Dinne, fe la tua fpeme fia mai vana,

E de penfieri lo miglior t'arrivi ;
Cofi mi van burlando, altri rivi
Altri lidi t' afpettan, & altre onde
Nelle cui verdi fponde

Spuntati ad hor, ad hor a la tua chioma
L'immortal guiderdon d'eterne frondi
Perche alle spalle tue foverchia foma?

Canzon dirotti, e tu per me rispondi

Dice mia Donna, e'l fuo dir, è il mio cuore
Quefta e lingua di cui fi vanta Amore.

15

Pellegrina bellezza che'l cuor bea,
Portamenti alti honefti, e nelle ciglia
Quel fereno fulgor d'amabil nero,
Parole adorne di lingua piu d'una,
E'l cantar che di mezzo l'hemifpero
Traviar ben puo la faticofa Luna,

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

V.

Per certo i bei voftr'occhi, Donna mia

Effer non puo che non fian lo mio fole
Si mi percuoton forte, come ei fuole
Per l'arene di Libia chi s'invia,
Mentre un caldo vapor (ne fentì pria)

10

5

Da quel lato fi fpinge ove mi duole,
Che forfe amanti nelle lor parole
Chiaman fofpir; io non fo che fi fia:
Parte rinchiufa, e turbida fi cela

Scoffo mi il petto, e poi n'ufcendo poco
Quivi d' attorno o s'agghiaccia, o s'ingiela;
Ma quanto a gli occhi giunge a trovar loco
Tutte le notti a me fuol far piovofe
Finche mia Alba rivien colma di rofe.

VI.

Giovane piano, e femplicetto amante
Poi che fuggir me stesso in dubbio fono,
Madonna a voi del mio cuor l'humil dono
Faro divoto; io certo a prove tante
L'hebbi fedele, intrepido, costante,

De penfieri leggiadro, accorto, e buono ;

Quando rugge il gran mondo, e fcocca il tuono,
S'arma di fe, e d'intero diamante,

Tanto del forfe, e d' invidia ficuro,

Di timori, e speranze al popol use

10

5

10

Quanto d'ingegno, e d'alto valor vago,

E di cetta fonora, e delle mufe:

Sol troverete in tal parte men duro

Ove Amor mife l'infanabil ago.

VII.

On his being arriv'd to the age of 23

How foon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stoll'n on his wing my three and twentieth year!
My hafting days fly on with full career,

But my late spring no bud or bloffom fhew'th. Perhaps my femblance might deceive the truth, 5

That I to manhood am arriv'd fo near,

And inward ripenefs doth much less appear, That fome more timely-happy fpirits indu'th. Yet be it lefs or more, or foon or flow,

It fhall be ftill in ftricteft measure even

To that fame lot, however mean or high,

10

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 affault was intended to the City *.

Captain or Colonel, or Knight in arms,

Whofe chance on these defenseless doors may feife,
If deed of honour did thee ever please,
Guard them, and him within protect from harms.
He can requite thee, for he knows the charms
That call fame on fuch gentle acts as thefe,
And he can fpread thy name o'er lands and feas,
Whatever clime the fun's bright circle warms.
Lift not thy fpear against the Mufes bow'r:

'The great Emathian conqueror bid fpare
The house of Pindarus, when temple' and tow'r
Went to the ground: And the repeated air
Of fad Electra's poet had the pow'r

To fave th' Athenian walls from ruin bare.

5

10

In the manufcript, after the title, is added 1642. It was in November that year that the King marched with his army as near as Brentford, and put the city in great confternation.

IX.

To a virtuous young Lady.

Lady that in the prime of earliest youth

Wifely haft fhunn'd the broad way and the green,
And with thofe few art eminently feen,
That labor up the hill of heav'nly truth,
The better part with Mary and with Ruth
Chofen thou haft; 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

5

10

To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light, And hope, that reaps not shame. Therefore be fure Thou, when the bridegroom with his feaftful friends. Paffes to blifs at the mid hour of night, Haft gain'd thy entrance, Virgin wife and pure,

X.

To the Lady Margaret Ley *.

Daughter to that good Earl, once Prefident
Of England's Council, and her Treasury,

* We have given the title which is in Milton's Manufcript, To the Lady Margaret Ley. She was the daughter of Sir James Ley, whofe fingular learning and abilities raifed him through all the great pofts of the law, till he came to he made Earl of Marlborough, and Lord High Treasurer, and Lord Prefident of the Council to King James I. He died in an advanc'd age, and Milton attributes his death to the breaking of the parlament; and it is true that the parlament was diffolved the roth of March 1628-9, and he died on the 14th of the fame month. He left feveral fons and daughters; and the Lady Magaret 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 ufed frequently to visit this lady and her husband, and about that time we may fuppofe that this fonnet was compofed.

Who liv'd in both, unftain'd with gold or fee,
And left them both, more in himself content,
Till fad the breaking of that Parlament
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 florish'd, yet by you,
Madam, methinks I fee him living yet;
So well your words his noble virtues praise,
That all both judge you to relate them true,
And to poffefs them, honor'd Margaret.

XI.

On the detraction which followed upon my
writing certain treatises *.

A book was writ of late call'd Tetrachordon,
And woven close, both matter, form and ftile;
The fubject new: it walk'd the town a while,
Numb'ring good intellects; now feldom por❜d on.
Cries the ftall-reader, Blefs us! what a word on
A title page is this! and fome in file

Stand spelling false, while one might walk to MileEnd Green. Why is it harder Sirs than Gordon, Colkitto, or Macdonnel, or Galasp † ?

* When Milton publifhed his book of divorce, he was greatly sondemned by the Prefbyterian minifters, whofe advocate and champion he had been before. He publifh'd his Tetrachordon, or Expofitions upon the four chief places in fcripture, which treat of marriage or nullities in marriage, in 1645.

"We may fuppofe, (fays Dr Newton) that these were perfons "of note and eminence amongst the Scotch minifters who were "for preffing and enforcing the covenant." Mr. George Gillespie,

here