Chapter 7
Daughter to that good Earl, once President Of England's Council and her Treasury, Who lived in both unstained with gold or fee, And left them both, more in himself content, Till the sad breaking of that Parliament 5 Broke him, as that dishonest victory At Chæronea, fatal to liberty, Killed with report that old man eloquent, Though later born than to have known the days Wherein your father flourished, yet by you, 10 Madam, methinks I see him living yet: So well your words his noble virtues praise That all both judge you to relate them true And to possess them, honored Margaret.
XIII.
TO MR. H. LAWES ON HIS AIRS.
Harry, whose tuneful and well-measured 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, 5 With praise enough for Envy to look wan; To after age thou shalt be writ the man That with smooth air couldst humor best our tongue. Thou honor'st Verse, and Verse must send her wing To honor thee, the priest of Phoebus' quire, 10 That tunest their happiest lines in hymn or story. Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher Than his Casella, whom he wooed to sing, Met in the milder shades of Purgatory.
XV.
ON THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX, AT THE SIEGE OF COLCHESTER.
Fairfax, whose name in arms through Europe rings, Filling each mouth with envy or with praise, And all her jealous monarchs with amaze, And rumors loud that daunt remotest kings, Thy firm unshaken virtue ever brings 5 Victory home, though new rebellions raise Their Hydra heads, and the false North displays Her broken league to imp their serpent wings. O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand (For what can war but endless war still breed?) 10 Till truth and right from violence be freed, And public faith cleared from the shameful brand Of public fraud. In vain doth Valor bleed, While Avarice and Rapine share the land.
XVI.
TO THE LORD GENERAL CROMWELL, MAY, 1652,
ON THE PROPOSALS OF CERTAIN MINISTERS AT THE COMMITTEE FOR PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL.
Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud Not of war only, but detractions rude, Guided by faith and matchless fortitude, To peace and truth thy glorious way hast ploughed, And on the neck of crowned Fortune proud 5 Hast reared God's trophies, and his work pursued, While Darwen stream, with blood of Scots imbrued, And Dunbar field, resounds thy praises loud, And Worcester's laureate wreath: yet much remains To conquer still; Peace hath her victories 10 No less renowned than War: new foes arise, Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains. Help us to save free conscience from the paw Of hireling wolves, whose Gospel is their maw.
XVII.
TO SIR HENRY VANE THE YOUNGER.
Vane, young in years, but in sage counsel old, Than whom a better senator ne'er held The helm of Rome, when gowns, not arms, repelled The fierce Epirot and the African bold, Whether to settle peace, or to unfold 5 The drift of hollow states hard to be spelled; Then to advise how war may best, upheld, Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold, In all her equipage; besides, to know Both spiritual power and civil, what each means, 10 What severs each, thou hast learned, which few have done. The bounds of either sword to thee we owe: Therefore on thy firm hand Religion leans In peace, and reckons thee her eldest son.
XVIII.
ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEDMONT.
Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold; Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old, When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones, Forget not: in thy book record their groans 5 Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans The vales redoubled to the hills, and they To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow 10 O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway The triple Tyrant; that from these may grow A hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way, Early may fly the Babylonian woe.
XIX.
ON HIS BLINDNESS.
When I consider how my light is spent Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, And that one talent which is death to hide Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present 5 My true account, lest He returning chide, "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need Either man's work or his own gifts. Who best 10 Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed, And post o'er land and ocean without rest; They also serve who only stand and wait."
XX.
TO MR. LAWRENCE.
Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son, Now that the fields are dank, and ways are mire, Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire Help waste a sullen day, what may be won From the hard season gaining? Time will run 5 On smoother, till Favonius reinspire The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire The lily and rose, that neither sowed nor spun. What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice, Of Attic taste, with wine, whence we may rise 10 To hear the lute well touched, or artful voice Warble immortal notes and Tuscan air? He who of those delights can judge, and spare To interpose them oft, is not unwise.
XXI.
TO CYRIACK SKINNER.
Cyriack, whose grandsire on the royal bench Of British Themis, with no mean applause, Pronounced, and in his volumes taught, our laws, Which others at their bar so often wrench, To-day deep thoughts resolve with me to drench 5 In mirth that after no repenting draws; Let Euclid rest, and Archimedes pause, And what the Swede intend, and what the French. To measure life learn thou betimes, and know Toward solid good what leads the nearest way; 10 For other things mild Heaven a time ordains, And disapproves that care, though wise in show, That with superfluous burden loads the day, And, when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains.
XXII.
TO THE SAME.
