John Milton
The poetry of John Milton
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Table of contents
PREFACE
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.
THE PASSION.
ON TIME.
UPON THE CIRCUMCISION.
AT A SOLEMN MUSICK.
AN EPITAPH ON THE MARCHIONESS OF WINCHESTER.
SONG ON MAY MORNING.
ON SHAKESPEAR. 1630.
ANOTHER ON THE SAME.
L'ALLEGRO.
IL PENSEROSO.
SONNETS.
ARCADES.
LYCIDAS.
A MASK PRESENTED At LUDLOW-Castle, 1634. &c.
POEMS ADDED IN THE 1673 EDITION.
THE FIFTH ODE OF HORACE. LIB. I.
SONNETS.
ON THE NEW FORCERS OF CONSCIENCE UNDER THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
ON THE LORD GEN. FAIRFAX AT THE SEIGE OF COLCHESTER.
TO THE LORD GENERALL CROMWELL MAY 1652.
TO SR HENRY VANE THE YOUNGER.
TO MR. CYRIACK SKINNER UPON HIS BLINDNESS.
PSAL. I. Done into Verse, 1653.
PSAL. II Done Aug. 8. 1653. Terzetti.
PSAL. III. Aug. 9. 1653
PSAL. IV. Aug. 10.1653.
PSAL. V. Aug. 12.1653.
PSAL. VI Aug. 13. 1653.
PSAL. VII. Aug. 14. 1653.
PSAL. VIII. Aug. 14. 1653.
APRIL, 1648. J. M. NINE OF THE PSALMS DONE INTO METRE,
PSAL. LXXX.
PSAL. LXXXI.
PSAL. LXXXII.
PSAL. LXXXIV.
PSAL LXXXV.
PSAL. LXXXVI.
PSAL. LXXXVII
PSAL. LXXXVIII
COLLECTION OF PASSAGES TRANSLATED IN THE PROSE WRITINGS.
ON Paradise Lost.
THE VERSE.
BOOK I.
BOOK II.
BOOK III.
BOOK IV.
BOOK V.
BOOK VI.
BOOK VII.
BOOK VIII.
BOOK IX.
BOOK X.
BOOK XI.
BOOK XII.
PARADISE REGAIN'D.
The First Book.
The Second Book.
The Third Book.
The Fourth Book.
SAMSON AGONISTES
APPENDIX.
ON TIME
PREFACE
This
edition of Milton's Poetry is a reprint, as careful as Editor and
Printers have been able to make it, from the earliest printed copies
of the several poems. First the 1645 volume of the Minor Poems has
been printed entire; then follow in order the poems added in the
reissue of 1673; the Paradise Lost, from the edition of 1667; and the
Paradise Regain'd and Samson Agonistes from the edition of 1671.The
most interesting portion of the book must be reckoned the first
section of it, which reproduces for the first time the scarce small
octavo of 1645. The only reprint of the Minor Poems in the old
spelling, so far as I know, is the one edited by Mitford, but that
followed the edition of 1673, which is comparatively uninteresting
since it could not have had Milton's oversight as it passed through
the press. We know that it was set up from a copy of the 1645
edition, because it reproduces some pointless eccentricities such as
the varying form of the chorus to Psalm cxxxvi; but while it corrects
the errata tabulated in that edition it commits many more blunders of
its own. It is valuable, however, as the editio princeps of ten of
the sonnets and it contains one important alteration in the Ode on
the Nativity. This and all other alterations will be found noted
where they occur. I have not thought it necessary to note mere
differences of spelling between the two editions but a word may find
place here upon their general character. Generally it may be said
that, where the two editions differ, the later spelling is that now
in use. Thus words like goddess, darkness, usually written in the
first edition with one final s, have two, while on the other hand
words like vernall, youthfull, and monosyllables like hugg, farr,
lose their double letter. Many monosyllables, e.g. som, cours,
glimps, wher, vers, aw, els, don, ey, ly, so written in 1645, take on
in 1673 an e mute, while words like harpe, windes, onely, lose it. By
a reciprocal change ayr and cipress become air and cypress; and the
vowels in daign, vail, neer, beleeve, sheild, boosom, eeven, battail,
travailer, and many other words are similarly modernized. On the
other hand there are a few cases where the 1645 edition exhibits the
spelling which has succeeded in fixing itself, as travail (1673,
travel) in the sense of labour; and rob'd, profane, human, flood and
bloody, forest, triple, alas, huddling, are found where the 1673
edition has roab'd, prophane, humane, floud and bloudy, forrest,
tripple, alass and hudling. Indeed the spelling in this later edition
is not untouched by seventeenth century inconsistency. It retains
here and there forms like shameles, cateres, (where 1645 reads
cateress), and occasionally reverts to the older-fashioned spelling
of monosyllables without the mute e. In the Epitaph on the
Marchioness of Winchester, it reads—' And som flowers and some
bays.' But undoubtedly the impression on the whole is of a much more
modern text.In
the matter of small or capital letters I have followed the old copy,
except in one or two places where a personification seemed not
plainly enough marked to a modern reader without a capital. Thus in
Il Penseroso, l. 49, I print Leasure, although both editions read
