11 Follow'd thee up to joy and bliss for ever. 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 so drest, And spake the truth of thee on glorious themes Before the Judge; who thenceforth bid thee rest, And drink thy fill of pure immortal streams. Ver. 10. clad them o'er with purple beams And azure wings, that up they flew so drest, &c.] This, says Mr. Warton, is like the thought of the personification and ascent of the Prayers of Adam and Eve; a fiction from Ariosto and Tasso, Par. Lost, B. xi. 14, &c. To this I may add, that the passage bears some resemblance also to the following lines of P. Fletcher, Poetic. Misc. 1633, p. 83. "Most blessed soul, that, lifted up with wings 66 Of faith and love, leaves this base habitation; "And, scorning sluggish earth, to heav'n up springs." Todd. Ver. 14. And drink thy fill of pure immortal streams.] See the Epitaph. Damon. v. 206. The allusion is to the waters of life, and more particularly to Ps. xxxvi. 8, 9. "Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures, for with thee is the well of life." On this scriptural idea, which is enlarged with the decorations of Italian fancy, Milton seems to have founded his feast of the angels, Paradise Lost, B. v. 632. T. WARton. XV. To the Lord General Fairfax *. FAIRFAX, whose name in arms through Europe rings, Filling each mouth with envy or with praise, * For obvious political reasons this Sonnet, the two following, and the two to Cyriack Skinner, were not inserted in the edition of 1673. They were first printed at the end of Phillips's life of Milton prefixed to the English version of his publick letters, 1694. They are quoted by Toland in his Life of Milton, 1698, p. 24, 34, 35. Tonson omitted them in his editions of 1695, 1705. But growing less offensive by time, they appear in his edition of 1713. The Cambridge manuscript happily corrects many of their vitiated readings. They were the favourites of the republicans long after the restoration: It was some consolation to an exterminated party, to have such good poetry remaining on their side of the question. These five Sonnets being frequently transcribed, or repeated from memory, became extremely incorrect: their faults were implicitly preserved by Tonson, and afterwards continued without examination by Tickell and Fenton. This Sonnet, as appears from Milton's Manuscript, was addressed to Fairfax at the siege of Colchester, 1648. T. WARton. Ver. 1. rings,] Milton is fond of ring, for violence of sound; I mean in a good sense, and out of its appropriated literal application. Sonn. xxii. 12. "Of which all Europe rings from side to side." Hymn. Nativ. v. "Ring out, ye crystal spheres." Par. Lost, B. ii. 495. "Hill and valley rings." Ib. B. iii. 347. "Heaven rung with jubilee.” Ib. B. vi. 204. “the faithful armies rung Hosanna." Ib. B. vii. 562. "all the constellations rung." Ib. B. vii. 633. "The empyrean rung with hallelujahs." Ib. B. ix. 737. "The sound yet rung of his persuasive words." T. WARTON. Ver. 2. Filling each mouth] So doctor Newton has printed it from the reading in Milton's manuscript: It was before, in all the printed copies, " And fills each mouth." TODD. And all her jealous monarchs with amaze And rumours loud, that daunt remotest kings; Thy firm unshaken virtue ever brings Victory home, though new rebellions raise Their Hydra heads, and the false North displays Her broken league to imp their serpent-wings. Ver. 4. 5 - daunt remotest kings;] Who dreaded the example of England, that their monarchies would be turned into republicks. T. WARTON. Some editions corruptly read "remotest things." TODD. Ver. 5. Thy firm unshaken virtue] Valour, till doctor Newton adopted the manuscript reading, virtue. In the next line though is, in like manner, admitted instead of while. TODD. Ver. 7. Their Hydra heads, and the false North displays Her broken league to imp their serpent-wings.] Euripides, Milton's favourite, is the only writer of antiquity that has given wings to the monster Hydra, Ion. v. 198. IITANON πυρίφλεκτον. The word ПITANON is controverted. But here perhaps is Milton's authority for the common reading. thor seems to have taken this idea from a passage in the Eikon, which he quotes in his Answer, §. x. "He [the king] calls the parliament a many-headed Hydra of government, full of factions, distractions, &c." Pr.-W. i. 396. T. WArton. Our au Ver. 8. Her broken league] Because the English Parliament held, that the Scotch had broken their Covenant, by Hamilton's march into England. HURD. Ibid. to imp their serpent-wings.] In falconry, to imp a feather in a hawk's wing, is to add a new piece to a mutilated stump. From the Saxon impan, to ingraft. So Spenser, of a headless trunk, Faer. Qu. iv. ix. 4. "And having ympt the head to it agayne." To imp wings is not uncommon in our old poetry. Thus Spenser, "Thence gathering plume of perfect speculation, 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 publick faith cleared from the shameful brand Of publick fraud. In vain doth Valour bleed, While Avarice and Rapine share the land. 9 See also Fletcher, Purpl. Isl. C. i. st. 24. And Shakspeare, Rich. II. A. ii. S. i. Where Mr. Steevens produces other instances. It occurs also in poets much later than Milton. See Reed's Old Pl. vii. 172, 520, and x. 351. T. WARTON. It was formerly in the printed copies "her serpent-wings." But doctor Newton corrected it, by the manuscript; observing also that serpent-wings refer to the same as Hydra heads, and that the insurrections in England were to have been supported by the Scotch army marching into it at the same time. TODD. Ver. 10. This and the following lines were thus in the printed copies: "For what can war, but acts of war still breed, "And publick faith be rescued from the brand." NEWTON. Ver. 13. Of publick fraud.] The Presbyterian Committees and Subcommittees. The grievance so much complained of by Milton in his History of England. See Birch's Edition. Publick fraud is opposed to publick faith, the security given by the parliament to the City-contributions for carrying on the war. WARBURTON. XVI. To the Lord General Cromwell*. 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 plough'd, And on the neck of crowned Fortune proud 5 Hast reared God's trophies, and his work pursued, * Written in 1652. The prostitution of Milton's Muse to the celebration of Cromwell, was as inconsistent and unworthy, as that this enemy to kings, to ancient magnificence, and to all that is venerable and majestick, should have been buried in the Chapel of Henry the Seventh. But there is great dignity both of sentiment and expression in this Sonnet. Unfortunately, the close is an anticlimax to both. After a long flow of perspicuous and nervous language, the unexpected pause at " Worcester's laureat wreath," is very emphatical, and has a striking effect. T. WARTON. Ver. 1. This and the following line were in the printed copies thus: "that through a crowd "Not of war only, but distractions rude." But a cloud of war is a classical expression: Virg. Æn. x. 809. NEWTON. "Nubem belli," Ver. 5. And on the neck of crowned Fortune proud Hast rear'd God's trophies, and his work pursued,] These admirable verses, not only to the mutilation of the integrity of the stanza, but to the injury of Milton's genius, were reduced to the following meagre contraction, in the printed copies of Phillips, Toland, Tonson, Tickell, and Fenton. "And fought God's battles, and his works pursued." |