Kill'd with report that old man eloquent. Though later born than to have known the days Wherein father flourish'd, yet by you, Madam, methinks I see him living yet;

your

So well your words his noble virtues praise,
That all both judge you to relate them true,
And to possess them, honour'd Margaret.

10

XI. ON THE DETRACTION WHICH FOLLOWED UPON MY WRITING CERTAIN TREATISES.*

Á 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, Numb'ring good intellects; now seldom por❜d on. Cries the stall-reader, Bless us! what a word on 5 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,

10

* This is the Sonnet which Dr. Johnson selected in his Dictionary, as a specimen of this species of Verse in English. Todd.

• Colkitto] Colkitto and Macdonnel are one and the same person, an officer on the royal side, an Irishman of the Antrim family, who served under Montrose. The Macdonalds of that family are styled, by way of distinction, Mac Collcittok, i. e. descendants of lame Colin. Galasp is George Gillespie, a Scottish writer against the Independents. Warton.

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;

To after age thou shalt be writ the man,

That with smooth air couldst humour best our

tongue.

Thou honour'st verse, and verse must lend her wing
To honour thee, the priest of Phoebus' quire, 10
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. CATHERINE 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,

5 exempts] Hor. Od. i. i. 32, Secernunt populo.'

Richardson.

1 writ] Hor. Od. i. vi. 1, ‹ Scriberis Vario fortis,' &c.

Newton.

honour'st] So Browne's Brit. Past. B. ii. s. 11, of Lord

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

Stay'd not behind, nor in the grave were trod; But, as Faith pointed with her golden rod, 7 Follow'd thee up to joy and bliss for ever. 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 pure immortal streams.

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

Stay'd] Orig. Line in MS.

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

5

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

Warton.

*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 Cyriack Skinner, at the end of Phillips's Life of Milton, 1694. Warton.

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 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 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

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.

* See Hollis's Memoirs, p. 511.

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 Phillips, Toland, Tonson, Tickell, and Fenton, into And fought God's battles, and his works pursued.'

VOL. III.

P

Warton.