leasure; and in the Vacation Exercise, l. 71, Times for times. Also
where the employment or omission of a capital is plainly due to
misprinting, as too frequently in the 1673 edition, I silently make
the correction. Examples are, notes for Notes in Sonnet xvii. l. 13;
Anointed for anointed in Psalm ii. l.12.In
regard to punctuation I have followed the old printers except in
obvious misprints, and followed them also, as far as possible, in
their distribution of roman and italic type and in the grouping of
words and lines in the various titles. To follow them exactly was
impossible, as the books are so very different in size.At
this point the candid reader may perhaps ask what advantage is gained
by presenting these poems to modern readers in the dress of a bygone
age. If the question were put to me I should probably evade it by
pointing out that Mr. Frowde is issuing an edition based upon this,
in which the spelling is frankly that of to-day. But if the question
were pressed, I think a sufficient answer might be found. To begin
with, I should point out that even Prof. Masson, who in his excellent
edition argues the point and decides in favour of modern spelling,
allows that there are peculiarities of Milton's spelling which are
really significant, and ought therefore to be noted or preserved. But
who is to determine exactly which words are spelt according to the
poet's own instructions, and which according to the printer's whim?
It is notorious that in Paradise Lost some words were spelt upon a
deliberate system, and it may very well happen that in the volume of
minor poems which the poet saw through the press in 1645, there were
spellings no less systematic. Prof. Masson makes a great point of the
fact that Milton's own spelling, exhibited in the autograph
manuscript of some of the minor poems preserved in Trinity College,
Cambridge, does not correspond with that of the printed copy. [Note:
This manuscript, invaluable to all students of Milton, has lately
been facsimiled under the superintendence of Dr. Aldis Wright, and
published at the Cambridge University press]. This is certainly true,
as the reader may see for himself by comparing the passage from the
manuscript given in the appendix with the corresponding place in the
text. Milton's own spelling revels in redundant e's, while the
printer of the 1645 book is very sparing of them. But in cases where
the spelling affects the metre, we find that the printed text and
Milton's manuscript closely correspond; and it is upon its value in
determining the metre, quite as much as its antiquarian interest,
that I should base a justification of this reprint. Take, for
instance, such a line as the eleventh of Comus, which Prof. Masson
gives as:—Amongst the enthroned gods on
sainted seats.A
reader not learned in Miltonic rhythms will certainly read thisAmongst th' enthroned godsBut
the 1645 edition reads:Amongst the enthron'd godsand
so does Milton's manuscript. Again, in line 597, Prof. Masson reads:It shall be in eternal
restless change
Self-fed and self-consumed. If this fail,
The pillared firmament is rottenness, &c.But
the 1645 text and Milton's manuscript read self-consum'd; after which
word there is to be understood a metrical pause to mark the violent
transition of the thought.Again
in the second line of the Sonnet to a Nightingale Prof. Masson has:Warblest at eve when all the
woods are stillbut
the early edition, which probably follows Milton's spelling though in
this case we have no manuscript to compare, reads 'Warbl'st.' So the
original text of Samson, l. 670, has 'temper'st.'The
retention of the old system of punctuation may be less defensible,
but I have retained it because it may now and then be of use in
determining a point of syntax. The absence of a comma, for example,
after the word hearse in the 58th line of the Epitaph on the
Marchioness of Winchester, printed by Prof. Masson thus:—And some flowers, and some
bays
For thy hearse to strew thy ways,but
in the 1645 edition:—And som Flowers, and som
Bays,
For thy Hears to strew the ways,goes
to prove that for here must be taken as 'fore.Of
the Paradise Lost there were two editions issued during Milton's
lifetime, and while the first has been taken as our text, all the
variants in the second, not being simple misprints, have been
recorded in the notes. In one respect, however, in the distribution
of the poem into twelve books instead of ten, it has seemed best, for
the sake of practical convenience, to follow the second edition. A
word may be allowed here on the famous correction among the Errata
prefixed to the first edition: 'Lib. 2. v. 414, for we read wee.'