Cyriack, this three years' day these eyes, though clear, To outward view, of blemish or of spot, Bereft of light, their seeing have forgot; Nor to their idle orbs doth sight appear Of sun, or moon, or star, throughout the year, 5 Or man, or woman. Yet I argue not Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot Of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer Right onward. What supports me, dost thou ask? The conscience, friend, to have lost them overplied 10 In Liberty's defence, my noble task, Of which all Europe rings from side to side. 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. Mine, as whom washed from spot of child-bed taint 5 Purification in the Old Law did save, And such as yet once more I trust to have Full sight of her in Heaven without restraint, Came vested all in white, pure as her mind. Her face was veiled; yet to my fancied sight 10 Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined So clear as in no face with more delight. But, oh! as to embrace me she inclined, I waked, she fled, and day brought back my night.
NOTES.
ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY.
From his sixteenth year Milton had been wont to write freely in Latin verse, on miscellaneous poetic themes, sometimes expressing his thoughts on events of the day, and sometimes addressing letters to his friends on purely personal matters. From these Latin poems, which therefore in some sense belong to English literature, we obtain valuable insight into his course of life and his way of thinking. What Milton wrote in foreign languages is indispensable for the information it gives us about himself--its content is important; but as poetry implies a fusing of content and form into an artistic unity, if one of these elements is foreign, the result is nondescript and cannot be ranged under the head of English literature in the strict sense of the term.
It is in one of Milton's own Latin pieces that we find our best commentary on the Hymn on the Nativity. The sixth Latin Elegy is an epistle to his intimate college friend, "Charles Diodati making a stay in the country," the last twelve lines of which may be freely translated as follows:--
But if you shall wish to know what I am doing,--if indeed you think it worth your while to know whether I am doing anything at all,--we are singing the peace-bringing king born of heavenly seed, and the happy ages promised in the sacred books, and the crying of the infant God lying in a manger under a poor roof, who dwells with his father in the realms above; and the starry sky, and the squadrons singing on high, and the gods suddenly driven away to their own fanes. Those gifts we have indeed given to the birthday of Christ; that first light brought them to me at dawn. Thee also they await sung to our native pipes; thou shalt be to me in lieu of a judge for me to read them to.
This means, of course, that the poet is composing a Christmas Hymn in his native language. We must note his age at this time,--twenty-one years: he is a student at Cambridge. The poem remains the great Christmas hymn in our literature. "The Ode on the Nativity," says Professor Saintsbury, "is a test of the reader's power to appreciate poetry."
In four stanzas the poet speaks in his own person: he too must, with the wise men from the east, bring such gifts as he has, to offer to the Infant God. His offering is the _humble ode_ which follows. We must take note of the change in the metric form which marks the transition from the introduction to the ode. In the stanzas of the former the lines all have five accents, except the last, which has six; while in the latter, four lines have three accents each, one has four, two have five, and one has six. Notice also the occasional hypermetric lines, such as line 47.
In connection with Milton's Hymn, read Alfred Domett's _It was the calm and silent night_.
5. For so the holy sages once did sing. See Par. Lost XII 324.
6. our deadly forfeit should release. Compare Par. Lost III 221, and see the idea of _releasing a forfeit_ otherwise expressed in the Merchant of Venice IV 1 24.
10. he wont. This is the past tense of the verb _wont_, meaning to _be accustomed_. See the present, Par. Lost I 764, and the participle, I 332.
15. thy sacred vein. See _vein_ in the same sense, Par. Lost VI 628.
19. the Sun's team. Compare Comus 95, and read the story of Phaëthon in Ovid's Metamorphoses II 106.
24. prevent them with thy humble ode. See _prevent_ in this sense, in Shakespeare's Julius Cæsar V 1 105, and in Psalm XXI 3.
28. touched with hallowed fire. See Acts II 3. On the meaning of secret, compare Par. Lost X 32.
41. Pollute is the participle, exactly equivalent to _polluted_.
48. the turning sphere. For poetical purposes Milton everywhere adopts the popular astronomy of his day, which was based on the ancient, i.e. the Ptolemaic, or geocentric system of the universe. Copernicus had already taught the modern, heliocentric theory of the solar system, and his innovations were not unknown to Milton, who, however, consistently adheres to the old conceptions. In Milton, therefore, we find the earth the centre of the visible universe, while the sun, the planets, and the fixed stars revolve about it in their several _spheres_. These spheres are nine in number, arranged concentrically, like the coats of an onion, about the earth, and, if of solid matter, are to be conceived as being of perfectly transparent crystal. Beginning with the innermost, they present themselves in the following order: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Fixed Stars, the Primum Mobile. In Par. Lost III 481, the ninth sphere appears as "that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs the trepidation talked," and the Primum Mobile, or the first moved, becomes the tenth and outermost of the series. The last two spheres contain no stars.
