XIV.

ON THE RELIGIOUS MEMORY OF MRS. CATHERINE

THOMSON,'

MY CHRISTIAN FRIEND, DECEASED 16TH DEC. 1646.

WHEN faith and love, which parted from thee never,
Had ripen'd thy just soul to dwell with GOD,
Meekly thou didst resign this earthly load

Of death, call'd life; which us from life doth sever.
Thy works, and alms, and all thy good endeavour,
Stay'd not behind, nor in the grave were trod;
But, as Faith pointed with her golden rod,
Follow'd thee up to joy and bliss for ever.
Love led them on, and Faith, who knew them best
Thy handmaids, clad them o'er with purple beams
And azure wings, that up they flew so drest,
And spake the truth of thee on glorious themes
Before the Judge, who thenceforth bid thee rest
And drink thy fill of pure immortal streams.

XV.

TO THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX.2

1648.

FAIRFAX, whose name in arms through Europe rings,
Filling each mouth with envy or with praise,
And all her jealous monarchs with amaze
And rumours loud, that daunt remotest kings,
Thy firm unshaken virtue ever brings

Victory home, though new rebellions raise
Their Hydra heads, and the false North displays
Her broken league to imp their serpent wings.

When Milton was first made Latin retary to Cromwell, he lodged at a Mr. mson's, next to the "Bull Head" rern, Charing Cross. Mrs. Thomson upposed to have been the wife of his dlord.-NEWTON.

Addressed to Fairfax at the siege of chester. It was first printed, to

gether with the two following sonnets, and the two to Cyriack Skinner, at the end of Phillips's "Life of Milton," 1694. -WARTON.

3 The English Parliament held that the Scotch had broken their covenant by marching into England, led by Hamilton.

O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand,

(For what can war, but endless war still breed ?)
Till truth and right from violence be freed,
And public faith clear'd from the shameful brand
Of public fraud. In vain doth valour bleed,
While avarice and rapine share the land.

}

XVI.

TO THE LORD GENERAL CROMWELL.

1652.

CROMWELL, Our chief of men, who through a cloud
Not of war only, but detractions rude,

Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,

To peace and truth thy glorious way hast plough'd,
And on the neck of crownèd fortune proud

Hast rear'd God's trophies, and his work pursued,
While Darwen stream1 with blood of Scots imbrued,
And Dunbar field resounds thy praises loud,

And Worcester's 2 laureat wreath. Yet much remains
To conquer still; peace hath her victories
No less renown'd than war: new foes arise

Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains: 3
Help us to save free conscience from the paw
Of hireling wolves, whose gospel is their maw.

1 A small river near Preston, in Lancashire, where Cromwell defeated the Scots under the Duke of Hamilton in August, 1648.

2 Dunbar and Worcester were both

fought September 3-one 1650, the othe

1651.

3 He alludes to the Presbyterian cler They tried to persuade Cromwell to the secular power against Sectaries.

XVII.

TO SIR HENRY VANE THE YOUNGER.'

1652.

VANE, young in years, but in sage counsel old,
Than whom a better senator ne'er held

The helm of Rome, when gowns not arms repell'd
The fierce Epirot and the African bold,
Whether to settle peace, or to unfold

The drift of hollow states 2 hard to be spell'd,
Then to advise how war may, best upheld,
Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold

In all her equipage: besides to know

Both spiritual pow'r and civil, what each means,
What severs each, thou hast learn'd, which few have

The bounds of either sword to thee we owe :
Therefore on thy firm hand Religion leans
In peace, and reckons thee her eldest son.

[done :

XVIII.

ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEDMONT.3

AVENGE, O Lord, thy slaughter'd saints, whose bones
Lie scatter'd on the Alpine mountains cold

;

Ev'n them who kept thy truth so pure of old,

When all our fathers worshipp'd stocks and stones,

This sonnet seems to have been written in behalf of the Independents gainst the Presbyterian hierarchy. Vane was the chief of the Independents, and therefore Milton's friend. He was a most eccentric character, a mixture of Che wildest fanaticism and good sense. He was beheaded after the Restoration, 1662.- From WARTON.

2 The States of Holland.

3 In 1665 the Duke of Savoy determined to make his reformed sub

mas

jects in Piedmont return to the Roman
Church. All who refused compliance
with the sovereign's will were
sacred. Those who escaped, concealed
in their mountain fastnesses, sent to
Cromwell for relief. Milton's holy in-
dignation found expression in this fine
sonnet, which was of great effect.
Cromwell commanded a general fast,
and a national contribution for the relief
of the sufferers. £40,000 were collected,
He then wrote to the Duke; and g

Forget not in thy book record their groans
Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese that roll'd
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they

To Heav'n. Their martvr'd blood and ashes sow
O'er all th' Italian fields, where still doth sway
The triple tyrant;1 that from these may grow
A hundred fold, who having learn'd thy way
Early may fly the Babylonian woe.

XIX.

ON HIS BLINDNESS.

WHEN I consider how my light is spent

Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
'Doth God exact day-labour, light denied ?"
I fondly ask: But Patience, to prevent

That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work, or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best: his state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed,

And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."

XX.

TO MR. LAWRENCE.1

LAWRENCE, of virtuous father virtuous son,

Now that the fields are dank, and ways are mire,
Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire
Help waste a sullen day, what may be won
From the hard season gaining? Time will run
On smoother, till Favonius 2 re-inspire

The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire
The lily and rose, that neither sow'd nor spun.
What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice,

Of Attic taste, with wine, whence we may rise
To hear the lute well touch'd, or artful voice
Warble immortal notes and Tuscan air?
He who of those delights can judge, and spare
To interpose them oft, is not unwise.

XXI.

TO CYRIAC SKINNER.

3

CYRIAC, whose grandsire 3 on the royal bench
Of British Themis, with no mean applause
Pronounced and in his volumes taught our laws,
Which others at their bar so often wrench;
To-day deep thoughts resolve with me to drench
In mirth, that after no repenting draws;
Let Euclid rest and Archimedes pause,

And what the Swede 1 intends, and what the French.

Son of Henry Lawrence, Member for tfordshire, who was active in settling Protectorate on Cromwell. Milton's nd was the author of a work called f our Communion and Warre with gels," &c., 1646. 4to.-TODD.

The West Wind.

Lord Coke. Cyriac Skinner was the of William Skinner and Bridget,

daughter of Lord Coke. He had been a pupil of Milton's, and was one of the principal members of Harrington's Political Club.

4 Charles Gustavus, King of Sweden, was then at war with Poland, and the French were fighting the Spaniards in the Netherlands.