This correction shows not only that Milton had theories about
spelling, but also that he found means, though his sight was gone, to
ascertain whether his rules had been carried out by his printer; and
in itself this fact justifies a facsimile reprint. What the principle
in the use of the double vowel exactly was (and it is found to affect
the other monosyllabic pronouns) it is not so easy to discover,
though roughly it is clear the reduplication was intended to mark
emphasis. For example, in the speech of the Divine Son after the
battle in heaven (vi. 810-817) the pronouns which the voice would
naturally emphasize are spelt with the double vowel:Stand onely and behold
Gods indignation on these Godless pourd
By mee; not you but mee they have despis'd,
Yet envied; against mee is all thir rage,
Because the Father, t'whom in Heav'n supream
Kingdom and Power and Glorie appertains,
Hath honourd me according to his will.
Therefore to mee thir doom he hath assign'd.In
the Son's speech offering himself as Redeemer (iii. 227-249) where
the pronoun all through is markedly emphasized, it is printed mee the
first four times, and afterwards me; but it is noticeable that these
first four times the emphatic word does not stand in the stressed
place of the verse, so that a careless reader might not emphasize it,
unless his attention were specially led by some such sign:Behold mee then, mee for him,
life for life
I offer, on mee let thine anger fall;
Account mee man.In
the Hymn of Creation (v.160-209) where ye occurs fourteen times, the
emphasis and the metric stress six times out of seven coincide, and
the pronoun is spelt yee; where it is unemphatic, and in an
unstressed place, it is spelt ye. Two lines are especially
instructive:Speak
yee who best can tell, ye Sons of light (l. 160);andFountains and yee, that
warble, as ye flow,
Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise (l. 195).In
v. 694 it marks, as the voice by its emphasis would mark in reading,
a change of subject:So spake the false Arch-Angel,
and infus'd
Bad influence into th' unwarie brest
Of his Associate; hee (i. e. the associate) together calls,&c.An
examination of other passages, where there is no antithesis, goes to
show that the lengthened form of the pronoun is most frequent before
a pause (as vii. 95); or at the end of a line (i. 245, 257); or when
a foot is inverted (v. 133); or when as object it precedes its verb
(v. 612; vii. 747), or as subject follows it (ix. 1109; x. 4). But as
we might expect under circumstances where a purist could not correct
his own proofs, there are not a few inconsistencies. There does not
seem, for example, any special emphasis in the second wee of the
following passage:Freely we serve.
Because wee freely love, as in our will
To love or not; in this we stand or fall (v. 538).On
the other hand, in the passage (iii. 41) in which the poet speaks of
his own blindness:Thus with the Year
Seasons return, but not to me returns
Day, &c.where,
if anywhere, we should expect mee, we do not find it, though it
occurs in the speech eight lines below. It should be added that this
differentiation of the pronouns is not found in any printed poem of
Milton's before Paradise Lost, nor is it found in the Cambridge
autograph. In that manuscript the constant forms are me, wee, yee.
There is one place where there is a difference in the spelling of
she, and it is just possible that this may not be due to accident. In
the first verse of the song in Arcades, the MS. reads:This, this is shee;and
in the third verse:This, this is she alone.This
use of the double vowel is found a few times in Paradise Regain'd: in
ii. 259 and iv. 486, 497 where mee begins a line, and in iv. 638
where hee is specially emphatic in the concluding lines of the poem.
In Samson Agonistes it is more frequent (e.g. lines 124, 178, 193,
220, 252, 290, 1125). Another word the spelling of which in Paradise
Lost will be observed to vary is the pronoun their, which is spelt
sometimes thir. The spelling in the Cambridge manuscript is uniformly
thire, except once when it is thir; and where their once occurs in
the writing of an amanuensis the e is struck through. That the
difference is not merely a printer's device to accommodate his line
may be seen by a comparison of lines 358 and 363 in the First Book,
where the shorter word comes in the shorter line. It is probable that
the lighter form of the word was intended to be used when it was
quite unemphatic. Contrast, for example, in Book iii. l.59: His own
works and their works at once to view with line 113: Thir maker and
thir making and thir Fate. But the use is not consistent, and the
form thir is not found at all till the 349th line of the First Book.
