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 the sad breaking of that parliament
Broke him, as that dishonest 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 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. 1645.

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

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.-Newton.

Isocrates, the orator. The victory was gained by Philip of Macedon over the Athenians.- Warton.

This was one of Milton's books published in consequence of his divorce from his first wife. Tetrachordon signifies Expositions on the four chief places in Scripture which mention marriage or nullities in marriage.- Warton.

§ Milton is here collecting, from his hatred to the Scots, what he thinks Scottish names of an ill sound. Colkitto and Macdonnel, are one and the same person; a brave officer on the royal side, an Irishman of the Antrim family, who served un

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, 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 pearls 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
Written 1645.

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.
Thou honour'st verse, and verse must lend her wing

der Montrose. The Macdonalds of that family are styled, by way of distinction, Mac Collcittock,—that is, descendants of lame Colin. Galasp is a Scottish writer against the Independents; for whom see Milton's verses On the Forcers of Conscience, &c. He is George Gillespie, one of the Scotch members of the Assembly of Divines.- Warton.

The first professor of the Greek tongue in the university of Cambridge, and was afterwards made one of the tutors to Edward VI. See his Life by Strype, or in the Biographia Britannica.-Newton.

To honour thee, the priest of Phoebus' quire, That tunest 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 December 16, 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,
Staid 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 dress'd,
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.

Written 1648.

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? Till truth and right from violence be freed, And public faith clear'd from the shameful brand

Dr. Newton found, in the accounts of Milton's life, that when he was first made Latin Secretary, he lodged at one Thomson's, next door to the Bull Head Tavern, at Charing Cross. This Mrs. Thomson was in all probability one of that family.

Of public fraud. In vain doth valour bleed,
While avarice and rapine share the land.

XVI.

TO THE LORD GENERAL CROMWELL.

Written 1652.

CROMWELL, Our chief of men, who, through a cloud
Not of war only, but detractions rude,
Guided by faith, and matchless fortitude,
To peace & truth thy glorious way hast plough'd,
And on the neck of crowned fortune proud,
Hast rear'd God's trophies, and his work pursued;
While Darwen stream, with blood of Scots imbrued,
And Dunbar field resounds thy praises loud,
And Worcester's laureat wreath. Yet much remains
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.

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 power & civil, what each means,
What severs each, thou hast learn'd, which few have
The bounds of either sword to thee we owe : [done.
Therefore, on thy firm hand Religion leans
In peace, and reckons thee her eldest son.

Sir Henry Vane the younger was the chief of the Independents, and therefore Milton's friend. He was the contriver of the Solemn League and Covenant. In the pamphlets of that age he is called Sir Humorous Vanity. He was beheaded in 1662.

XVIII.

ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEDMONT, 1655.

AVENGE, O Lord, thy slaughter'd saints, whose bones
Lie scatter'd on the Alpine mountains cold;
Even them, who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshipp'd stocks & stones,
Forget not in thy book record their groans,

Who were thy sheep, and, in their ancient fold Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that roll'd Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans The vales redoubled to the hills, and they

To Heaven. Their martyr'd blood & ashes sow O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway The triple tyrant; that from these may grow A hundred fold, who, having learn'd thy way, Early may fly the Babylonian woe.

XIX.

ON HIS BLINDNESS.

WHEN I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he, returning, chide;
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask but patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work, or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best: his state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve, who only stand and wait."

XX.

TO MR. LAWRENCE.

LAWRENCE, of virtuous father virtuous son,*
Now that the fields are dank, and ways are mire,
Where shall we sometimes meet, and, by the fire,

The virtuous son was author of a work " Of our Communion with Angels," printed in 1646. The father was member for Herefordshire, in the Little Parliament which began in 1653, and was active in settling the protectorate of Cromwell.