VIII. WHEN THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED TO THE CITY. 5 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 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 10 IX. TO A VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY. LADY, that in the prime of earliest youth Wisely hastshunn'd the broadway 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, Chosen thou hast; and they that overween, No anger find in thee, but pity and ruth. 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, 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 8 5 with] In ed. 1645, and the Ruth.' Todd. 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. hope] 'Elmis óv kataloxúvel. Rom. v. 5. Hurd. Earl] Earl of Marlborough, Lord High Treasurer, and Lord President of the Council to King James I. Parliament was dissolved the 10th of March, 1628-9; he died on the 14th. Newton. 11 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 ; That all both judge you to relate them true, XI. ON THE DETRACTION WHICH FOLLOWED а A BOOK was writ of late callid Tetrachordon, And woven close, both matter, form, and style; Numb'ring good intellects; now seldom por'don. A title-page is this ! and some in file End Green. Why is it harder, Sirs, than Gordon, sleek, 10 * This is the Sonnet which Dr. Johnson selected in his Dictionary, as a specimen of this species of Verse in English. Todd. 9 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. a 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 Ed ward Greek. XII. ON THE SAME. By the known rules of ancient liberty, 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, 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; 6 tongue. Thou honour'st verse, and verse must lend her wing To honour thee, the priest of Phoebus' 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 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 |