Who were thy fheep, 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 fow
O'er all th' Italian fields, where still doth sway
The triple Tyrant; that from these may grow

66

66

9

A

"merly enjoy'd. So great was "the terror of his name; nothing being more usual than his saying, that his ships in the Mediterranean should vifit Civita Vecchia, " and the found of his cannon should "be heard in Rome." See Echard Vol. 2.

66

himself in their favor, and his behaviour in this whole transaction is greatly to his honor, even as it is related by an historian, who was far from being partial to his memory. "Nor would the Protector " be backward in such a work, "which might give the world a particular opinion of his piety and zeal for the protestant re"ligion; but he proclam'd a so" lemn fast, and caused large con"tributions to be gather'd for them throughout the kingdom of Eng"land and Wales. Nor did he "reft here, but sent his agents to "the Duke of Savoy, a prince "with whom he had no correfpondence or commerce, and "the next year so engag'd the "Cardinal of France, and even terrify'd the Pope himself, with out so much as doing any favor " to the English Roman catholics, " that that Duke thought it necef" fary to restore all that he had ta"ken from them, and renew'd all "those privileges they had for- restor'd to its pristin sincerity long VOL. II.

"

3. Ev'n them who kept thy truth so pure of old, &c] And so in his letter to the States of the United Provinces he calls them Alpinos incolas orthodoxam religionem antiquitus profitentes, the inhabitants at the feet of the Alps, ancient professors of the orthodox faith; and afterwards in the same letter, apud quos noftra religio vel ab ipfis Evangelii primis doctoribus tradita per manus & incorrupte fervata, vel multo ante quam apud cæteras gentes finceritati priftinæ reftituta eft, among whom our religion was either diffe. minated by the firit doctors of the Gospel, and preserv'd from the defilement of fuperftition, or else before

R

A hundred fold, who having learn'd thy way Early may fly the Babylonian woe.

XIX.

On his blindness.

When I confider how my light is spent

5

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 foul more bent To ferve therewith my Maker, and present My true account, lest he returning chide; Doth God exact day-labor, light deny'd, I fondly ask: But patience to prevent That murmur, foon replies, God doth not need Either man's work or his own gifts; who best 10 Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best: his state Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed,

And

talents, Mat. XXV. and he speaks with great modesty of himself, as if he had not five, or two, but only one talent.

* This Mr. Lawrence was the son of the President of Cromwell's council: and this sonnet was also in the edition of 1673.

1

And post o'er land and ocean without reft;

They also serve who only stand and wait.

XX.

* To Mr. LAWRENCE.

Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son,

5

Now that the fields are dank, and ways are mire, Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire Help waste a fullen 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 lilly' and rose, that neither fow'd nor spun. What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice, Of Attic tafte, with wine, whence we may rise 10 To hear the lute well touch'd, or artful voice

Warble immortal notes and Tufcan air?

He

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

ΧΧΙ.

+ TO CYRIAC SKINNER.
Cyriac, whose grandfire on the royal bench
Of British Themis, with no mean applaufe
Pronounc'd and in his volumes taught our laws,
Which others at their bar so often wrench;

To day deep thoughts resolve with me to drench 5
In mirth, that after no repenting draws;
Let Euclid rest and Archimedes pause,
And what the Swede intends, and what the French.

To

8. And what the Savede intends,] We have printed it as it is in the Manufcript. In the first edition it was And what the Swede intend, which in others is alter'd to And what the Swedes intend. Charles Gustavus, king of Sweden, was at this time waging war with Poland, and the French with the Spaniards

+ Cyriac Skinner was the fon of William Skinner Esq; and grandfon of Sir Vincent Skinner, and his mother was Bridget, one of the daughters of the famous Sir Edward Coke Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench. Mr. Wood informs us that he was one of Harrington's political club, and sometimes held the chair; and farther in the Netherlands: and what Miladds, that he was a merchant's son ton says is somewhat in the fpirit of London, an ingenious young and manner of Horace. Od. II. gentleman, and scholar to John Milton. Athen. Ox. Vol. 2. p. 591. No wonder then that Milton was so intimate with him, and has address'd two fonnets to him, this first of which was printed in the edition of 1673.

XI. 1.

Quid bellicofus Cantaber, et
Scythes
Hirpine Quinti, cogitet, Hadria
Divifus objecto, remittas
Quærere: &c.

The

To measure life learn thou betimes, and know Toward folid good what leads the nearest way; For other things mild Heav'n a time ordains, And disapproves that care, though wife in show, That with fuperfluous burden loads the day, And when God fends a chearful hour, refrains.

XXII.

* To the fame.

Cyriac, this three years day these eyes, though clear,
To outward view, of blemish or of spot,
Bereft of light their seeing have forgot,
Nor to their idle orbs doth fight appear

9

Of

* The two fonnets to Cyriac man. In the printed editions this Skinner we have printed in the sonnet likewise is very incorrect, same order as they are number'd but we shall restore it by the affif

in the Manufcript. This latter

was never printed in Milton's life

time, but was first publish'd se

tance of the Manufcript.

3. Bereft of light th ir feeing have forgot,] In the printed copies

veral years after his death at the
same time and in the same manner it is absurdly,

with the foregoing ones to General
Fairfax, Cromwell, and Sir Henry
Vane: and tho' the person, to
whom it is address'd, was not fo
obnoxious as any of those before
mention'd, yet it might not have
been safe for Milton to have pub-
list'd fuch a commendation of his
Defense of the people, which the
government had order'd to be burnt
by the hands of the common hang-

Bereft of fight their seeing have forgot.

4. Nor to their idle orbs doth fight appear

Of fun, or moon, &c.] In the

printed editions it is,

Nor to their idle orbs doth day