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, 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 liberty,
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;
That bawl for freedom in their senseless mood,
And still revolt when truth would set them free.
License 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 THE PUBLISHING HIS
AIRS.

HARRY, whose tuneful and well measur'd 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;

6

10

To after age thou shalt be writ the man, [tongue. That with smooth air couldst humour best our Thou honour'st verse, and verse must lend her wing To honour thee, the priest of Phœbus' 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 MRS.
CATHARINE THOMSON,

MY CHRISTIAN FRIEND, DECEASED 16TH 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, Stay'd not behind, nor in the grave were trod ; 6 But, as Faith pointed with her golden rod, Follow'd thee up to joy and bliss for ever.

5 exempts] Hor. Od. i. i. 32, 'Secernunt populo.' Richardson. 7 writ] Hor. Od. i. vi. 1, ‘Scriberis Vario fortis,' &c. Newton. 9 honour'st] So Browne's Brit. Past. B. ii. s. 11, of Lord Brooke, Time shall see

Thee honor'd by thy verse, and it by thee.'

6 Stay'd] Orig. line in MS.

Todd.

'Straight follow'd thee the path that saints have trod.' Warton.

Love led them on, and Faith who knew them best
Thy handmaids, 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
immortal streams.

pure

XV. TO THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX.*

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,

(For what can war, but endless war still breed?)

14 drink] Epitaph. Damonis. 206. 'Ethereos haurit latices.

Warton.

5

*This Sonnet, as appears from Milton's MS. was addressed to Fairfax at the siege of Colchester, 1648. It was first printed, together with the two following sonnets, and the two to Cyriac Skinner, at the end of Philips's Life of Milton, 1694. Warton.

2 Filling] So the MS.: before, it was' And fills each mouth.' Todd. 5 virtue] So the MS.: before, 'valour.' In the next line 'though'

·

Is admitted from the MS. instead of while.' Todd.

& their] So the MS.: before, 'her.' Todd.

10 This and the following lines were thus in the printed copies: 'For what can war, but acts of war still breed, Till injured truth from violence be freed, And public faith be rescued from the brand.'

Newton.

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.

XVI. TO THE LORD GENERAL CROMWELL.*

CROMWELL, Our chief of men, who through a cloud Not of war only, but detractions rude,

Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,

To peace and truth thy glorious way hast plough'd, And on the neck of crowned fortune proud

5

Hast rear'd God's trophies, and his work pursued, While Darwen stream with blood of Scots im

brued,

And Dunbar field resounds thy praises loud,

And Worcester's laureat wreath. Yet much remains

* See Hollis's Memoirs, p. 511.

1 who, &c.] In the printed copy thus:

that through a crowd

Not of war only, but distractions rude.'

But a cloud of war' is a classical expression. Virg. Æn. x. 809. 'Nubem belli.' Newton.

5 This and the following line were contracted in the printed copies of Philips, Toland, Tonson, Tickell, and Fenton, into

'And fought God's battles, and his works pursued.' Warton.

7 Darwen] In the printed copies, 'Darwent.' Newton.

9 And Worcester's laureat wreath.] This expression, though beautiful, is inaccurate; for a 'laureat wreath' cannot, with propriety, be said to 'resound his praises loud;' but the inaccuracy arose from the alteration. The hemistich originally stood, And twenty battles more,' which was flat enough.

To conquer still; peace hath her victories No less renown'd than war: new foes arise Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains : Help us to save free conscience from the paw Of hireling wolves, whose gospel is their maw.

10

XVII. TO SIR HENRY VANE THE YOUNGER.*

VANE, young in years, but in sage counsel old,
Than whom a better senator ne'er held
The helm of Rome, when gowns not arms repell'd
The fierce Epirot and the African bold,
Whether to settle peace, or to unfold

The drift of hollow states hard to be spell'd,
Then to advise how war may best upheld
Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold,
In all her equipage: besides to know

Both spiritual pow'r and civil, what each means, What severs each, thou hast learn'd, which few

5

have done :

11

10

peace, &c.] In the printed copies, before Newton's edition, 'peace has her victories, no less than those of war;' and afterwards, in secular chains.' Todd. Compare Milton' Second Defence, vol. ii. p. 442; and Cas. Sarb. Carm. p. 323, ed. Barbou.

*This Sonnet seems to have been written in behalf of the Independents against the Presbyterian hierarchy. Vane was beheaded in 1662.

Warton.

1 counsel] The printed copies, 'councils.' Newton.

7 Then, &c.] In the printed copies,

'Then to advise how war may be best upheld

Mann'd by her two main nerves,' &c. Newton.

11 severs] 'Serves.' Printed edition. Newton.