IX. TO A VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY. LADY, that in the prime of earliest youth Wisely hast shunned the broad way and the green, And with those few art eminently seen, That labour up the hill of heavenly truth, The better part with Mary and with Ruth Chosen thou hast; and they that overween, And at their growing virtues fret their spleen, No anger find in thee, but pity and ruth. Thy care is fixed, and zealously attends 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, Hath gained thy entrance, virgin wise and pure. X. TO THE LADY MARGARET LEY. DAUGHTER to that good earl,1 once President Killed with report that old man eloquent. 1 Sir James Ley, afterwards made Earl of Marlborough, and raised to the highest offices in the state. XI. ON THE DETRACTION WHICH FOLLOWED UPON MY WRITING CERTAIN TREATISES.1 A BOOK was writ of late, called "Tetrachordon," Stand spelling false, while one might walk to Mile- Those rugged names to our like mouths grow sleek, When thou taught'st Cambridge, and king Edward, XII. ON THE SAME. I DID but prompt the age to quit their clogs Which after held the sun and moon in fee. 1 Viz., those upon divorce, in which he gave great offence to the Presbyterian clergy. 2 Probably some ministers who opposed him. 3 The first professor of Greek in the University of Cambridge. 4 The Lycian shepherds, who were changed into frogs.-Ovid, Met. vi. fab. 4. XIII. TO MR. H. LAWES1 ON HIS AIRS. HARRY, whose tuneful and well-measured song That with smooth air couldst humour best our tongue. XIV. ON THE RELIGIOUS MEMORY OF MRS. CATHARINE THOMSON, MY CHRISTIAN FRIEND. Deceased 16th December, 1646. WHEN faith and love, which parted from thee never, Of death, called life; which us from life doth sever. 2 See the second canto of Dante's "Purgatory." XV. TO THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX.1 FAIRFAX, whose name in arms through Europe rings, Victory home, though new rebellions raise (For what can war but endless war still breed?) XVI. TO THE LORD GENERAL CROMWELL. CROMWELL, our chief of men, who through a cloud Guided by faith and matchless fortitude, To peace and truth thy glorious way hast ploughed, And on the neck of crowned fortune proud Hast reared God's trophies, and his work pursued, While Darwen stream2 with blood of Scots imbrued, And Dunbar field resounds thy praises loud, And Worcester's laureate wreath. Yet much remains To conquer still; peace hath her victories No less renowned than war: new foes arise Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains: Help us to save free conscience from the paw Of hireling wolves, whose gospel is their maw. 1. The three following poems are not, for obvious reasons, found in the editions of Milton published during the reign of Charles II. ? Near Preston, in Lancashire. XVI. TO SIR HENRY VANE THE YOUNGER. VANE, young in years, but in sage counsel old, The helm of Rome, when gowns not arms repelled The drift of hollow states hard to be spelled, In all her equipage; besides to know Both spiritual power and civil, what each means, What severs each, thou hast learned, which few have The bounds of either sword to thee we owe; [done : XVII. ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEMONT.1 AVENGE, O Lord! thy slaughtered saints, whose bones Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans 1 Probably written in 1655. Newton observes: "This prayer, in behalf of the persecuted Protestants, was not entirely without effect. For Cromwell exerted himself in their favour, and his behaviour in this whole transaction is greatly to his honour, even as it is related by an historian, who was far from being partial to his memory. Nor would the Protector be backward in such a work, which might give the world a particular opinion of his piety and zeal for the Protestant religion; but he proclaimed a solemn fast, and caused large contributions to be gathered for them throughout the kingdom of England and Wales. Nor did he rest here, but sent his agents to the Duke of Savoy, a prince with whom he had no correspondence or commerce, and the next year so engaged the Cardinal of France, and even terrified the Pope himself, without so much as doing any favour to the English |