Where shall we fometimes meet, and by the fire Help waste a fullen day, what may be won From the hard season gaining? Time will run 5 On smoother, till Favonius re-inspire lation, William Lawrence a writer, and appointed a Judge in Scotland by Cromwell, and in 1631 a gentleman commoner of Trinity college Oxford, died at Belfont near Staines in Middlesex, in 1682. Hence fays Milton, v. 2. Now that the fields are dank, and ways are mire, Where fhall we fometimes meet, &c. This Sonnet does not appear in the edition 1645. 3. And by the fire Help wafte a fullen day, &c.] He has fentiments of much the fame caft in the EPITAPH. DAMON. v. 45. Quis me lenire docebit Mordaces curas, quis longam fallere noctem See also Drayton's ODES, vol. iv. 1343. They may become John Hewes's lyre, 6. Till Favonius re-inspire, &c.] Favonius had before been rendered familiar in English poetry for Zephyr, by the following beautiful paffage in Jonfon's MASQUES, vol. vi. 24. As if Favonius, father of the Spring, Who in the verdant meads doth reign fole king, The sweet and fruitful dew fall on the ground To force out all the flowers that may be found, &c. So many lights and fhadows, nor the rain- But the whole is from Claudian's Zephyr, Rapt. PROSERP. L. ii. 73. Compellat Zephyrum. Pater o gratiffime Veris, Qui mea lafcivo regnas per prata volatu, &c. Non The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire The lilly' and rose, that neither fow'd nor fpun. What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice, Of Attic tafte, with wine, whence we may rife To hear the lute well touch'd, or artful voice Warble immortal notes and Tuscan air ? He who of those delights can judge, and fpare To interpofe them oft, is not unwife. XXI. To CYRIAC SKINNER*. Cyriac, whofe grandfire on the royal bench Non tales volucer pandit Junonius alas, Compare Beaumont's BOSWORTH-FIELD, edit. 1629. p. 12. And mild FAVONIUS breathes. Again, Poems, ibid. p. 131. And like FAVONIUS gives a gentle blaft. 13. The close of this Sonnet is perfectly in the style of Horace and and the Grecian lyrics. As is that of the following to Cyriac Skinner. * Cyriac Skinner was one of the principal members of Harrington's political club. Wood fays, that he was " an ingenious young "gentleman, and fcholar to John Milton, which Skinner fometimes "held the chair." ATH. OXON. ii. 591. I find one Cyriac Skinner, I know not if the fame, a member of Trinity college Oxford in 1640. In 1659-60, Milton published "A Ready and eafy way to eftablish a "free To day deep thoughts resolve with me to drench 5 And what the Swede intends, and what the French. To measure life learn thou betimes, and know 9 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. 66 a free Commonwealth, &c." This was foon afterwards attacked in a burlesque pamphlet, pretended to be written by Harrington's club, under the title of "The cenfure of the ROTA upon Mr. Mil"ton's Book entitled The Ready and easy way, &c. Lond. Printed by "Paul GIDDY printer to the ROTA, at the figne of the WINDMILL "in Turne againe Lane, 1660." But Harrington's club, which encouraged all proposals for new models of government, was very unlikely to have made fuch an attack; and Milton's very familiar intimacy with Skinner, to whom he addreffes two Sonnets, full of confidence and affection, was alone fufficient to have prevented any remonftrance from that quarter. Aubrey fays, that Milton's IDEA THEOLOGIÆ in manuscript is "in the hands of Mr. Skinner a Mer"chant's fon in Mark-Lane. Mem. There was one Mr. Skinner of the Jerker's office up two pair of fayres at the Cuftom-house." MS. ASHм. ut infr. See below, SONN. xxii. 4. 6. In mirth, that after no repenting draws.] This is the decent mirth of Martial, Nox non ebria, fed foluta curis. A like phrafe occurs in PARAD. REG. B. ii. 160. DRAW Hearts AFTER them tangled in amorous nets. Z z 2 XXII. To XXII. To the SAME. Cyriac, this three years day these eyes, though clear, year, 6 4. Nor to their idle orbs, &c.] Compare SAMS. AGON. v. 80. And PARAD. LOST, B. iii. 23. Whitelocke mentions Milton only once. Speaking of fome articles of treaty, he fays, "they were fent to one "Mr. Milton a blind man to put into Latin." Milton being Latin fecretary. Milton gives an account of the beginning and progress of his blindness, in a Letter to Leonard Philaras Envoy from the Duke of Parma to the king of France, dated at Weftminiter, Sept. 28, 1654. In which he fays, he began to be totally blind about three years ago. See PROSE-WORKS, vol. ii. 575. This Sonnet was therefore written about 1654. Wood fays, that Skinner, who lived with his father a merchant in Mark-Lane, had in his poffeffion Milton's IDEA THEOLOGIE, never published. 8. One of Milton's characteristics was a fingular fortitude of mind, arifing from a consciousness of fuperiour abilities, and a conviction that his caufe was juft. The heart which he prefents to Leonora is thus defcribed, SoNN. vi. 4. Io certo a prove tante L'hebbi fedele, intrepido, costante, De penfieri leggiadro, accorto, e buono ; Quando rugge il gran mondo, e fcocca il tuono, Tanto del forfe, e d'invidia ficuro, He concludes, with great elegance, writing to a lady, that it was not proof against love. Right onward. What supports me, dost thou ask ? The confcience, Friend, to have loft them overply'd In liberty's defense, my noble task, II Of which all Europe talks from fide to fide. vain mask Content though blind, had I no better guide. XXIII. On his deceased WIFE. Methought I.faw my late efpoused saint 9. Right onward.-] Mr. Harris, in his notes on the TREATISE ON HAPPINESS, obferves on this expreffion of Right onward, p. 306. "One "would imagine that our great countryman Milton had the reasoning "of Marcus Antoninus in view. L. 5. §. 5. Where in this Sonnet, "speaking of his own Blindness, he fays with a becoming magnani"mity, yet I argue not, &c. The whole Sonnet is not unworthy of "perufal, being both SIMPLE and SUBLIME." Dr. J. WARTON. 11. In liberty's defence, &c.] This Sonnet was not hazarded in the edition of 1673, where the laft appears. For the DEFENSIO PRO POPULO ANGLICANO, of which he here fpeaks with fo much fatis. faction, and self-applaufe, at the restoration was ordered to be burnt by the hands of the common hangman, together with his ICONOCLASTES, at which time his person was fpared; and, by a fingular act of royal clemency, he furvived to write PARADISE LOST. It is more remarkable, that Goodwin, a famous Independent preacher, fhould have been indemnified, whose books were alfo burnt, in which he juftified the king's murther. 1. Methought 1 Jaw my late efpoufed faint, &c.] Raleigh's elegant Sonnet, called a VISION upon the conceipt of the FAERIE QUEENE, begins thus, Methought I saw the grave where Laura lay. And hence perhaps the idea of a Sonnet in the form of a vifion was fuggefted to Milton, |