VI. GIOVANE piano, e semplicetto amante De pensieri leggiadro, accorto, e buono; Tanto del forse, e d' invidia sicuro, Di timori, e speranze al popol use Quanto d'ingegno, e d'alto valor vago, E di cetra sonora, e delle muse: Sol troverete in tal parte men duro VII. ON HIS BEING ARRIVED TO THE AGE OF TWENTY-THREE.1 1631. How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, And inward ripeness doth much less appear, It shall be still in strictest measure even To that same lot, however mean or high, 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. This sonnet was written at Cambridge, and sent in a letter to a friend, VIII. WHEN THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED TO THE CITY.1 1642. CAPTAIN or Colonel, or Knight in arms, Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize, If deed of honour did thee ever please, IX. TO A VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY. LADY, that in the prime of earliest youth That labour up the hill of heavenly truth, The better part with Mary' and with Ruth? To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light3 Therefore be sure Thou, when the bridegroom with his feastful friends Hast gain'd thy entrance, Virgin wise and pure. X. TO THE LADY MARGARET LEY.5 1643. DAUGHTER to that good Earl, once President At Chæronea, fatal to liberty, Kill'd with report that old man eloquent.7 produced so many great and illustrious men."-PLUTARCH, Life of Lysander. Thus Athens was spared, but in cruel mockery. The Spartan collected all the musicians in the city; and pulled down the fortifications, and burned the Athenian ships, to the sound of their instruments. 1 Luke x. 42. 2 Ruth i. 14. Rom. v. 5, 6 Milton used frequently to visit this lady, who married Captain Hobson, of the Isle of Wight. Earl of Marlborough, Lord High Treasurer, and Lord President of the Council to King James I. Parliament was dissolved the 10th of March, 1628-9; he died on the 14th, but at an advanced age. NEWTON. Isocrates, the orator, who could not survive the ruin of his country. Cha, ronea was gained by Philip of Macedon, XI. ON THE DETRACTION WHICH FOLLOWED UPON MY WRITING CERTAIN TREATISES. 1645. A BOOK was writ of late call'd Tetrachordon,1 Stand spelling false, while one might walk to Mile Those rugged names to our like mouths grow sleek, I DID but prompt the age to quit their clogs 1 Tetrachordon means exposition on the four chief places in Scripture which mention nullities in marriage. 2 Colkitto and Macdonnel are one and the same person, a brave officer on the royal side, an Irishman of the Antrim family, who served under Montrose. The Macdonnels of that family are styled, by way of distinction, Mac Collcittǝk, i.e., descendants of lame Colin. Galasp is George Gillespie, a Scottish writer against the Independents; for whom see Milton's verses on the "Forcers of Conscience."WARTON. 3 Sir John Cheke has been already named in the notes to this volume. He was the first Professor of Greek at Cambridge, and restored the original pronunciation of it. He was tutor to Edward VI. 4 Milton's treatises were on the subject As when those hinds that were transform'd to frogs1 Which after held the sun and.moon in fee. XIII. TO MR. H. LAWES ON THE PUBLISHING HIS AIRS. HARRY, whose tuneful and well measured song To after age thou shalt be writ the man, 5 That with smooth air couldst.humour best our tongue. of "Divorce." The Presbyterian clergy were much (and justly) scandalized at them, and brought Milton before the Lords for them; but they thought the subject simply speculative, and he was discharged. He thus stigmatizes the Presbyterian clergy. 1 See OVID, Met. VI. fab. iv. "Latona's progeny" were Apollo and Diana, the sun god and moon goddess. 2 A fine moral, coming, too, from a Republican poet. 3 The musician who put the music to "Comus." 4 Midas, a King of Phrygia. He decided that Pan was superior in singing and playing on the flute to Apollo; and, to punish his stupidity, Apollo changed his ears into those of an ass. 5 A Latinism, meaning offences against quantity.-RICHARDSON. 6 The "Story of Ariadne," set by Lawes.-WARTON. 7 Amongst the souls in Purgatory, Dante recognizes his friend Casella, the musician. In the course of an affectionate conversation, Dante asks for a song to soothe him, and Casella sings, with ravishing sweetness, the poet's second Canzone. See second cant. of Dante's "Purgatorio." |