The distinction is kept up in the Paradise Regain'd and Samson
Agonistes, but, if possible, with even less consistency. Such
passages, however, as Paradise Regain'd, iii. 414-440; Samson
Agonistes, 880-890, are certainly spelt upon a method, and it is
noticeable that in the choruses the lighter form is universal.Paradise
Regain'd and Samson Agonistes were published in 1671, and no further
edition was called for in the remaining three years of the poet's
lifetime, so that in the case of these poems there are no new
readings to record; and the texts were so carefully revised, that
only one fault (Paradise Regain'd, ii. 309) was left for correction
later. In these and the other poems I have corrected the misprints
catalogued in the tables of Errata, and I have silently corrected any
other unless it might be mistaken for a various reading, when I have
called attention to it in a note. Thus I have not recorded such
blunders as Lethian for Lesbian in the 1645 text of Lycidas, line 63;
or hallow for hollow in Paradise Lost, vi. 484; but I have noted
content for concent, in At a Solemn Musick, line 6.In
conclusion I have to offer my sincere thanks to all who have
collaborated with me in preparing this Edition; to the Delegates of
the Oxford Press for allowing me to undertake it and decorate it with
so many facsimiles; to the Controller of the Press for his unfailing
courtesy; to the printers and printer's reader for their care and
pains. Coming nearer home I cannot but acknowledge the help I have
received in looking over proof-sheets from my sister, Mrs. P. A.
Barnett, who has ungrudgingly put at the service of this book both
time and eyesight. In taking leave of it, I may be permitted to say
that it has cost more of both these inestimable treasures than I had
anticipated. The last proof reaches me just a year after the first,
and the progress of the work has not in the interval been
interrupted. In tenui labor et tenuis gloria. Nevertheless I cannot
be sorry it was undertaken.
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.
ON
THE MORNING OF CHRISTS NATIVITY.
Compos'd 1629.
I This is
the Month, and this the happy morn
Wherin the Son of Heav'ns eternal King,
Of wedded Maid, and Virgin Mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For so the holy sages once did sing,
That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.
II That
glorious Form, that Light unsufferable,
And that far-beaming blaze of Majesty,
Wherwith he wont at Heav'ns high Councel-Table,
10 To sit the
midst of Trinal Unity,
He laid aside; and here with us to be,
Forsook the Courts of everlasting Day,
And chose with us a darksom House of mortal Clay.
III Say
Heav'nly Muse, shall not thy sacred vein
Afford a present to the Infant God?
Hast thou no vers, no hymn, or solemn strein,
To welcom him to this his new abode,
Now while the Heav'n by the Suns team untrod,
Hath took no print of the approching light,
20 And all
the spangled host keep watch in squadrons bright?
IV See
how from far upon the Eastern rode
The Star-led Wisards haste with odours sweet,
O run, prevent them with thy humble ode,
And lay it lowly at his blessed feet;
Have thou the honour first, thy Lord to greet,
And joyn thy voice unto the Angel Quire,
From out his secret Altar toucht with hallow'd fire.The
Hymn.
I IT was
the Winter wilde,
While the Heav'n-born-childe,
30 All meanly
wrapt in the rude manger lies;
Nature in aw to him
Had doff't her gawdy trim,
With her great Master so to sympathize:
It was no season then for her
To wanton with the Sun her lusty Paramour.
II Only
with speeches fair
She woo'd the gentle Air
To hide her guilty front with innocent Snow,
And on her naked shame,
40 Pollute
with sinfull blame,
The Saintly Vail of Maiden white to throw,
Confounded, that her Makers eyes
Should look so near upon her foul deformities.
III But
he her fears to cease,
Sent down the meek-eyd Peace,
She crown'd with Olive green, came softly sliding
Down through the turning sphear
His ready Harbinger,
With Turtle wing the amorous clouds dividing,
50 And waving
wide her mirtle wand,
She strikes a universall Peace through Sea and Land.
IV No
War, or Battails sound
Was heard the World around,
The idle spear and shield were high up hung;
The hooked Chariot stood
Unstain'd with hostile blood,
The Trumpet spake not to the armed throng,
And Kings sate still with awfull eye,
As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by.
60 V
But peacefull was the night
Wherin the Prince of light
His raign of peace upon the earth began:
The Windes with wonder whist,
Smoothly the waters kist,
Whispering new joyes to the milde Ocean,
Who now hath quite forgot to rave,
While Birds of Calm sit brooding on the charmed wave.
