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That tun'ft their happiest lines in hymn, or ftory. Dante fhall give fame leave to set thee higher Than his Cafella, whom he woo'd to fing Met in the milder shades of purgatory.

XIV.

* On the religious memory of Mrs. Catharine Thomson, my christian friend, deceas'd 16 Decem. 1646.

When faith and love, which parted from thee never, Had ripen'd thy just foul to dwell with God,

Meekly

9. and verse muft lend her tory, and wooing him to fing in

wing] There are three manu- these terms,

fcript copies of this fonnet, two by Milton, the fecond corrected, and the third by another hand; and in all of them we read muft lend her wing, which we prefer to must fend ber wing, as it is in the printed copies.

12. Dante fhall give &c] Thefe verfes were thus at first,

Fame by the Tufcan's leave fhall
fet thee higher
Than his Cafelle, whom Dante
woo'd to fing &c.

fe nuoua legge non ti toglie Memoria, o ufo à l'amorofo canto,

Che mi folea quetar tutte mie
voglie;

Di ciò ti piaccia confolar al-
quanto
L'anima mia

Thyer

*To this fonnet, which was firft printed in the edition of 1673, we have added the title which is in Milton's Manufcript. Who this Mrs. Thomson was, we cannot be certain; but I find in the accounts 13. Than his Cafella, whom he of Milton's life, that when he was woo'd to fing &c] This refers firft made Latin fecretary, he lodg to the fecond Canto of Dante's ed at one Thomson's next door Purgatorio, where the poet relates to the Bull-head tavern at Chahis meeting with Cafella in purga- ring-Crofs. This Mrs. Thomfon

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Meekly thou didst resign this earthy load

Of death, call'd life; which us from life doth fever. Thy works and alms and all thy good endevor

Stay'd not behind, nor in the grave were trod;
But as faith pointed with her golden rod,

Follow'd thee up to joy and blifs for ever.

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Love led them on, and faith who knew them best
Thy hand-maids, clad them o'er with purple beams
And azure wings, that up they flew fo drest,
And spake the truth of thee on glorious themes

was in all probability one of that family.

3. Meekly thou didft refign &c] In the Manufcript these lines were thus at first,

Meekly thou didst refign this earthy clod

Of flesh and fin, which man from

Heav'n doth fever.

6. Stay'd not behind, &c] Inftead of these lines were the following at firft in the Manufcript,

Strait follow'd thee the path that
faints have trod,
Still as they journey'd from this
-dark abode

Up to the realm of peace and

joy for ever.

Faith fhow'd the way, and the who
faw them best
Thy hand-maids &c.

II

Before

12. And pake the truth] There are alfo three manufcript copies of this fonnet, two by Milton, the fecond corrected, and the third by another hand; and in all of them we read And fpake the truth, which is more agreeable to fyntax, and better than And speak the truth, as it is in the printed copies.

This and the two following fonnets are not found in the edition of Milton's poems in 1673, and the reafon of omitting them in the reign of Charles II is too obvious to need explaining. They were firft printed at the end of Philips's life of Milton, prefixed to the English translation of his stateletters, in 1694, which was twenty years after his death; they were afterwards cited by Toland in his life of Milton 1698; and as far as

Before the Judge, who thenceforth bid thee rest And drink thy fill of pure immortal streams. XV.

*To the Lord General FAIRFAX.

Fairfax, whose name in arms through Europe rings,
Filling each mouth with envy or with praife,
And all her jealous monarchs with amaze
And rumors loud, that daunt remotest kings,
Thy firm unshaken virtue ever brings
Victory home, though new rebellions falfe

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I can perceive, they were not inferted among his other poems till the fifth edition in 1713. But the printed copies, probably being taken at firft from memory, are wonderfully incorrect; whole verfes are omitted, and the beauty of thefe fonnets is in great measure defac'd and deftroy'd. It is therefore a fingular piece of good fortune, that they are fill extant in Milton's Manufcript, the firft in his own hand-writing, and the others by another hand, as he had then loft his fight: and having fuch an authentic copy, we fhall make it our ftandard, and thereby restore these fonnets to their original beauty. This to the Lord General Fairfax appears from the Manufcript to have been addrefs'd to him at the fiege of Colchester, which was carried on in the fummer of 1648.

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Their Hydra heads, and the falfe North difplays Her broken league to imp their ferpent wings. O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand,

(For what can war, but endless war still breed?) Till truth and right from violence be freed, And public faith clear'd from the shameful brand Of public fraud. In vain doth valor bleed, While avarice and rapin fhare the land,

XVI.

*To the Lord General CROMWELL.

Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud+

Not of Duke Hamilton. In the printed These lines are thus in the printed copies we have

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copies,

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Till injur'd truth from violence be freed, And public faith be rescued from the brand &c.

fcription, but blotted out again, I In the Manufcript was this Inknow not for what reafon. To the Lord General Cromwell, May 1652. On the proposals of certain minifters at the committee for propagation of the gospel.

1.- who through a cloud &c]

as if the whole intent of the folemn In the printed copies it stands thus,

league and covenant had been to

get money

that through a crowd Not of war only, but diffractions

10. For what can war, &ç]

rude:

but

A

Not of war only, but detractions rude,
Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,

To peace and truth thy glorious way haft plough'd, ind on the neck of crowned fortune proud

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Haft rear'd God's trophies, and his work purfued,
While Darwen ftream with blood of Scots imbrued,
And Dunbar field refounds thy praises loud,
And Worcester's laureat wreath. Yet much remains
hath her victories

To conquer ftill; peace
No lefs renown'd than war: new foes arife

Threatning to bind our fouls with fecular chains:

but a cloud of war is a claffical expreffion, and we have nubem belli in Virgil Æn. X. 809.

194. To peace and truth] With an allufion perhaps to fome of the filver coins of the Commonwealth, which have this infcription round the edges, Truth and peace. 1651.

5. And on the neck of crowned fortune proud

Haft rear'd God's trophies, and his work purfued,] Inftead of these two glorious lines there is this fingle one in the printed copies, And fought God's battels, and bis works purfued:

and this defect in the number of verfes utterly spoils the harmony of the ftanza.

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7. While Darwen ftream &c] In the printed copies it is

While Darwent fireams &c The Darwen or Derwen is a small river near Preston in Lancashire, mentioned by Camden; and there Cromwell routed the Scotch army under Duke Hamilton in Auguft 1648. The battels of Dunbar and Worcester are too well known to be particulariz'd, both fought on the memorable 3d of September, the one in 1650, and the other in 1651.

9. And Worcester's laureat wreath.] It was fo corrected, very much for the better, from what was before in the Manufcript,

And twenty battels more

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