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Lord, 'tis thy plenty-dropping hand

That soils my land,

And giv'st me, for my bushel sown,

Twice ten for one;

Thou mak'st my teeming hen to lay Her egg each day;

Besides, my healthful ewes to bear Me twins each year;

The while the conduits of my kine Run cream for wine:

All these, and better, thou dost send Me, to this end,

That I should render, for my part, A thankful heart;

Which, fired with incense, I resign, As wholly thine;

But the acceptance, that must be, My Christ, by Thee.

DELIGHT IN DISORDER.

A SWEET disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness;
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction;

An erring lace, which here and there
Enthrals the crimson stomacher;
A cuff neglectful, and thereby
Ribbons to flow confusedly;

A winning wave, deserving note,
In the tempestuous petticoat;
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility;

Do more bewitch me, than when art
Is too precise in every part.

THE ARGUMENT OF THE
HESPERIDES.

ISING of brooks, of blossoms, birds, and bowers,

Of April, May, of June, and July-flowers; I sing of May-poles, hock-carts, wassails, wakes,

Of bride-grooms, brides, and of their bridal-cakes.

I write of Youth, of Love; - and have

access

By these to sing of cleanly wantonness; I sing of dews, of rains, and, piece by piece,

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TO BLOSSOMS.

FAIR pledges of a fruitful tree,
Why do ye fall so fast?
Your date is not so past,
But you may stay yet here awhile
To blush and gently smile,
And go at last.

What, were ye born to be,

An hour or half's delight,
And so to bid good-night?
'Twas pity Nature brought ye forth,
Merely to show your worth
And lose you quite.

But you are lovely leaves, where we
May read, how soon things have
Their end, though ne'er so brave:
And after they have shown their pride,
Like you, awhile, they glide
Into the grave.

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JOHN MILTON.

1608-1674.

[JOHN MILTON (1608-1674) was born in Bread Street, Cheapside, 9 Dec., 1608. Educated at St. Paul's School, and Christ's College, Cambridge, he was destined by his family for the Church. From this, however, he was diverted, partly by his strong Puritan bias, partly by an ambition which possessed him from a very early period, to compose a great work which should bring honor to his country and to the English language. Full of this lofty purpose, he retired to his father's country residence at Horton, in the county of Bucks. Here he gave himself up to study, and poetical meditation, in preparation for the work to which he had resolved to devote his life.

This residence at Horton constitutes Milton's first poetic period, 1632-1638. During these six years he wrote L'Allegro and Il Penseroso, Arcades, Comus, and Lycidas. All these were thrown off by their author as occasional pieces, exercises for practice, preluding to the labor of his life, which he was all the while meditating.

A journey to Italy, 1638-9, was undertaken as a portion of the poet's education which he was giving himself. He was recalled from his tour by the lowering aspect of public affairs at home. For the next twenty years his thoughts were diverted from poetry by the absorbing interest of the civil struggle. His time was occupied, partly by official duties as Latin secretary to the Council of the Commonwealth, partly by the voluntary share he took in the controversies of the time.

The public cause to which he had devoted himself being lost, and the ruin of his party consummated in 1660, Milton reverted to his long-cherished poetical scheme. During the twenty years of political agitation this scheme had never been wholly banished from his thoughts. After much hesitation, "long choosing and beginning late," both subject and form had been decided on. The poem was to be an epic, and was to treat of the fall and recovery of man. He had begun to compose on this theme as early as 1658, and in 1665 Paradise Lost was completed. Owing to the Plague and the Fire, it was not published till August, 1667. It was originally in ten books, which were afterwards made into twelve, as the normal epical number by subdividing books 7 and 10. The subject of the recovery of man had been dropped out of the plan at an early stage, and was afterwards made the subject of a second poem, Paradise Regained, on a hint given by Milton's young quaker friend, Ellwood. These years of disaster and distress, 1665-6, were specially prolific, if, as is probable, both Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes were written during them. The two poems came out in one vol. in 1671, and closed Milton's second poetic period. He lived three years longer, during which he occupied himself with carrying through the press a new edition of his Poems (the 1st ed. was 1645) as well as several compilations, which furnished mental occupation without requiring inventive power. He died, 8 Nov., 1674.]

THE INVOCATION AND
INTRODUCTION.

[From Paradise Lost.]

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our
woe,

With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret
top

Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That shepherd, who first taught the
chosen seed,

In the beginning, how the Heavens and
Earth

Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that

flow'd

Fast by the oracle of God; I thence

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Say first, for Heaven hides nothing from thy view,

Nor the deep tract of Hell; say first, what cause

Moved our grand parents, in that happy state,

Favor'd of Heaven so highly, to fall off From their Creator, and transgress his will

For one restraint, lords of the world besides?

Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?

The infernal serpent; he it was, whose guile,

Stirr'd up with envy and revenge, deceived

The mother of mankind, what time his pride

Had cast him out of Heaven, with all his host

Of rebel angels; by whose aid, aspiring To set himself in glory above his peers, He trusted to have equalled the Most High,

If he opposed; and, with ambitious aim Against the throne and monarchy of God, Raised impious war in Heaven, and battle proud,

With vain attempt. Him the Almighty power

Hurl'd headlong flaming from the ethereal sky,

With hideous ruin and combustion, down To bottomless perdition; there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fire, Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms.

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To slumber here, as in the vales of Heaven?

Or in this abject posture have ye sworn, T'adore the Conqueror? who now beholds

Cherub and seraph rolling in the flood With scatter'd arms and ensigns, till

anon

His swift pursuers, from Heaven-gates, discern

Th' advantage, and, descending, tread us down

Thus drooping, or with linkéd thunderbolts

Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf.
Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen!"

SATAN PRESIDING IN THE INFERNAL COUNCIL.

HIGH on a throne of royal state which far

Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,

Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand

Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,

Satan exalted sat, by merit raised

To that bad eminence: and, from despair

Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue Vain war with Heaven, and, by success untaught,

His proud imaginations thus display'd: "Powers and dominions, deities of Heaven;

For since no deep within her gulf can hold

Immortal vigor, though oppress'd and fall'n,

I give not Heaven for lost. From this descent

Celestial virtues rising, will appear More glorious and more dread than from no fall,

And trust themselves to fear no second fate.

Me though just right, and the fix'd laws of Heaven,

Did first create your leader; next, free

choice,

With what besides in counsel or in fight Hath been achieved of merit; yet this loss

Thus far at least recover'd, hath much

more

Establish'd in a safe unenvied throne, Yielded with full consent. The happier

state

In Heaven, which follows dignity, might draw

Envy from each inferior; but who here Will envy whom the highest place exposes

Foremost to stand against the Thunderer's aim,

Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share

Of endless pain? Where there is then no good

For which to strive, no strife can grow up there

From faction; for none sure will claim in Hell

Precedence; none whose portion is so small

Of present pain, that with ambitious mind

Will covet more. With this advantage then

To union, and firm faith, and firm accord,

More than can be in heaven, we now return

To claim our just inheritance of old,
Surer to prosper than prosperity
Could have assur'd us; and, by what
best way,

Whether of open war, or covert guile, We now debate: who can advise may speak."

ADDRESS TO LIGHT.

HAIL, holy Light, offspring of Heaven, first-born,

Or of the Eternal coeternal beam,
May I express thee unblamed? since
God is light,

And never but in unapproached light

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