VI The
Stars with deep amaze
Stand fit in steadfast gaze,
70 Bending
one way their pretious influence,
And will not take their flight,
For all the morning light,
Or Lucifer that often warned them thence;
But in their glimmering Orbs did glow,
Until their Lord himself bespake, and bid them go.
VII And
though the shady gloom
Had given day her room,
The Sun himself with-held his wonted speed,
And hid his head for shame,
80 As his
inferior flame,
The new enlightened world no more should need;
He saw a greater Sun appear
Then his bright Throne, or burning Axletree could bear.
VIII The
Shepherds on the Lawn,
Or ere the point of dawn,
Sate simply chatting in a rustic row;
Full little thought they than,
That the mighty Pan
Was kindly com to live with them below;
90 Perhaps
their loves, or els their sheep,
Was all that did their silly thoughts so busie keep.
IX When
such Musick sweet
Their hearts and ears did greet,
As never was by mortal finger strook,
Divinely-warbled voice
Answering the stringed noise,
As all their souls in blisfull rapture took:
The Air such pleasure loth to lose,
With thousand echo's still prolongs each heav'nly
close.
100 X
Nature that heard such sound
Beneath the hollow round
of Cynthia's seat the Airy region thrilling,
Now was almost won
To think her part was don
And that her raign had here its last fulfilling;
She knew such harmony alone
Could hold all Heav'n and Earth in happier union.
XI At
last surrounds their sight
A globe of circular light,
110 That with
long beams the shame faced night arrayed
The helmed Cherubim
And sworded Seraphim,
Are seen in glittering ranks with wings displaid,
Harping in loud and solemn quire,
With unexpressive notes to Heav'ns new-born Heir.
XII Such
Musick (as 'tis said)
Before was never made,
But when of old the sons of morning sung,
While the Creator Great
His constellations set,
120 And the
well-ballanc't world on hinges hung,
And cast the dark foundations deep,
And bid the weltring waves their oozy channel keep.
XIII Ring
out ye Crystall sphears,
Once bless our human ears,
(If ye have power to touch our senses so)
And let your silver chime
Move in melodious time;
And let the Base of Heav'ns deep Organ blow,
130 And with
your ninefold harmony
Make up full consort to th'Angelike symphony.
XIV For
if such holy Song
Enwrap our fancy long,
Time will run back, and fetch the age of gold,
And speckl'd vanity
Will sicken soon and die,
And leprous sin will melt from earthly mould,
And Hell it self will pass away
And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day.
140 XV
Yea Truth, and Justice then
Will down return to men,
Th'enameld Arras of the Rain-bow wearing,
And Mercy set between
Thron'd in Celestiall sheen,
With radiant feet the tissued clouds down stearing,
And Heav'n as at som festivall,
Will open wide the gates of her high Palace Hall.
XVI But
wisest Fate sayes no,
This must not yet be so,
150 The Babe
lies yet in smiling Infancy,
That on the bitter cross
Must redeem our loss;
So both himself and us to glorifie:
Yet first to those ychain'd in sleep,
The Wakeful trump of doom must thunder through the deep,
XVII With
such a horrid clang
As on Mount Sinai rang
While the red fire, and smouldring clouds out brake:
The aged Earth agast
160 With
terrour of that blast,
Shall from the surface to the center shake;
When at the worlds last session,
The dreadfull Judge in middle Air shall spread his throne.
XVIII And
then at last our bliss
Full and perfect is,
But now begins; for from this happy day
Th'old Dragon under ground
In straiter limits bound,
Not half so far casts his usurped sway,
170 And wrath
to see his Kingdom fail,
Swindges the scaly Horrour of his foulded tail.
XIX The
Oracles are dumm,
No voice or hideous humm
Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving.
Apollo from his shrine
Can no more divine,
With hollow shreik the steep of Delphos leaving.
No nightly trance, or breathed spell,
Inspire's the pale-ey'd Priest from the prophetic cell.
180 XX
The lonely mountains o're,
And the resounding shore,
A voice of weeping heard, and loud lament;
From haunted spring, and dale
Edg'd with poplar pale
The parting Genius is with sighing sent,
With flowre-inwov'n tresses torn
The Nimphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets mourn.
XXI In
consecrated Earth,
And on the holy Hearth,
190 The Lars,
and Lemures moan with midnight plaint,
In Urns, and Altars round,
A drear, and dying sound
Affrights the Flamins at their service quaint;
And the chill Marble seems to sweat,
While each peculiar power forgoes his wonted seat.
