IX (1644).
Who the virtuous young lady was is not known.
2. See the gospel of Matthew VII 13.
5. See Luke X 40-42; Ruth I 14.
8. Note the "identical" rhyme. The effect of such a rhyme is unpleasant.
Modern poets avoid it.
9-14. See Matthew XXV 1-13.
X (1644 or 1645).
Lady Margaret"s father was the Earl of Marlborough, who had been President of the Council under Charles I. Milton attributes his death to political anxiety caused by the dissolution of Charles"s third Parliament in 1629.
6-8. that dishonest victory at Chaeronea. The victory of Philip over the Greeks at Chaeronea, B.C. 338, is called by the poet _dishonest_ because obtained by means of intrigue and bribery. that old man eloquent is the orator and rhetorician Isocrates, who, in his grief over the defeat of his countrymen, committed suicide.
9. later born than to have known: too late to have known. _Serius nata quam ut cognosceres_.
XIII (1646).
"In these lines, Milton, with a musical perception not common amongst poets, exactly indicates the great merit of Lawes, which distinguishes his compositions from those of many of his contemporaries and successors.
His careful attention to the words of the poet, the manner in which his music seems to grow from those words, the perfect coincidence of the musical with the metrical accent, all put Lawes"s songs on a level with those of Schumann or Liszt."--_Encyclopaedia Britannica_.
See introductory notes to Comus and Arcades.
3-4. not to scan With Midas" ears. The G.o.d Apollo, during the time of his servitude to Laomedon, had a quarrel with Pan, who insisted that the flute was a better instrument than the lyre. The decision was left to Midas, king of Lydia, who decided in favor of Pan. To punish Midas, Apollo changed his ears into those of an a.s.s.
4. committing short and long: setting long syllables and short ones to fight against each other, and so destroying harmony.
5. The subject is conceived as a single idea, and so takes the verb in the singular. exempts thee: singles thee out, selects thee.
8. couldst humor best our tongue: couldst best adapt or accommodate itself to our language.
10. Phoebus" quire: the poets. _Quire_ is Milton"s spelling of _choir_.
12-14. Read the story of Dante"s meeting with his friend, the musician Casella, in the second canto of Purgatory.
XV (1648).
The taking of Colchester by the parliamentary army under Fairfax, Aug.
28, 1648, was one of the most important events of the Civil War.
7. the false North displays Her broken league. The Scotch and the English accused each other of having violated the Solemn League and Covenant, to which the people of both countries had subscribed.
8. to imp their serpent wings. To _imp_ a wing with feathers is to attach feathers to it so as to strengthen or improve its flight. The word is originally a term of falconry. See Richard II. II 1 292. See also Murray"s _New English Dictionary_.
13-14. Valor, Avarice, Rapine; personified abstracts, after the manner of our earlier poetry.
XVI.
As Secretary for Foreign Tongues to the Council of State of the Commonwealth, Milton saw much of Cromwell, and came under the influence of his voice and manner. Whether the great general had ever taken note of the poems written by the secretary who turned his despatches into Latin, or whether he gave any special heed to the man himself, with whom he must have come into some sort of personal relation, we have no means of knowing. We know, however, perfectly well what the poet thought of the victorious general. Though by no means always approving his state policy, Milton retained to the end the warm personal admiration for Cromwell which he expresses in this sonnet.
7-9. Darwen stream, usually spoken of as the battle of Preston, was fought Aug. 17, 1648; Dunbar, Sept. 3, 1650; Worcester, Sept. 3, 1651.
12. to bind our souls with secular chains: to fetter our religious freedom with laws made by the civil power.
14. hireling wolves. Milton applies this degrading appellation to clergymen who received pay from the state. His appeal to Cromwell was not successful. Cromwell was to become the chief supporter of a church establishment.
XVII (1652).
Sir Henry Vane was member of a committee of the Council of State appointed in 1649 to consider alliances and relations with the European powers. Milton, as Secretary of the Council, had abundant opportunity to observe Vane"s skill in diplomacy, his ability to "unfold the drift of hollow states hard to be spelled." Both Vane and Milton held to the doctrine, preeminently a.s.sociated with the name of Roger Williams, of universal toleration, based on the refusal to the civil magistrate of any authority in spiritual matters.
1. Vane, young in years: Vane was born in 1613.
3. gowns, not arms: civilians, not soldiers. The expression is a Latinism, the _gown_ standing for the _toga_.
4. The fierce Epirot and the African bold: Pyrrhus and Hannibal.
6. hard to be spelled. Compare Il Penseroso 170.
XVIII (1655).
The historical event which furnishes the occasion of this sonnet is the persecution of the Protestant Waldenses by the Piedmontese and French governments, at the time of Cromwell"s Protectorate. Cromwell"s vigorous and successful intervention was the means of staying this horror, and gives evidence of the respect entertained for his government among the states of Europe.
4. when all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones. Christianity had been introduced into the Waldensian country while Britain was still pagan.
5. their groans Who were thy sheep: the groans of those who were.
12. The triple Tyrant. The Pope, who wore a triple crown.
14. the Babylonian woe. The puritans interpreted the _Babylon_ of Revelation as the church of Rome. See Revelation XVIII.