THE FIFTH ODE OF HORACE, Lib. I. Quis multa gracilis te puer in rosa, rendered almost word for word without rhyme, according to th Latin measure, as near as the language will permit WHAT slender youth, bedew'd with liquid odours, In wreaths thy golden hair, Plain in thy neatness? O, how oft shall he Who now enjoys thee credulous, all gold, Hopes thee, of flattering gales Unmindful. Hapless they To whom thou untried seem'st fair! Me, in my vow'd Picture, the sacred wall declares to have hung My dank and dropping weeds To the stern god of sea. SONNETS. TO THE NIGHTINGALE. O NIGHTINGALE, that on yon bloomy spray Foretel my hopeless doom, in some grove nigh; As thou, from year to year, hast sung too late For my relief, yet hadst no reason why: Whether the Muse, or Love, call thee his mate, Both them I serve, and of their train am I. ON HIS BEING ARRIVED TO THE AGE OF TWENTY-THREE. How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stol'n on his wing my three-and-twentieth year! My hasting days fly on with full career, But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th. Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth, That I to manhood am arriv'd so near; And inward ripeness doth much less appear That some more timely-happy spirits endu❜th. Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow, All is, if I have grace to use it so, As ever in my great Task-Master's eye. WHEN THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED TO THE CITY.* CAPTAIN, or Colonel, or Knight in arms seize, If deed of honour did thee ever please, may That call Fame on such gentle acts as these, To save th' Athenian walls from ruin bare. TO A VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY. LADY, that in the prime of earliest youth and the green, In the manuscript after the title, is added 1642. It was in November of that year that the King marched with his army as near as Brentford, and put the city in great consternation. And with those few art eminently seen, 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. TO THE LADY MARGARET LEY.* Kill'd with report that old man eloquent. Though later born than to have known the days * We have given the title which is in Milton's Manuscript, To the Lady Margaret Ley. She was the daughter of Sir James Ley, whose singular learning and abilities raised him through all the great posts of the law, till he came to be made Earl of Marlborough, and Lord High Treasurer, and Lord President of the Council to King James I. He died in an advanced age, and Milton attributes his death to the breaking of the parliament; and it is true that the parliament was dissolved the 10th of March, 1628-9, and he died on the 14th of the same month. He left several sons and daughters; and the Lady Margaret was married to Captain Hobson, of the Isle of Wight. It appears from the accounts of Milton's life, that in the year 1643 he used frequently to visit this lady and her husband, and about that time we may suppose this sonnet was composed. R |