We see, then, what we must understand by the oft-recurring _spheres_ in Milton's poetry. In the line, _Down through the turning sphere_, however, the singular _sphere_ is obviously used to mean the whole aggregate of spheres composing the starry universe.
50. With turtle wing. With the wing of a turtle-dove.
56. The hooked chariot. War chariots sometimes had scythes, or hooks, attached to their axles. See 2 Maccabees XIII 2.
60. sovran. Milton always uses this form in preference to _sovereign_.
62. the Prince of Light. Note the corresponding epithet applied to Satan, Par. Lost X 383.
64. The winds, with wonder whist. The word _whist_, originally an interjection, becomes an adjective, as here and in The Tempest I 2 378.
66. Make three syllables of Oceän, and make it rhyme with _began_.
68. birds of calm. The birds referred to are doubtless halcyons. Dr. Murray defines halcyon thus: "A bird of which the ancients fabled that it bred about the time of the winter solstice in a nest floating on the sea, and that it charmed the wind and waves so that the sea was specially calm during the period; usually identified with a species of kingfisher, hence a poetic name of this bird."
71. their precious influence. The word _influence_ is originally a term of astrology,--"a flowing in, or influent course, of the planets; their virtue infused into, or their course working on, inferior creatures" (Skeat, _Etym. Dict._).
73. For all the morning light. As in Burns's "We dare be poor for a' that," _for_ meaning in spite of.
74. Lucifer. See Par. Lost VII 131-133.
81. As, for _as if_.
86. Or ere the point of dawn. The two words _or ere_ mean simply _before_, as in Hamlet I 2 147, "A little month, or ere those shoes were old." _The point of dawn_ imitates the French _le point du jour_.
88. Full little thought they than. _Than_ is an ancient form of _then_, not wholly obsolete in Milton's day.
89. the mighty Pan. The poet takes the point of view of the shepherds and uses the name of their special deity.
95. by mortal finger strook. Milton uses the three participle forms, _strook, struck_, and _strucken_.
98. As all their souls in blissful rapture took. The verb _take_ has here the same meaning as in Hamlet I 1 163, "no fairy takes nor witch hath power to charm." Thus also we say, a vaccination takes.
103. Cynthia's seat. See Penseroso 59, and Romeo and Juliet III 5 20.
108. Make the line rhyme properly, giving to union three syllables.
112. The helmed cherubim. See Genesis III 24.
113. The sworded seraphim. See Isaiah VI 2-6.
116. With unexpressive notes, meaning beyond the power of human expression. So in Lycidas 176; Par. Lost V 595; and in As You Like It, "the fair, the chaste, and inexpressive she."
119. But when of old the Sons of Morning sung. See Job XXXVIII 7.
124. the weltering waves. Compare Lycidas 13.
125. Ring out, ye crystal spheres. See note, line 48. The elder poetry is full of the notion that the spheres in their revolutions made music, which human ears are too gross to hear. See Merchant of Venice V 1 50-65.
136. speckled Vanity. The leopard that confronts Dante in Canto I of _Hell_ is beautiful with its dappled skin, but symbolizes vain glory.
143. like glories wearing. The adjective _like_ means nothing without a complement, though the complement sometimes has to be supplied, as in this instance. Fully expressed the passage would be,--_wearing glories like those of Truth and Justice_. The _like_ in such a case as this must be spoken with a fuller tone than when its construction is completely expressed.
155. those ychained in sleep. The poets, in order to gain a syllable, long continued to use the ancient participle prefix _y_. See _yclept_, Allegro 12.
157. With such a horrid clang. See Exodus XIX.
168. The Old Dragon. See Revelation XII 9.
173. Stanzas XIX-XXVI announce the deposition and expulsion of the pagan deities, and the ruin of the ancient religions. In accordance with his custom of grouping selected proper names in abundance, thus giving vividness and concreteness to his story and sonority to his verse, the poet here illustrates the triumph of the new dispensation by citing the names of various gods from the Roman, Greek, Syrian, and Egyptian mythologies.
176. Apollo, the great god, whose oracle was at Delphi, or Delphos.
179. spell, as in Comus 853, and often.
186. Genius. A Latin word, signifying a tutelary or guardian spirit supposed to preside over a person or place. See Lycidas 183, and Penseroso 154.
191. The Lars and Lemures. In the Roman mythology these were the spirits of dead ancestors, worshipped or propitiated in families as having power for good or evil over the fortunes of their descendants.
194. Affrights the flamens. The Roman flamens were the priests of particular gods.
195. the chill marble seems to sweat. Many instances of this phenomenon are reported. Thus Cicero, in his _De Divinatione_, tells us: "It was reported to the senate that it had rained blood, that the river Atratus had even flowed with blood, and that the statues of the gods had sweat."
