierò corona
Non più del Biondo Dio
La fronde eterna in Pindo, e in Elicona,
Diensi a merto maggior, maggiori i fregi,
A' celeste virtù celesti pregi.