VIII. WHEN THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED TO THE CITY.

CAPTAIN or Colonel, or Knight in arms,

Whose chance on these defenceless doors may If deed of honour did thee ever please, [seize, Guard them, and him within protect from harms. He can requite thee, for he knows the charms

5

That call fame on such 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 poet had the pow'r

To save the Athenian walls from ruin bare.

10

IX. TO A VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY.

LADY, that in the prime of earliest youth
Wisely hast shunn'd the broad way and the green,

1 Knight] K. Richard II. act i. sc. 3, 'ask yonder knight in arms.'

Warton.

5 requite] Beaumont's Psyche, xvii. 108, Who will requite thy lays.' Dante Il Inferno, c. xxxi. ver. 127. 'Ancor ti può nel mondo render fama.'

11 temple] P. Reg. iii. 268.'

Forest, and field, and flood, temples, and towers.'

Warton.

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 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 light, 10 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,

Hast gain'd thy entrance, Virgin wise and pure.

X. TO THE LADY MARGARET LEY.

DAUGHTER to that good Earl, once President Of England's Council, and her Treasury, Who liv'd in both, unstain'd with gold or fee, 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,

5 with] In ed. 1645, and the Ruth.'

Todd.

5

8 pity] Spenser's F. Q. i. vi. 12, And won with pity, and unwonted ruth.' Todd. Marlowe and Nash's Dido, p. 40, ed. 1825, ruth and compassion,' and G. Peele's Works, by Dyce, vol. i. p. 112, 178, ed. 1829.

11 hope] 'Eλnig óv Karaιoxúvεi. Rom. v. 5. Hurd.

Earl] Earl of Marlborough, Lord High Treasurer, and Lord President of the Council to King James I. Parlia ment was dissolved the 10th of March, 1628-9; he died on the 14th. Newton.

C

Kill'd with report that old man eloquent.
Though later born than to have known the days
Wherein your father flourish'd, yet by you, 10
Madam, methinks I see him living yet;

So well your words his noble virtues praise,
That all both judge you to relate them true,
And to possess them, honour'd Margaret.

XI. ON THE DETRACTION WHICH FOLLOWED
UPON MY WRITING CERTAIN TREATISES.*

A BOOK was writ of late call'd Tetrachordon,
And woven close, both matter, form, and style;
The subject new: it walk'd the town a while,
Numb'ring good intellects; now seldom por❜d on.
Cries the stall-reader, Bless us! what a word on 5
A title-page is this! and some in file

Stand spelling false, while one might walk to Mile-
End Green. Why is it harder, Sirs, than Gordon,
Colkitto, or Macdonnel, or Galasp?

Those rugged names to our like mouths grow sleek,

10

*This is the Sonnet which Dr. Johnson selected in his Dictionary, as a specimen of this species of Verse in English. Todd.

• Colkitto] Colkitto and Macdonnel are one and the same person, an officer on the royal side, an Irishman of the Antrim family, who served under Montrose. The Macdonalds of that family are styled, by way of distinction, Mac Collcittok, i. e. descendants of lame Colin. Galasp is George Gillespie, a Scottish writer against the Independents. Warton.

That would have made Quintilian stare and gasp Thy age, like ours, O Soul of Sir John Cheek, Hated not learning worse than toad or asp, When thou taught'st Cambridge, and king Edward Greek.

XII. ON THE SAME.

I DID but prompt the age to quit their clogs
By the known rules of ancient liberty,
When straight a barbarous noise environs me
Of owls and cuckoos, asses, apes, and dogs:
As when those hinds that were transform'd to frogs
Rail'd at Latona's twin-born progeny,

Which after held the sun and moon in fee.
But this is got by casting pearl to hogs;
That bawl for freedom in their senseless mood,
And still revolt when truth would set them free.
License they mean when they cry Liberty;
For who loves that, must first be wise and good;
But from that mark how far they rove we see
For all this waste of wealth, and loss of blood.

XIII. TO MR. H. LAWES ON THE PUBLISHING HIS AIRS.

HARRY, whose tuneful and well measur'd song First taught our English music how to span Words with just note and accent, not to scan

With Midas' ears, committing short and long; Thy worth and skill exempts thee from the throng, With praise enough for envy to look wan;

To after age thou shalt be writ the man,
That with smooth air couldst humour best our

tongue.

Thou honour'st verse, and verse must lend her wing

To honour thee, the priest of Phœbus' quire, 10 That tun'st their happiest lines in hymn, or story. Dante shall give fame leave to set thee higher Than his Casella, whom he woo'd to sing Met in the milder shades of Purgatory.

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,

5 exempts] Hor. Od. i. i. 32, Secernunt populo.'

Richardson.

1 writ] Hor. Od. i. vi. 1, ' Scriberis Vario fortis,' &c.

Newton.

9 honour'st] So Browne's Brit. Past. B. ii. s. 11, of Lord Brooke,

Time shall see

Thee honor'd by thy verse, and it by thee. Todd.