Thy worth and skill exempts thee from the throng, With praise enough for envy to look wan; 6 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, 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 Thee honor'd by thy verse, and it by thee.' 6 Stay'd] Orig. line in MS. Todd. Straight follow'd thee the path that saints have trod.' Warton. 6 Love led them on, and Faith who knew them best XV. TO THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX.* FAIRFAX, whose name in arms through Europe rings, Thy firm unshaken virtue ever brings (For what can war, but endless war still breed?) 14 drink] Epitaph. Damonis. 206. 'Ethereos haurit latices.' Warton. 5 * 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, Till injured truth from violence be freed, And public faith be rescued from the brand.' 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 Not of war only, but detractions rude, Guided by faith and matchless fortitude, Το peace and truth thy glorious way hast plough'd, And on the neck of crowned fortune proud 5 Hast rear'd God's trophies, and his work pursued, While Darwen stream with blood of Scots im brued, And Dunbar field resounds thy praises loud, And Worcester's laureat wreath. Yet much remains * 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. 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. 356 To conquer still; peace hath her victories 10 XVII. TO SIR HENRY VANE THE YOUNGER.* in VANE, young years, but in counsel old, Than whom a better senator ne'er held The helm of Rome, when gowns not arms repell'd 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 5 Both spiritual pow'r and civil, what each means, have done : 11 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. 1 counsel] The printed copies, councils.' Newton. 7 Then, &c.] In the printed copies, 'Then to advise how war may be best upheld 11 severs] Serves.' Printed edition. Newton. 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 5 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 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, 13 Therefore, &c.] In the printed copies: "Therefore on thy right hand Religion leans, And reckons thee in chief her eldest son.' Newton. 2 Alpine] Fairfax's Tasso, B. xiii. s. 60. 'Distill'd from tops of Alpine mountains cold. Warton. |