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

To honour thee, the priest of Phæbus' 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. CATHERINE

THOMSON, MY CHRISTIAN FRIEND.

Deceased, Dec. 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 cleard 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.

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 and 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 Derwen stream, with blood of Scots im

brued,

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 Threat’ning 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,

a

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, repellid

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 and civil, what each means, What severs each, thou' hast learn'd, which few

have done:
The bounds of either sword to thee we owe:

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 be 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; Ev’n them who kept thy truth so pure of old,

When all our fathers worship'd stocks and stones, Forget not: in thy book record their groans

Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolld

Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans The vales redoubled to the hills, and they

To Heav'n. Their martyrd blood and 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,

Lodg'd 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

Help waste a sullen day, what may be won
From the hard season gaining? Time will run

On smoother, till Favonius re-inspire
The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire

The lily' and rose, that neither sow'd nor spun. What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice,

Of Attic taste, with wine, whence we may rise

To hear the lute well touch’d, or artful voice Warble immortal notes and Tuscan air?

He who of those delights can judge, and spare To interpose them oft, is not unwise.