197. Peor and Baälim. Syrian false gods. See Numbers XXV 3.
199. that twice-battered god of Palestine. See I Samuel V 2.
200. mooned Ashtaroth. See I Kings XI 33.
203. The Lybic Hammon. "Hammon had a famous temple in Africa, where he was adored under the symbolic figure of a ram."
204. their wounded Thammuz. See Ezekiel VIII 14.
205. sullen Moloch. See Par. Lost I 392-396.
210. the furnace blue. Compare Arcades 52.
212. Isis, and Orus, and the dog Anubis. Egyptian deities, the latter figured as having the head of a dog.
213. Nor is Osiris seen. Osiris was the principal god of the Egyptians, brother and husband of Isis. His highest function was as god of the Nile. He met his death at the hands of his brother Typhon, a deity of sterility, by whom he was torn into fourteen pieces. Thereupon a general lament was raised throughout Egypt. The bull Apis was regarded as the visible incarnation of Osiris.--_Murray's Manual of Mythology_.
215. the unshowered grass. Remember, this was in Egypt.
223. his dusky eyn. This ancient plural of eye occurs several times in Shakespeare, as in As You Like It IV 3 50.
240. Heaven's youngest-teemed star. Compare Comus 175.
241. Hath fixed her polished car. _Fix_ has its proper meaning, _stopped_. The star "came and stood over where the young child was."
ON SHAKESPEARE.
The first edition of the collected works of Shakespeare, known as the first folio, was published in 1623, when Milton was fifteen years old. The second Shakespeare folio appeared in 1632. Among the commendatory verses by various hands prefixed, after the fashion of the time, to the latter volume, was a little piece of eight couplets, in which some then unknown rhymer expressed his admiration of the great poet. Collecting his poems for publication in 1645, Milton included these couplets, gave them the date 1630, and the title _On Shakespeare_ which they have since borne in his works. The fact that he wrote the verses two years before their publication in the Shakespeare folio shows that he did not produce them to order, for the special occasion. It is interesting to note that Milton at twenty-two was an appreciative reader of Shakespeare. The lines themselves give no hint of great poetic genius; they are a fair specimen of the conventional, labored eulogy in vogue at the time.
4. star-ypointing. To make the decasyllabic verse, the poet takes the liberty of prefixing to the present participle the _y_ which properly belongs only to the past.
8. a livelong monument. Instead of _livelong_, the first issue of the lines, in the Shakespeare folio of 1632, has _lasting_. The change is Milton's, appearing in his revision of his poems in 1645. Does it seem to be an improvement?
10-12. and that each heart hath ... took. The conjunction _that_ simply repeats the _whilst_.
11. thy unvalued book. In Hamlet I 3 19 _unvalued persons_ are persons of no value, or of no rank. In Macbeth III 1 94 the _valued file_ is the file that determines values or ranks. In Milton's phrase the _unvalued book_ means the book whose merit is so great as to be beyond all valuation: a new rank must be created for it.
12. Those Delphic lines: lines so crowded with meaning as to seem the utterances of an oracle.
13. our fancy of itself bereaving: transporting us into an ecstasy, or making us rapt with thought.
14. Dost make _us_ marble with too much conceiving. The concentrated attention required to penetrate Shakespeare's meaning makes statues of us.
15. Make the word sepulchred fit metrically into the iambic verse.
L'ALLEGRO AND IL PENSEROSO.
The year in which the poems were composed is uncertain. Masson regards 1632 as the probable date.
The exquisite poems to which Milton gave the Italian titles L'Allegro,--the mirthful, or jovial, man,--and Il Penseroso,--the melancholy, or saturnine, man,--should be regarded each as the pendant and complement of the other, and should be read as a single whole. The poet knew both moods, and takes both standpoints with equal grace and heartiness. The essential idea of thus contrasting the mirthful and the melancholy temperament he found ready to his hand. Robert Burton had prefaced his _Anatomy of Melancholy_, published in 1621, with a series of not unpleasing, though by no means graceful, amoebean stanzas, in which two speakers alternately represent Melancholy, one as sweet and divine, and the other as harsh, sour, and damned. Undoubtedly Milton knew his Burton. But if he got his main idea from this source, he made his poems thoroughly Miltonic by his art of visualizing in delicious pictures the various phases of his abstract theme. The poems are wholly poetical, equally free from obscurity of thought and from obscurity of expression.
Each poem is prefaced with a vigorous exorcism of the spirit to which it is hostile. This is couched in alternate three and five accent iambics, preparing a delicious rhythmic effect when the metre changes, in the invocation, to the octosyllable, with or without anacrusis.