Plain in thy neatness? O, how oft shall he
On faith and changed gods complain, and seas
Rough with black winds, and storms
Unwonted shall admire!

Who now enjoys thee credulous, all gold,
Who always vacant, always amiable
Hopes thee, of flattering gales

Unmindful. Hapless they

5

10

To whom thou untried seem'st fair! Me, in my

vow'd

Picture, the sacred wall declares to have hung

My dank and dropping weeds

To the stern god of sea.

15

SONNETS.

TO THE NIGHTINGALE.

O NIGHTINGALE, that on yon bloomy spray
Warblest at eve, when all the woods are still;
Thou with fresh hope the lover's heart dost fill,
While the jolly Hours lead on propitious May.
Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day,
First heard before the shallow cuckoo's bill
Portend success in love; O, if Jove's will
Have link'd that amorous power to thy soft lay,
Now timely sing, ere the rude bird of hate

5

Foretell ray hopeless doom, in some grove nigh; 10 As thou, from year to year, hast sung too late For my relief, yet hadst no reason why:

Whether the Muse, or Love, call thee his mate, Both them I serve, and of their train am I.

ON HIS BEING ARRIVED TO THE AGE OF TWENTY-THREE.

How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stol'n on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th.
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,
That I to manhood am arriv'd so near;

And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more timely-happy spirits endu'th.

5

Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,
It shall be still in strictest measure even
To that same lot, however mean or high,

10

Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven;

All is, if I have grace to use it so,

As ever in my great Task-Master's eye.

WHEN THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED TO THE CITY.*

CAPTAIN, or Colonel, or Knight in arms,

Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize,

If deed of honour did thee ever please,
Guard them, and him within protect from harms.
He can requite thee; for he knows the charms

That call Fame on such gentle acts as these, And he can spread thy name o'er land and seas, Whatever clime the sun's bright circle warms. Lift not thy spear against the Muses' bower:

The great Emathian conqueror bid spare
The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower
Went to the ground; and the repeated air
Of sad Electra's poet had the power

To save th' Athenian walls from ruin bare.

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10

TO A VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY.

LADY, that in the prime of earliest youth
Wisely hast shunn'd the broad way and the green,
And with those few art eminently seen,

That labour up the hill of heavenly truth;

* In the manuscript after the title, is added 1642. It was in November of that year that the King marched with his army as near as Brentford, and put the city in great consternation.

The better part with Mary and with Ruth
Chosen thou hast; and they that overween,
And at thy growing virtues fret their spleen,
No anger find in thee but pity and ruth.
Thy care is fix'd, and zealously attends

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10

To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light,
And hope that reaps not shame. Therefore be

sure

Thou, when the Bridegroom, with his feastful friends Passes to bliss, at the mid hour of night,

Hast gain'd thy entrance, Virgin wise and pure.

TO THE LADY MARGARET LEY.*

DAUGHTER to that good Earl, once. President
Of England's Council, and her Treasury,
Who liv'd in both, unstain'd with gold or fee,
And left them both, more in himself content,
Till the sad breaking of that Parliament
Broke him, as that dishonest victory
At Chæronea, fatal to liberty,

hill'd with report that old man eloquent.

The gh later born than to have known the days
Wherein your father flourish'd, yet by you,
Mdam, methinks I see him living yet;

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10

*We have given the title which is in Milton's Manuscript, To the Lady Magaret Ley. She was the daughter of Sir James Ley, whose singular learning and abilities raised him through all the great posts of the law, till he came to be made Earl of Marlborough, and Lord High Treasurer, and Lord President of the Council to King James I. He died in an advanced age, and Milton attributes his death to the breaking of the parliament; and it is true that the parliament was dissolved the 10th of March, 1628-9, and he died on the 14th of the same month. left several sons and daughters; and the Lady Margaret was married to Captain Hobson, of the Isle of Wight. It appears from the accounts of Milton's life, that in the year 1643 he used frequently to visit this lady and her husband, and about that time we may suppose that this sonnet was composed.

He

So well your words his noble virtues praise,
That all both judge you to relate them true,
And to possess them, honour'd Margaret.

That would have made Quintillian stare and gasp;

On the Detraction which followed upon the writing certain Treatises.*

A BOOK was writ of late call'd Tetrachordon,
And woven close, both matter, form, and style;
The subject new: it walk'd the Town awhile,
Numb'ring good intellects; now seldom por❜d on.
Cries the stall reader, Bless us! what a word on
A title page is this! and some in file

5

Stand spelling false, while one might walk to MileEnd Green. Why is it harder, Sirs, than Gordon, Colkitto, or Macdonnel, or Galasp?t

Those rugged names to our like mouths grow sleek,

10

Thy age, like ours, O soul of Sir John Cheek,
Hated not learning worse than toad or asp,
When thou taugh'st Cambridge, and king Ed-
ward, Greek.

*When Milton published his book of Divorce, he was greatly condemned by the Presbyterian ministers, whose advocate and champion he had been before. He published his Tetrachordon, or Expositions upon the four chief places in Scripture, which treat of marriage, or nullities in marriage, in 1645.

We may suppose, (says Dr. Newton,) that these were persons of note and eminence among the Scotch ministers who were for pressing and enforcing the covenant." Mr. George Gillespie, here wrongously named Galasp, was one of the Scotch commissioners to the Westminster assembly. But who the other persons were is not known. It appears from this sonnet, and the verses on the forcers of conscience, that Milton treats the Presbyterians with great contempt.

This Gentleman was the first Professor of the Greek tongue in the University of Cambridge, and was highly instrumental in bringing that language into repute. He was afterwards made one of the tutors to Edward VI.

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