Tanto del forse e d' invidia sicuro, Di timori, e speranze al popol use, E di cetra sonora, e delle Muse. Sol troverete in tal parte men duro Ove Amor mise l' insanabil ago. VIII. WHEN THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED TO THE CITY. CAPTAIN or Colonel, or Knight in Arms, Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize, If deed of honour did thee ever please, 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' bower : The great Emathian conqueror bid spare The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower Went to the ground; and the repeated air To save the Athenian walls from ruin bare. IX. [TO A VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY.] LADY, that in the prime of earliest youth Wisely hast shunned the broad way and the green, Chosen thou hast; and they that overween, Thy care is fixed, and zealously attends To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light, 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 gained thy entrance, Virgin wise and pure. X. TO THE LADY MARGARET LEY. DAUGHTER to that good Earl, once President Broke him, as that dishonest victory Killed with report that old man eloquent, So well your words his noble virtues praise That all both judge you to relate them true XI. ON THE DETRACTION WHICH FOLLOWED UPON MY WRITING CERTAIN TREATISES. A BOOK was writ of late called Tetrachordon, And woven close, both matter, form, and style; The subject new: it walked the town a while, Stand spelling false, while one might walk to MileEnd Green. Why is it harder, sirs, than Gordon, Colkitto, or Macdonnel, or Galasp? Those rugged names to our like mouths grow sleek, 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 When straight a barbarous noise environs me Which after held the Sun and Moon in fee. And still revolt when Truth would set them free. ON THE NEW FORCERS OF CONSCIENCE UNDER THE LONG PARLIAMENT. BECAUSE you have thrown off your Prelate Lord, VOL. II. To seize the widowed whore Plurality From them whose sin ye envied, not abhorred, I I Dare ye for this adjure the civil sword To force our consciences that Christ set free, Taught ye by mere A. S. and Rutherford? Would have been held in high esteem with Paul May with their wholesome and preventive shears And succour our just fears, When they shall read this clearly in your charge: XIII. TO MR. H. LAWES, ON HIS AIRS. HARRY, whose tuneful and well-measured song That with smooth air couldst humour best our tongue. XIV. ON THE RELIGIOUS MEMORY OF MRS. CATHERINE THOMSON, MY WHEN Faith and Love, which parted from thee never, Of death, called life, which us from life doth sever. XV. ON THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX, AT THE SIEGE OF COLCHESTER. FAIRFAX, whose name in arms through Europe rings, Victory home, though new rebellions raise Their Hydra heads, and the false North displays O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand (For what can war but endless war still breed ?) |