E degli occhi suoi auventa si gran fuoco Che l'incerar gli orecchi mi fia poco.

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 sentì pria)
Da quel lato si spinge ove mi duole,
Che forse amanti 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
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.

росо

GIOVANE piano, e semplicette amante
Poi che fuggir me stesso in dubbio sono,
Madonna a voi del mio cuor l'humil dono
Farò divoto; io certo a prové tante,
L'hebbi fedele, intrepido, costante,

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,
Di timori, e speranze, al popol use,
Quanto d'ingegno, e d'alto valor vago,

E di cetta sonora, e delle muse;

Sol troverete in tal parte men duro,
Ove Amor mise l'insanabil ago.

VII.

ON HIS BEING ARRIVED TO THE AGE OF 23.* 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 blossom sheweth. Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth, That I to manhood am arrived so near,

Written at Cambridge in 1631, and sent in a letter to a friend, who had importuned our author to take orders

And inward ripeness doth much less appear, That some more timely-happy spirits endueth. Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,

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, & 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 & 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
Wisely hast shunn'd the broad way & 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
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.

In 1642; the King's army having arrived at Brentford.

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 Cheronea, 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 Časella, 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.