Pull'd down the same destruction on himself;
The vulgar only 'scaped who stood without.

2

erst, an old word meaning formerly. It is now used only by poets. rueful, bitter; mournful. distract, distracted; perplexed; confused. 4 circumstance, details, particulars. 5 surfeit, overfeeding; having more than enough. this city, Gaza. timbrel, tambourine; a kind of drum. cataphract, a kind of heavy armour made of leather strengthened by scales or links. rifted, cleft; pierced. 10 thrall, bond slave. pent, closely confined.

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9

MILTON'S SONNETS.

A sonnet is a small poem of fourteen lines, written in rhyme. Each line contains ten syllables, but the rhymes are arranged in various ways by different authors. The sonnet was much em. ployed by the early Italian and Spanish authors. Our two best writers of sonnets are Milton and Wordsworth. The following are three of the most famous of those written by Milton:

ON HIS BEING ARRIVED AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-THREE.

How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,

Stolen on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,

But my late spring no bud or blossom showeth;
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,
That I to manhood am arrived so near;
And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more' timely-happy spirits endueth.
Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,

It shall be still in strictest measure even
To that same lot, however mean or high,

Towards 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.

'timely-happy spirits, those which arrive at perfection at an early age.

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 of heavenly truth,
The better part with Mary and with Ruth

Chosen thou hast ; and they that 'overween,
And at thy growing virtues fret their 2 spleen,
No anger find in thee, but pity and 3ruth.
Thy care is fix'd, and zealously attends

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.

1 overween, think too much of themselves 2 spleen, anger; ill humour. 3 ruth, compassion.

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

My true account, lest He, returning, chide;

"Doth God exact day-labour, 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 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." 'fondly, foolishly.

SHORT PASSAGES FROM MILTON.

DESCRIPTION OF SATAN.

He, above the rest

In shape and gesture proudly eminent,
Stood like a tower: his form had yet not lost
All its original brightness; nor appear'd
Less than archangel ruin'd, and the excess
Of glory obscured as when the sun, new risen,
Looks through the horizontal misty air,
Shorn of his beams; or from behind the moon,
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds
On half the nations, and with fear of change
'Perplexes monarchs. Darken'd so, yet shone
Above them all the archangel; but his face
Deep scars of thunder had intrench'd; and care
Sat on his faded cheek.

Paradise Lost, Book I.

1 Perplexes monarchs. It was formerly thought that eclipses were forerunners of some dreadful event, as the destruction of kingdoms, change of rulers, pestilence, etc.

MILTON ON HIS BLINDNESS.

Thus with the year

Seasons return; but not to me returns

Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn,
Or sight of 'vernal bloom, or summer's rose,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;
But cloud instead, and everduring dark
Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men
Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair
Presented with a universal blank

Of nature's works, to me expunged and rased,
And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.
So much the rather thou, celestial light,

Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
2 Irradiate; there plant eyes, all mist from thence

1

Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight.

2

Paradise Lost, Book III.

1rernal, of spring. irradiate, illuminate; enlighten.

GOD PRAISED BY THE ANGELS.

No sooner had the Almighty ceased, but all
The multitude of angels with a shout,

Loud as from numbers without number, sweet
As from bless'd voices, uttering joy, heaven rung
With jubilee, and loud hosannas fill'd

The eternal regions: lowly reverent

Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground,
With solemn adoration, down they cast
Their crowns inwove with 'amarant and gold;
Immortal amarant, a flower which once

In Paradise fast by the tree of life,

Began to bloom; but soon for man's offence

To heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows,

And flowers aloft, shading the fount of life,

And where the river of bliss through midst of heaven
Rolls o'er 2 Elysian flowers her amber stream ;
With these, that never fade, the spirits elect

Bind their resplendent locks, inwreath'd with beams :
Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright
Pavement, that like a sea of 3 jasper shone,

3

Impurpled with celestial roses, smiled.

Then, crowned again, their golden harps they took,
Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side
Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet

Of charming symphony they introduce
Their sacred song, and waken raptures high;
No voice exempt, no voice but well could join
Melodious part, such concord is in heaven.

Paradise Lost, Book III.

amarant, a never-fading flower, only existing in the imagination of poets. 2 Elysian, heavenly. The Elysian fields were the

heaven of the ancients. 3jasper, a mineral of the flint kind, but harder, and of various colours. When polished it is very smooth and beautiful.

EVENING IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN.
Now came still evening on, and twilight gray
Had in her sober livery all things clad ;
Silence accompanied; for beast and bird,
They to their grassy couch, these to their nests
Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale,
She all night long her amorous' descant sung;
Silence was pleased: now glow'd the firmament
With living 2 sapphires; 3 Hesperus, that led
The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon,
Rising in clouded majesty, at length
'Apparent queen, unveil'd her 5 peerless light,
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.

2

Paradise Lost, Book IV.

'descant, a song divided into parts, or modulations. sapphire, a precious stone of various colours-blue, red, green, yellow, white, etc. Hesperus, the evening star. apparent, evident; manifest. peerless, having no equal; unequalled.

3

EVE'S

4

LAMENTATION.

"O unexpected stroke, worse than of death!
Must I thus leave thee, Paradise? thus leave
Thee, native soil? these happy walks and shades,
Fit haunt of gods? where I had hope to spend,
Quiet, though sad, the respite of that day
That must be mortal to us both? O flowers,
That never will in other climate grow,

My early visitation, and my last

At even, which I bred up with tender hand
From the first opening bud, and gave ye names,

Who now shall rear ye to the sun, or rank

Your tribes, and water from the 2 ambrosial fount?
Thee, lastly, nuptial bower, by me adorn'd

With what to sight or smell was sweet, from thee