XXII
Peor, and Baalim,
Forsake their Temples dim,
With that twise-batter'd god of Palestine,
And mooned Ashtaroth,
200 Heav'ns
Queen and Mother both,
Now sits not girt with Tapers holy shine,
The Libyc Hammon shrinks his horn,
In vain the Tyrian Maids their wounded Thamuz mourn.
XXIII And
sullen Moloch fled,
Hath left in shadows dred,
His burning Idol all of blackest hue,
In vain with Cymbals ring,
They call the grisly king,
In dismall dance about the furnace Blue;
210 And
Brutish gods of Nile as fast,
lsis and Orus, and the Dog Anubis hast.
THE PASSION.
I
ERE-while of Musick, and Ethereal mirth,
Wherwith the stage of Ayr and Earth did ring,
And joyous news of heav'nly Infants birth,
My muse with Angels did divide to sing;
But headlong joy is ever on the wing,
In Wintry solstice like the shortn'd light
Soon swallow'd up in dark and long out-living night.
II For
now to sorrow must I tune my song,
And set my Harpe to notes of saddest wo,
Which on our dearest Lord did sease er'e long,
Dangers, and snares, and wrongs, and worse then so,
10 Which he
for us did freely undergo.
Most perfect Heroe, try'd in heaviest plight
Of labours huge and hard, too hard for human wight.
III He
sov'ran Priest stooping his regall head
That dropt with odorous oil down his fair eyes,
Poor fleshly Tabernacle entered,
His starry front low-rooft beneath the skies;
O what a Mask was there, what a disguise!
Yet more; the stroke of death he must abide,
20 Then lies
him meekly down fast by his Brethrens side.
IV These
latter scenes confine my roving vers,
To this Horizon is my Phoebus bound,
His Godlike acts, and his temptations fierce,
And former sufferings other where are found;
Loud o're the rest Cremona's Trump doth sound;
Me softer airs befit, and softer strings
Of Lute, or Viol still, more apt for mournful things.
Note: 22 latter] latest 1673.
V
Befriend me night best Patroness of grief,
Over the Pole thy thickest mantle throw,
30 And work
my flatterd fancy to belief,
That Heav'n and Earth are colour'd with my wo;
My sorrows are too dark for day to know:
The leaves should all be black wheron I write,
And letters where my tears have washt a wannish white.
VI See
see the Chariot, and those rushing wheels,
That whirl'd the Prophet up at Chebar flood,
My spirit som transporting Cherub feels,
To bear me where the Towers of Salem stood,
Once glorious Towers, now sunk in guiltles blood;
40 There doth
my soul in holy vision sit
In pensive trance, and anguish, and ecstatick fit.
VII Mine
eye hath found that sad Sepulchral rock
That was the Casket of Heav'ns richest store,
And here though grief my feeble hands up-lock,
Yet on the softned Quarry would I score
My plaining vers as lively as before;
For sure so well instructed are my tears,
They would fitly fall in order'd Characters.
VIII I
thence hurried on viewles wing,
50 Take up a
weeping on the Mountains wilde,
The gentle neighbourhood of grove and spring
Would soon unboosom all their Echoes milde,
And I (for grief is easily beguild)
Might think th'infection of my sorrows bound,
Had got a race of mourners on som pregnant cloud.
Note: This subject the Author finding to be above the yeers he had,
when he wrote it, and nothing satisfi'd with what was begun,
left it unfinish'd.
ON TIME.
FLY
envious Time, till thou run out thy race,
Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours,
Whose speed is but the heavy Plummets pace;
And glut thy self with what thy womb devours,
Which is no more then what is false and vain,
And meerly mortal dross;
So little is our loss,
So little is thy gain.
For when as each thing bad thou hast entomb'd,
And last of all, thy greedy self consum'd,
10 Then long
Eternity shall greet our bliss
With an individual kiss;
And Joy shall overtake us as a flood,
When every thing that is sincerely good
And perfectly divine,
With Truth, and Peace, and Love shall ever shine
About the supreme Throne
Of him, t'whose happy-making sight alone,
When once our heav'nly-guided soul shall clime,
Then all this Earthy grosnes quit,
20 Attir'd
with Stars, we shall for ever sit,
Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee O Time.
Note: See the appendix for the manuscript version.
UPON THE CIRCUMCISION.
YE
flaming Powers, and winged Warriours bright,
That erst with Musick, and triumphant song
First heard by happy watchful Shepherds ear,
So sweetly sung your Joy the Clouds along
Through the soft silence of the list'ning night;
Now mourn, and if sad share with us to bear
Your fiery essence can distill no tear,
Burn in your sighs, and borrow
Seas wept from our deep sorrow,
He who with all Heav'ns heraldry whileare
10 Enter'd
the world, now bleeds to give us ease;
Alas, how soon our sin
Sore doth begin
His Infancy to sease!
