V.

PER certo i bei vostr'occhi, Donna mia
Esser non puo che non sian lo mio sole
Si mi percuoton forte, come ei suole
Per l'arene di Libia chi s'invia,
Mentre un caldo vapor (ne senti pria)

Da quel lato si spinge ove mi duole,
Che forse amianti nelle lor parole
Chiaman sospir, io non so che si sia :
Parte rinchiusa, e turbida si cela
Scosso mi il petto, e poi n'uscendo poco

Quivi d'attorno o s'agghiaccia, o s'ingiela :

Ma quanto a gli occhi giunge a trovar loco
Tutte le notti a me suol far piovose
Finche mia Alba rivien colma di rose.

VI.

GIOVANE piano, e semplicetto amante

Poi che fuggir me stesso in dubbio sono,
Madonna a voi del mio cuor l'humil dono

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Faro divoto; io certo a prove tante

L'hebbi fedele, intrepido, costante,

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De pensieri leggiadro, accorto, e buono;

Quando rugge il gran mondo, e scocca il tuono,

S'arma di se, e d'intero diamante,

Tanto del forse, e d' invidia sicuro,

How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stolen on his wing my three-and-twentieth year! My hasting days fly on with full career,

But my late spring no bud or blossoın shew'th.

Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,
That I to manhood am arrived so near,
And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more timely-happy spirits indueth.
Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,

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It shall be still in strictest measure even
To that same lot, however mean or high,
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven;
All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my great Task-master's eye.

VIII.

WHEN THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED

TO THE CITY.

CAPTAIN or Colonel, or Knight in arms,

Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize, If deed of honour did thee ever please, Guard them, and him within protect from harms. He can requite thee, for he knows the charms

That call fame on such gentle acts as these, And he can spread thy name o'er lands and seas, Whatever clime the sun's bright circle warms. Lift not thy spear against the Muses' bower: The great Emathian conqueror* bid spare

The house of Pindarus, when temple' and tower Went to the ground: and the repeated air

Of sad Electra's poet had the power

To save the Athenian walls from ruin bare.

IX.

TO A VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY.

LADY, that in the prime of earliest youth

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Wisely hath shunn'd the broad way and the green, And with those few art eminently seen, That labour up the hill of heavenly truth, The better part with Mary and with Ruth

Emathian conqueror; Alexander, who spared the house of Pindar when he destroyed Thebes.-Electra's poet; Euripides, come lines in whose tragedy saved Athens from being totally de stroyed by Lysander.

Chosen thou hast; and they that overween,
And at thy growing virtues fret their spleen,
No anger find in thee, but pity' and ruth.
Thy care is fix'd, and zealously attends

To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light,
And hope that reaps not shame. Therefore be sure
Thou, when the bridegroom with his feastful friends
Passes to bliss at the mid hour of night,
Hast gain'd thy entrance, Virgin wise and pure.

X.

TO THE LADY MARGARET LEY.

DAUGHTER to that good Earl, once president
Of England's council, and her treasury,
Who lived in both, unstain'd with gold or fee,
And left them both, more in himself content,
Till sad the breaking of that Parliament*
Broke him, as that dishonest victory

At Chæronea, fatal to liberty,

Kill'd with report that old man eloquent.
Though later born than to have known the days
Wherein your father flourish'd, yet by you,

Madam, methinks I see him living yet;

So well your words his noble virtues praise,

That all both judge you to relate them true,

And to possess them, honour'd Margaret.

XI.

ON THE DETRACTION WHICH FOLLOWED UPON
MY WRITING CERTAIN TREATISES.

A BOOK was writ of late call'd Tetrachordon,+
And woven close, both matter, form and style;
The subject new; it walk'd the town a while,
Numbering good intellects; now seldom pored on.
Cries the stall-reader, Bless us! what a word on

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The parliament here mentioned was dissolved March 10, 1628. The victory was that gained by Philip of Macedon over the Athenians: and the old man was Isocrates, who died with grief when the tidings were brought to him of the event.

+ The treatise on divorce, which Milton wrote, is here alluded to. The persons mentioned were some rigid presbyterians, who took offence, and very justly, at some of the opinions started.

A title-page is this! and some in file Stand spelling false, while one might walk to MileEnd-Green. Why is it harder, Sirs, than Gordon, Colkitto, or Macdonnel, or Galasp?

Those rugged names to our like mouths grow sleek, That would have made Quintilian stare and gasp. Thy age, like ours, O Soul of Sir John Cheek,

Hated not learning worse than toad or asp,

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When thou taught'st Cambridge, and King Edward, Greek.

XII.

ON THE SAME.

I DID but prompt the age to quit their clogs
By the known rules of ancient lib rty,
When straight a barbarous noise environs me

Of owls and cuckoos, asses, apes and dogs:

As when those hinds that were transform'd to frogs Rail'd at Latona's twin-born progeny,

Which after held the sun and moon in fee.

But this is got by casting pearl to hogs;

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That bawl for freedom in their senseless mood, And still revolt when Truth would set them free. 10 Licence they mean when they cry Liberty;

For who loves that must first be wise and good; But from that mark how far they rove we see For all this waste of wealth, and loss of blood.

XIII.

TO MR. H. LAWES ON HIS AIRS.

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HARRY, whose tuneful and well-measured song
First taught our English music how to span
Words with just note and accent, not to scan
With Midas' ears, committing short and long;
Thy worth and skill exempts thee from the throng,
With praise enough for Envy to look wan;
To after age thou shalt be writ the man
That with smooth air could'st humour best our tongue.

• Mr. Lawes was one of the King's musicians, and an intimate friend of Milton. He is supposed to have been frequently a luded to in the Comus and Arcades of our author.

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Thou honour'st verse, and verse must lend her wing
To honour thee, the priest of Phoebus' quire,
That tun'st their happiest lines in hymn or story.
Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher
Than his Casella, whom he woo'd to sing
Met in the milder shades of Purgatory.

XIV.

ON THE RELIGIOUS MEMORY OF

M S. CATHARINE THOMSON, MY CHRISTIAN FRIEND,
DECEASED 16 DEC. 1646.

WHEN faith and love, which parted from thee never,
Had ripen'd thy just soul to dwell with God,
Meekly thou didst resign this earthly load
Of death, call'd life; which us from life doth sever.
Thy works and alms and all thy good endeavour

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Stay'd not behind, nor in the grave were trod, But as faith pointed with her golden rod, Follow'd thee up to joy and bliss for ever. Love led them on, and Faith who knew them best Thy hand-maids, clad them o'er with purple beams And azure wings, that up they flew so drest, And spake the truth of thee on glorious themes Before the Judge, who thenceforth bid thee rest And drink thy fill of pure immortal streams.

XV.

TO THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX.

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FAIRFAX, whose name in arms through Europe rings,
Filling each mouth with envy or with praise,
And all her jealous monarchs with amaze,
And rumours loud that daunt remotest kings,
Thy firm unshaken virtue ever brings

Victory home, though new rebellions raise
Their Hydra heads, and the false North displays
Her broken league to imp their serpent wings.
O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand,

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(For what can war, but endless war still breed?) 10 Till truth and right from violence be freed,

And public faith clear'd from the shameful brand Of public fraud. In vain doth Valour bleed,

While Avarice and Rapine share the land.