Quando tu vaga parli, o lieta canti

Che mover possa duro alpestre legno

Guardi ciascun agli occhi, ed agli orecchi L'entrata, chi di te si truova indegno;

Grazia sola di su gli vaglia, inanti
Che'l disio amoroso al cuor s'invecchi.

II.

Qual in colle aspro, al imbrunir di sera

L'avezza giovinetta pastorella
Va bagnando l'herbetta strana e bella

Che mal si spande a disusata spera
Fuor di sua natia alma primavera,

Cosi Amor meco insù la lingua snella
Desta il fior novo di strania favella,

Mentre io di te, vezzosamente altera,
Canto, dal mio buon popol non inteso

E'l bel Tamigi cangio col bel Arno.

Amor lo volse, ed io a l'altrui peso
Beppi ch' Amor cosa mai volse indarno.

Deh! foss' il mio cuor lento e'l duro seno
A chi pianta dal ciel si buon terreno.

CANZONE.

Ridonsi donne e giovani amorosi
M'accostandosi attorno, e perche scrivi,
Perche tu scrivi in lingua ignota e strana
Verseggiando d'amor, e come t'osi ?
Dinne, se la tua speme sia mai vana,
E de pensieri lo miglior t'arrivi;
Cosi mi van burlando, altri rivi;
Altri lidi t'aspettan, ed altre onde
Nelle cui verdi sponde
Spuntati ad hor, ad hor a la tua chioma

L'immortal guiderdon d'eterne frondi
Perche alle spalle tue soverchia soma?

Canzon dirotti, e tu per me rispondi
Dice mia Donna, e'l suo dir è il mio cuore
Questa è lingna di cui si vanta Amore.

IV.

DIODATI, e te'l.dirò con maraviglia,

Quel ritroso io ch'amor spreggiar solea
E de suoi lacci spesso mi ridea

Gia caddi, ov'huom dabben talhor s'impiglia.
Ne treccie d'oro, ne guancia vermiglia

M'abbaglian sì, ma sotto nova idea
Pellegrina bellezza che'l cuor bea,

Portamenti alti honesti, e nelle ciglia
Quel sereno fulgor d'amabil nero,

Parole adorne di lingua piu d'una,

E’l cantar che di mezzo l'hemispero
Traviar ben puo la faticosa luna,

E degli occhi suoi avventa si gran fuoco
Che l'incerar gli orecchi mi fia poco.

Per certo i bei vostrocchi, Donna mia

Esser non puo che non sian lo mio solo
Si mi percuoton forte, come ei suole

Per l'arene di Libia chi s'invia,
Mentre un caldo vapor (ne sentì pria)

Da quel lato si spinge ove mi duolo,
Che forse amanti nelle lor parole

Chiaman sospir; io non so che si sia :
Parte rinchiusa, e turbida si cela

Scosso mi il petto, e poi n'uscendo poco.

Quivi d' attorno o s'agghiaccia, o s'ingiela;
Ma quanto agli occhi giunge a trovar loco

Tutte le notti a me suol far piovose
Finche mia alba rivien colma di rose.

VI.

GIOVANE piano, e semplicetto amante

Poi che fuggir me stesso in dubbio sono,
Madonna a voi nel mio cuor l'humil dono

Farò divoto; io certo a prove tante
L'hebbi fedele, intrepido, costante,

De pensieri leggiadro, accorto, e buono;
Quando rugge il gran mondo, e scocca il tuono,

S'arma di se, e d'intero diamante;
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
Ove Amor mise l'insanabil ago.

VII.

ON HIS BEING ARRIVED TO THE AGE OF

TWENTY-THREE.'

1631.

How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,

Stol'n on his wing my three and twentieth year!
My hasting days iy on with full career,

But my late spring no bud or blossom show'th.
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,

That I to manhood am arrived so near,
And inward ripeness doth much less appear,

That some more timely-happy spirits iudu'th.
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,
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven,

All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my gipat Task-master's eye.

1 This sonnet was written at Cambridge, and sent in a letter to friend

VIII.

WHEN THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED TO THE CITY.'

1642.
CAPTAIN or Colonel, or Knight in arms,

Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seizo,
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 snch gentle acts as these
And he can spread thy name o'er lands and seas,

Whatever clime the sun's bright circle warms.
Lift not thy spear against the Muses' bow'r:

The great Emathian conqueror? bid spare

The house of Pindarus, when temple and tow'r
Went to the ground: and the repeated air

Of sad Electra's poet3 had the pow'r
To save the Athenian walls from ruin baro.

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,

!

I Written when the King's troops had arrived at Brentford, and London expected an immediate attack.

? Alexander. He suffered the house
of Pindar alone to stand untouched;
and honoured the family of the great
lyric poet, while making frightful havoc
of the Thehans Milton claims the same
tavour from the royal forces.

Euripides. When Lysander had taken
Athens, Plutarch tells us that,-

“Some say he reilly did, in the Conn-
cil of the Allies, propose to reduce the
Athenians t) slavery; and that Erian-
thus, a Theban officer, give it as bis
opinion that the city should be lovelled

with the ground, and the spot on which It stood turned to pasturaçe.

“ Afterwards, however, when the general officers met at an entertainment, a musician of Pbocis happened to begin & chorus in the Electra' of Euripides, the first lines of which are these "Unhappy daughter of the great

Atrides,* Thy straw-crowned palace I approach.' “The whole company were greatly moved at this incident, and could not help reflecting how barbarous a thing it would be to rise that noblo city, which had

The better part with Mary' and with Rath!

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

To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of lights

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,
Hiast gain'd thy entrance, Virgin wise and pare.

TO THE LADY MARGARET LEY..

1643.
DAUGHTER to that good Earl, once President

Of Eugland's Council, and her Treasury,
Who lived in both, unstain'd with gold or foc,

And left them both, more in himself content,
Till sad the breaking of that Parliament

Broke him, as that dishonest victory
At Chæronea, fatal to liberty,

Killd with report that old man eloquent.?
Though later born than to have known the days
Wherein your

father flourish'd, yet by you,
Madam, methinks I see him living yet;
So well your words his noble virtues praise,

That all both judge you to relate them trae,
And to possess them, honour'd Margaret.