It shall be still in strictest measure even

To that same lot, however mean or high,
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven;

All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my great Task-master's eye.

III.

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

Of sad Electra's poet had the power
To save the Athenian walls from ruin bare.

IV.

To a virtuous Young Lady. LADY, that in the prime of earliest youth

Wisely hast shunn'd the broad way and the green, And with those few art eminently seen,

That labour up the hill with heavenly truth,
The better part with Mary and with Ruth

Chosen thou hast; and they that overween,
And at thy growing virtues fret their spleen,

No anger find in thee, but pity and ruth.
Thy care is fix'd, and zealously attends zu

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 gain'd thy entrance, virgin wise and pure.

V.

To the Ludy Margaret Ley.
DAUGHTER to that good earl, once president

Of England's council and her treasury,
Who lived in both, unstain'd with gold or fee,

And left them both, more in himself content, Till sad the breaking of that parliament

Broke him, as that dishonest victory
At Chæronea, fatal to liberty,

Killd with report that old man eloquent. Though later born than to have known the days,

Wherein your father flourish’d, yet by you,

Madam, methinks, I see him living yet;
So well your words his poble virtues praise,

That all both judge you to relate them true,
And to possess them, honour'd Margaret.

VI.

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 walk'd the town a while,

Numbering good intellects; now seldom pored on. Cries the stall-reader,. Bless us! what a word on

A title-page is this !' And some in file
Stand spelling false, while one might walk to Mile-

End Green. Why is it harder, sirs, than Gordon, Colkitto, or Macdonnel, or Galasp?

Those rugged names to our likemouths 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 Ed.

ward, Greek.

VII.

On the same.

I DID but prompt the age to quit their clogs

By the known rules of ancient liberty,
When straight a barbarous noise environs me

Of owls and cuckoos, asses, apes, and dogs:
As when those hinds that were transform'd to frogs

Raild at Latona's twin-born progeny,
Which after held the sun and moon in fee.

But this is got by casting pearl to hogs ;
That bawl for freedom in their senseless mood,

And still revolt when truth would set them free.

Licence they mean when they cry liberty;
For who loves that, must first be wise and good;

But from that mark how far they rove we see,
For all this waste of wealth, and loss of blood.

VIII.

To Mr. H. Lawes, on the publishing 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,

With praise enough for Envy to look wan;
To after-age thou shalt be writ the man,
That with smooth air couldst humour best our

tongue. Thou honour'st verse, and verse must lend her wing

To honour thee, the priest of Phæbus quire,

That tunest their happiest lines in hymn or story. Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher

Than his Casella, whom he woo'd to sing
Met in the milder shades of purgatory.

IX.

On the religious Memory of Mrs. Catherine Thom

son, my Christian Friend, deceased December

16, 1646. WHEN faith and love, which parted from thee never,

Had ripen'd thy just soul to dwell with God,
Meekly thou didst resign this earthly load

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

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

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.

;

X.

To the Lord General Fairfax. FAIRFAX, whose name in arms through Europe

rings, Filling each mouth with envy or with praise, 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. 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 valour bleed, While avarice and rapine share the land.

XI.

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

Hast rear'd God's trophies, and his work pursued, While Darwen stream, with blood of Scots imbued,

And Dunbar field resounds thy praises loud, And Worcester's laureat wreath. Yet much remains

To conquer still; peace hath her victories

No less renown'd 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.

XII.

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, repellid

The fierce Epirot and the African bold;
Whether to settle peace, or to unfold

The drift of hollow states hard to be spell’d;
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, What severs each, thou hast learn'd, which few

have done: The bounds of either sword to thee we owe :