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 When straight a barbarous noise environs me 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, 6 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. 9 honour'st] So Browne's Brit. Past. B. ii. s. 11, of Lord Brooke, ་ Time shall see 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 Followed 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 6 Stay'd Orig. line in MS. 'Straight follow'd thee the path that saints have trod.' Warton. 5 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 Philip'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. 1 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. 9 XVI. TO THE LORD GENERAL CROMWELL.* CROMWELL, Our chief of men, who through a cloud And on the neck of crowned fortune proud 8 their] So the MS.: before 'her.' Todd. 5 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. 1 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 Philips, Toland, Tonson, Tickell, and Fenton, into 'And fought God's battles, and his works pursued.' Warton. VOL. III. 14 Hast rear'd God's trophies, and his work pursued, brued, And Dunbar field resounds thy praises loud, And Worcester's laureat wreath. Yet much re 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, Than whom a better senator ne'er held The helm of Rome, when gowns not arms reThe fierce Epirot and the African bold, [pell'd 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. 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's 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. 1 counsel] The printed copies, 'councils.' Newton. |