I pray thee then deny me not thy aid

For this fame small neglect that I have made :
But hafte thee ftrait to do me once a pleasure,
And from thy wardrobe bring thy chiefeft treasure,
Not thofe new fangled toys, and trimming flight
Which takes our late fantastics with delight,
But cull thofe richest robes, and gay'st attire
Which deepeft fpirits, and choiceft wits defire:
I have fome naked thoughts that rove about,
And loudly knock to have their paffage out;
And weary of their place do only stay
Till thou haft deck'd them in thy best array;
That fo they may without fufpect or fears
Fly fwiftly to this fair affembly's ears.
Yet I had rather, if I were to chuse,
Thy fervice in fome graver fubject use,

Such as may make thee fearch thy coffers round,
Before thou clothe my fancy in fit found:
Such where the deep tranfported mind may foar
Above the wheeling poles, and at Heav'n's door
Look in, and fee each blifsful Deity

How he before the thunderous throne doth lie,
Lift'ning to what unfhorn Apollo fings

To th' touch of golden wires, while Hebe brings
Immortal nectar to her kingly fire:

15

20

25

30

35

Then paffing through the fpheres of watchful fire, 40
And misty regions of wide air next under,
And hills of fnow and lofts of piled thunder,
May tell at length how green-ey'd Neptune raves,
In Heav'n's defiance mustering all his waves ;
Then fing of fecret things that came to pass
When beldam Nature in her cradle was ;
And laft of kings and queens and heroes old,
Such as the wife Demodocus once told

45

In folemn fongs at king Alcinous feast,

While fad Ulyffes foul and all the reft
Are held with his melodious harmony
In willing chains and fweet captivity.

But fie, my wand'ring Muse, how thou doft ftray!
Expectance calls thee now another way,
Thou know'ft it must be now thy only bent
To keep in compafs of thy predicament:
Then quick about thy purpos'd business come,
That to the next I may refign my room.

50

55

Then Ens is reprefented as father of the Predicaments his ten fons, whereof the eldest stood for Substance with his canons, which Ens thus fpeaking, explains.

Go

60

OOD luck befriend thee, Son; for at thy birth
The faery ladies danc'd upon the hearth;
Thy droufy nurse hath fworn fhe did them fpie
Come tripping to the room where thou didst lie,
And sweetly finging round about thy bed

Strow all their bleffings on thy fleeping head.
She heard them give thee this, that thou shouldft Aill 65
From eyes of mortals walk invifible:

Yet there is something that doth force my fear,
For once it was my difmal hap to hear

A Sibyl old, bow-bent with crooked age
That far events full wifely could prefage,
And in time's long and dark profpective glass
Forefaw what future days fhould bring to pass;
Your fon, faid fhe, (nor can you it prevent)
Shall fubject be to many an Accident.

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75

O'er all his brethren he shall reign as king,
Yet every one fhall make him underling,
And those that cannot live from him afunder
Ungratefully fhall ftrive to keep him under,
In worth and excellence he shall out-go them,
Yet being above them, he shall be below them; 80
From others he shall ftand in need of nothing,
Yet on his brothers fhall depend for clothing.
To find a foe it shall not be his hap,

And shall lull him in her flow'ry lap;

peace

Yet fhall he live in strife, and at his door
Devouring war fhall never cease to roar:
Yea it fhall be his natural property

To harbour those that are at enmity.

85

What pow'r, what force, what mighty fpell, if not Your learned hands can loose this Gordian knot? 90

The next Quantity and Quality spake in profe, then Relation was call'd by his name.

RIVERS arife; whether thou be the fon

Of utmost Tweed, or Oofe, or gulphy Dun,
Or Trent, who like fome earth-born giant spreads
His thirty arms along th' indented meads,
Or fullen Mole that runneth underneath,
Or Severn swift, guilty of maiden's death,
Or rocky Avon, or of fedgy Lee,

Or coaly Tine, or ancient hallow'd Dee,

Or Humber loud that keeps the Scythian's name,
Or Medway smooth, or royal towred Thame.

[The reft was profe.]

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100

91. Rivers arife, &c.] In invoking these rivers, Milton had his eye particularly upon that admirable epifode in Spenfer, of the marriage of the Thames and the Medway, where the feveral rivers are introduced in honor of the ceremony. Fairy Queen, B. IV. Cant. II.

III.

On the MORNING of CHRIST'S NATIVITY. Compos'd in 1629.

ΤΗ

I.

HIS is the month, and this the happy morn,
Wherein the Son of Heav'ns eternal King
Of wedded Maid, and Virgin-Mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For fo the holy fages once did fing

That he our deadly forfeit fhould release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.
II.

That glorious form, that light unfufferable,
And that far-beaming blaze of majesty,

Wherewith he wont at Heav'n's high council-table 10
To fit the midst of Trinal Unity,

He laid afide; and here with us to be,

Forfook the courts of everlasting day,

And chose with us a darkfome house of mortal clay.

III.

Say heav'nly Muse, shall not thy facred vein
Afford a present to the Infant God?

Haft thou no verse, no hymn, or folemn strain,
To welcome him to this his new abode,

Now while the Heav'n by the fun's team untrod, Hath took no print of the approaching light, 20 And all the spangled hoft keep watch in fquadron's bright! IV.

See how from far upon the eastern road
The ftar-led wifards hafte with odors fweet;
O run, prevent them with thy humble ode,
And lay it lowly at his bleffed feet;

Have thou the honor first, thy Lord to greet,

And join thy voice unto the Angel quire, From out his facred altar touch'd with hallow'd fire.

All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies; Nature in awe to him

Had dofft her gaudy trim,

With her great Mafter so to sympathize:

It was no feafon then for her

To wanton with the fun her lufty paramour.

Only with speeches fair

-II.

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She woo's the gentle air

To hide her guilty front with innocent fnow, And on her naked shame,

Pollute with finful blame,

The faintly veil of maiden white to throw,

Confounded, that her Maker's eyes

Should look fo near upon her foul deformities.

But he her fears to cease

III.

Sent down the meek-ey'd Peace;

40

She crown'd with olive green, came foftly fliding Down through the turning sphere

His ready harbinger,

45

With turtle wing the amorous clouds dividing, 50 And waving wide her myrtle wand,

She strikes an univerfal peace through sea and land.