Thy worth and skill exempts thee from the throng, With praise enough for envy to look wan; 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 Phoebus' 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. 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 C Thee honor'd by thy verse, and it by thee.' Todd. 6 6 Stay'd] Orig. line in MS. 6 Straight follow'd thee the path that saints have trod.' Warton. VOL. II. 45 Love led them on, and Faith who knew them best Before the Judge, who thenceforth bid thee rest XV. TO THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX.* FAIRFAX, whose name in arms through Europe rings, And rumours loud, that daunt remotest kings, 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. *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. 8 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, 5 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 * See Hollis's Memoirs, p. 511. 1 who, &c.] In the printed copy thus: 6. 5 brued, And Dunbar field resounds thy praises loud, And Worcester's laureat wreath. Yet much remains 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. 6 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, The helm of Rome, when gowns not arms repell'd 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 have done : 11 1 counsel] The printed copies, 'councils.' Newton. 7 Then, &c.] In the printed copies, 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. Then to advise how war may be best upheld 10 Mann'd by her two main nerves,' &c. Newton. 11 severs] 'Serves.' Printed edition. Newton. 5 The bounds of either sword to thee we owe : XVIII. ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEMONT. AVENGE, O Lord, thy slaughter'd saints, whose bones Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold Slain by the bloody Piemontese that roll'd Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans The vales redoubled to the hills, and they To Heav'n. Their martyr'd blood and ashes sow O'er all th' Italian fields, where still doth sway The triple tyrant; that from these may grow A hundred fold, who having learn'd thy way 2 XIX. ON HIS BLINDNESS. WHEN I consider how my light is spent Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, 13 Therefore, &c.] In the printed copies: "Therefore on thy right hand Religion leans, And reckons thee in chief her eldest son.' Newton. Alpine] Fairfax's Tasso, B. xiii. s. 60. 'Distill'd from tops of Alpine mountains cold.' Warton. 5 |