O more exceeding love or law more just?
Just law indeed, but more exceeding love!
For we by rightfull doom remediles
Were lost in death, till he that dwelt above
High thron'd in secret bliss, for us frail dust
Emptied his glory, ev'n to nakednes;
20 And that
great Cov'nant which we still transgress
Intirely satisfi'd,
And the full wrath beside
Of vengeful Justice bore for our excess,
And seals obedience first with wounding smart
This day, but O ere long
Huge pangs and strong
Will pierce more neer his heart.
AT A SOLEMN MUSICK.
BLEST
pair of Sirens, pledges of Heav'ns joy,
Sphear-born harmonious Sisters, Voice, and Vers,
Wed your divine sounds, and mixt power employ
Dead things with inbreath'd sense able to pierce,
And to our high-rais'd phantasie present,
That undisturbed Song of pure content,
Ay sung before the saphire-colour'd throne
To him that sits theron
With Saintly shout, and solemn Jubily,
Where the bright Seraphim in burning row
10 Their loud
up-lifted Angel trumpets blow,
And the Cherubick host in thousand quires
Touch their immortal Harps of golden wires,
With those just Spirits that wear victorious Palms,
Hymns devout and holy Psalms
Singing everlastingly;
That we on Earth with undiscording voice
May rightly answer that melodious noise;
As once we did, till disproportion'd sin
Jarr'd against natures chime, and with harsh din
20 The fair
musick that all creatures made
To their great Lord, whose love their motion sway'd
In perfect Diapason, whilst they stood
In first obedience, and their state of good.
O may we soon again renew that Song,
And keep in tune with Heav'n, till God ere long
To his celestial consort us unite,
To live with him, and sing in endles morn of light.
Note: 6 content] Manuscript reads concent as does the Second
Edition; so that content is probably a misprint.
AN EPITAPH ON THE MARCHIONESS OF WINCHESTER.
THIS
rich Marble doth enterr
The honour'd Wife of Winchester,
A Vicounts daughter, an Earls heir,
Besides what her vertues fair
Added to her noble birth,
More then she could own from Earth.
Summers three times eight save one
She had told, alas too soon,
After so short time of breath,
To house with darknes, and with death.
10 Yet had
the number of her days
Bin as compleat as was her praise,
Nature and fate had had no strife
In giving limit to her life.
Her high birth, and her graces sweet,
Quickly found a lover meet;
The Virgin quire for her request
The God that sits at marriage feast;
He at their invoking came
But with a scarce-wel-lighted flame;
20 And in his
Garland as he stood,
Ye might discern a Cipress bud.
Once had the early Matrons run
To greet her of a lovely son,
And now with second hope she goes,
And calls Lucina to her throws;
But whether by mischance or blame
Atropos for Lucina came;
And with remorsles cruelty,
Spoil'd at once both fruit and tree:
30 The haples
Babe before his birth
Had burial, yet not laid in earth,
And the languisht Mothers Womb
Was not long a living Tomb.
So have I seen som tender slip
Sav'd with care from Winters nip,
The pride of her carnation train,
Pluck't up by som unheedy swain,
Who onely thought to crop the flowr
New shot up from vernall showr;
40 But the
fair blossom hangs the head
Side-ways as on a dying bed,
And those Pearls of dew she wears,
Prove to be presaging tears
Which the sad morn had let fall
On her hast'ning funerall.
Gentle Lady may thy grave
Peace and quiet ever have;
After this thy travail sore
Sweet rest sease thee evermore,
50 That to
give the world encrease,
Shortned hast thy own lives lease;
Here besides the sorrowing
That thy noble House doth bring,
Here be tears of perfect moan
Weept for thee in Helicon,
And som Flowers, and som Bays,
For thy Hears to strew the ways,
Sent thee from the banks of Came,
Devoted to thy vertuous name;
60 Whilst
thou bright Saint high sit'st in glory,
Next her much like to thee in story,
That fair Syrian Shepherdess,
Who after yeers of barrennes,
The highly favour'd Joseph bore
To him that serv'd for her before,
And at her next birth much like thee,
Through pangs fled to felicity,
Far within the boosom bright
of blazing Majesty and Light,
70 There with
thee, new welcom Saint,
Like fortunes may her soul acquaint,
With thee there clad in radiant sheen,
No Marchioness, but now a Queen.
