Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughter'd saints, whose bones
Lie scatter'd on the Alpine mountains cold;
Ev'n them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshipp'd stocks and stones,
Forget not; in thy book record their groans

Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piemontese, that roll'd
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubl'd to the hills, and they

To Heav'n. Their martyr'd blood and ashes sow
O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway
The triple Tyrant; that from these may grow
A hundred fold, who, having learn'd thy way,
Early may fly the Babylonian woe.

In tender contrast to these are the delicate and chaste outbreaks of his more homely sensibilities. His beautiful sonnets to the nightingale, to a virtuous young lady, to the religious memory of Mrs. Thompson, and on his deceased wife, his lines on a fair infant dying of a cough, and the tripping and joyous song upon a May morning, that teems with the restless life and sparkling buoyancy of spring, and is musical as the lark at heaven's gate :

Now the bright morning star, day's harbinger,
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The flow'ry May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow cowslip, and the pale primrose.
Hail bounteous May! that dost inspire
Mirth, and youth, and warm desire;
Woods and groves are of thy dressing,
Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.
Thus we salute thee with our early song,
And welcome thee, and wish thee long.

We have glanced at the English poems of Milton

with his prose writings, and his Latin and Italian poems, all full of liberty and learning, we have not now to do. On his private life, excepting through those glimpses which we catch of it from his works, or which are necessary to appreciate them, we have but faintly touched, but we have made his English poems his monumental record, and traced the man through these his undying productions; yet he lived an example for mortals, and there is no need to draw a veil over the incidents of his existence. His learning was vast and deep, his imagination soaring and masculine, his judgment solid and profound, his integrity spotless, his affections warm and sure, his zeal firm and faithful. His mind was severely disciplined, he loved truth for her own sake, and forsook her not in the time of trial and temptation. In peril and adversity he remained still at his post unflinching and determined. With keen sensibility he had resolute self command, with warm passions he had strong moral power, with the susceptibility of a delicate spirit he had the nervous courage of a hero. He desponded not in affliction, and the weight of years and sorrows could not overcome his soul; but he sank grey and venerable to the grave, and bequeathed to posterity the productions of his genius and the ensample of his life-and both have well stood the test of time, and passed unscathed through the fiery ordeal of fierce and cavilling comment. In our institutions we now recognize the success of the principles he advocated, and boast as our best bulwark the privileges he helped to purchase. In our social condition we feel

the influence of his stern morality, and render homage to the broad and unwavering light of his constant integrity. In our studies, the grandeur and state of his imagination lift us from the poverty of earth to the colossal regions where all, even passion, is sublime; and we gaze on him, like a traveller on those huge piles of antiquity that rise from the desert, old, majestic, and eternal, and point their unshaken summits to that heaven which has looked upon them for ages. Such indeed was Milton-he needs no panegyric, his fame is still fresh in our memories; and it is a proud pleasure, amidst the stormy and violent times when the elements were in convulsion and society rocked around him, to trace him still intrepid, faithful and uncompromising, directing with steady and unreluctant hand his sure and straightforward course, and leaving the measureless results of his upright zeal and boundless intelligence as a heritage to mankind.

NOTES.