From the hard season gaining? time will run He who of those delights can judge, and spare XXI. To CYRIAC SKINNER.* CYRIAC, whose grandsire on the royal bench 5 10 word, Poems, ed. 1629. p. 12. and 131. T. Warton. 8. that neither sow'd nor spun.] Alluding to Matt. vi. 26, 28. they sow not, neither do they spin. 13. The close of this Sonnet is perfectly in the style of Horace and the Grecian lyrics. As is that of the following to Cyriac Skinner. T. Warton. * Cyriac Skinner was the son of William Skinner, Esq. and grandson of Sir Vincent Skinner, and his mother was Bridget, one of the daughters of the famous Sir Edward Coke, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench. Mr. Wood informs us, that he was one of Harrington's political club, and sometimes held the chair; and farther adds, that he was a merchant's son of London, Pronounc'd and in his volumes taught our laws, Let Euclid rest and Archimedes pause, And what the Swede intends, and what the French. cr Ready and easy way, &c. Lond. "Printed by Paul Giddy, printer "to the Rota, at the signe of "the Windmill in Turne againe "Lane, 1660." But Harrington's club, which encouraged all proposals for new models of government, was very unlikely to have made such an attack; and Milton's very familiar intimacy with Skinner, to whom he addresses two Sonnets, full of confidence and affection, was alone sufficient to have prevented any remonstrance from that quarter. Aubrey says, that Milton's Idea Theologiæ in manuscript is " in "the hands of Mr. Skinner, a 5 "merchant's son in Mark-Lane. "Mem. There was one Mr. "Skinner of the Jerker's office up two pair of stayres at the "Custom-house." MS. Ashmol. ut infr. Milton's pamphlet was also answered in the " Dignity "of Kingship asserted: in an"swer to Mr. Milton's Ready "and Easie way &c. by G. S. "a lover of Loyalty. London, "Pr. by E. C. for H. Saile, &c. "1660." 12mo. It is a weak performance. In the Dedication to Charles the Second, the author says, "the King's murther, "and all its concomitant ini"quities, were extenuated, ex tolled, and justified, by one "Mr. John Milton." I have also a pamphlet before me, "A "Letter to Mr. Evelyn on the "Constitution of the House of "Commons." G. S. is written into the title as the author's name, who is called an ejected member of the House of Commons. I think he is not the same. T. Warton. 6. In mirth, that after no repenting draws.] This is the decent mirth of Martial, Nox non ebria, sed soluta curis. 8. And what the Swede intends,] We have printed it as it is in the Manuscript. In the first edition it was, And what the Swede intend, To measure life learn thou betimes, and know XXII. To the same." CYRIAC, this three years day these eyes, though clear, 5 which in others is altered to And to General Fairfax, Cromwell, what the Swedes intend. Charles Gustavus, king of Sweden, was at this time waging war with Poland, and the French with the Spaniards in the Netherlands: and what Milton says is somewhat in the spirit and manner of Horace. Od. ii. xi. 1. Quid bellicosus Cantaber, et Scythes Divisus objecto, remittas * The two Sonnets to Cyriac Skinner we have printed in the same order as they are numbered in the Manuscript. This latter was never printed in Milton's lifetime, but was first published several years after his death at the same time and in the same manner with the foregoing ones and Sir Henry Vane: and though the person, to whom it is addressed, was not so obnoxious as any of those before mentioned, yet it might not have been safe for Milton to have published such a commendation of his Defence of the people, which the government had ordered to be burnt by the hands of the common hangman. In the printed editions this Sonnet likewise is very incorrect, but we shall restore it by the assistance of the Manuscript. 7. Against heav'n's hand &c.] It was at first in the Manuscript God's hand and one jot in the printed copies is a jot in the Manuscript. 8. but still bear up and steer Right onward. What supports me, dost thou ask? The conscience, Friend, to' have lost them overplied In liberty's defence, my noble task, Of which all Europe talks from side to side, Right onward.] In the Manuscript it was at first, -but still attend to steer Uphillward. 8. One of Milton's characteristics was a singular fortitude of mind, arising from a consciousness of superior abilities, and a conviction that his cause was just. See Sonn. vi. 4 where he describes the heart which he presents to Leonora, Io certo a prove tante L'hebbi fedele, intrepido, costante, &c. But he concludes, with great elegance, writing to a lady, that it was not proof against love. T. Warton. 11 "ferred to my eyes." T. Warton. 10. See note on Comus, 309. 10. my noble task.] In a Letter to Oldenburgh he says, "Ad alia ut me parem, nescio "c sane an nobilioru et utiliora. Quid enim in rebus humanis "asserenda Libertate nobilius aut "utilius esse potest?" But he adds, with less triumph than in this Sonnet, about his blindness, "siquidem per valetudinem, et "hanc luminem orbitatem licu"erit." Pr. W. ii. 574. This Sonnet was not written before 1651, when the Defensio appeared. T. Warton. 12. Of which all Europe talks from side to side, &c.] In the printed copies these lines are thus, Whereof all Europe rings from side to side. This thought might lead me through The Manuscript has the advan- This thought might lead me through the world's vain mask Content though blind, had I no better guide. XXIII. On his deceased WIFE.* Methought I saw my late espoused saint Brought to me like Alcestis from the grave, Whom Jove's great son to her glad husband gave, Rescued from death by force, though pale and faint. * This was his second wife Catharine the daughter of Captain Woodcock of Hackney, who lived with him not above a year after their marriage, and died in childbed of a daughter. poor sonnet. Perhaps he was not struck with this fine allusion to Euripides. T. Warton. The last scene of the Alcestis of Euripides, our author's favourite writer, to which he alludes in this passage, is remarkably pathetic; particularly at v. 1. Methought I saw my late Methought I saw the grave where And hence perhaps the idea of a This Sonnet was written about the year 1656. T. Warton. 2. like Alcestis from the grave, &c.] Alcestis was the wife of Admetus king of Thessaly, who being dangerously ill obtained by the means of Apollo, that he should recover, if any body else would die in his stead. His wife voluntarily offered herself, but Hercules intervening rescued her from death, and brought her back again to her husband. Our author borrows the allusion from a play of Euripides called Alcestis. 2. Dr. Johnson calls this a Ω φιλτατης γυναίκος όμμα, &c. And all that follows on Admetus's discovering that it was his wife whom Hercules had brought to him covered with a veil. And equally tender and pathetic is the passage in the first Act, which describes Alcestis taking leave of her family and house, when she had resolved to die to save her husband: particularly from v. 175. to v. 196. Thompson closely copied this passage in his Edward and Eleonora. I have wondered, that Addison, who has made so many observations on the allegory of Sin and Death, in the Paradise Lost, did not recollect, that the person of Death was clearly and obviously taken from the OavatoS of Euripides in this Tragedy of Alcestis. Dr. J. Warton. |