SONG ON MAY MORNING.
Now
the bright morning Star, Dayes harbinger,
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The Flowry May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow Cowslip, and the pale Primrose.
Hail bounteous May that dost inspire
Mirth and youth, and warm desire,
Woods and Groves, are of thy dressing,
Hill and Dale, doth boast thy blessing.
Thus we salute thee with our early Song,
And welcom thee, and wish thee long.
10
ON SHAKESPEAR. 1630.
WHAT
needs my Shakespear for his honour'd Bones,
The labour of an age in piled Stones,
Or that his hallow'd reliques should be hid
Under a Star-ypointing Pyramid?
Dear son of memory, great heir of Fame,
What need'st thou such weak witnes of thy name?
Thou in our wonder and astonishment
Hast built thy self a live-long Monument.
For whilst to th'sharne of slow-endeavouring art,
Thy easie numbers flow, and that each heart
10 Hath from
the Leaves of thy unvalu'd Book,
Those Delphick lines with deep impression took,
Then thou our fancy of it self bereaving,
Dost make us Marble with too much conceaving;
And so Sepulcher'd in such pomp dost lie,
That Kings for such a Tomb would wish to die.
Notes: On Shakespear. Reprinted 1632 in the second folio
Shakespeare:
Title] An epitaph on the admirable dramaticke poet W.
Shakespeare 1
needs] neede
6 weak] dull
8 live-long] lasting
10 heart] part
13 it] her
ON
THE UNIVERSITY CARRIER WHO SICKN'D IN THE TIME OF HIS
VACANCY, BEING FORBID TO GO TO LONDON, BY REASON OF THE
PLAGUE.
HERE
lies old Hobson, Death hath broke his girt,
And here alas, hath laid him in the dirt,
Or els the ways being foul, twenty to one,
He's here stuck in a slough, and overthrown.
'Twas such a shifter, that if truth were known,
Death was half glad when he had got him down;
For he had any time this ten yeers full,
Dodg'd with him, betwixt Cambridge and the Bull.
And surely, Death could never have prevail'd,
Had not his weekly cours of carriage fail'd;
10 But lately
finding him so long at home,
And thinking now his journeys end was come,
And that he had tane up his latest Inne,
In the kind office of a Chamberlin
Shew'd him his room where he must lodge that night,
Pull'd off his Boots, and took away the light:
If any ask for him, it shall be sed,
Hobson has supt, and 's newly gon to bed.
ANOTHER ON THE SAME.
HERE
lieth one who did most truly prove,
That he could never die while he could move,
So hung his destiny never to rot
While he might still jogg on, and keep his trot,
Made of sphear-metal, never to decay
Untill his revolution was at stay.
Time numbers motion, yet (without a crime
'Gainst old truth) motion number'd out his time:
And like an Engin mov'd with wheel and waight,
His principles being ceast, he ended strait.
10 Rest that
gives all men life, gave him his death,
And too much breathing put him out of breath;
Nor were it contradiction to affirm
Too long vacation hastned on his term.
Meerly to drive the time away he sickn'd,
Fainted, and died, nor would with Ale be quickn'd;
Nay, quoth he, on his swooning bed out-stretch'd,
If I may not carry, sure Ile ne're be fetch'd,
But vow though the cross Doctors all stood hearers,
For one Carrier put down to make six bearers.
20 Ease was
his chief disease, and to judge right,
He di'd for heavines that his Cart went light,
His leasure told him that his time was com,
And lack of load, made his life burdensom
That even to his last breath (ther be that say't)
As he were prest to death, he cry'd more waight;
But had his doings lasted as they were,
He had bin an immortall Carrier.
Obedient to the Moon he spent his date
In cours reciprocal, and had his fate
30 Linkt to
the mutual flowing of the Seas,
Yet (strange to think) his wain was his increase:
His Letters are deliver'd all and gon,
Onely remains this superscription.
L'ALLEGRO.
HENCE
loathed Melancholy
Of Cerberus, and blackest midnight born,
In Stygian Cave forlorn
'Mongst horrid shapes, and shreiks, and sights unholy,
Find out som uncouth cell,
Where brooding darknes spreads his jealous wings,
And the night-Raven sings;
There under Ebon shades and low-brow'd Rocks,
As ragged as thy Locks,
In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.
10 But com
thou Goddes fair and free,
In Heav'n ycleap'd Euphrosyne,
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
