L'ALLEGRO.

BY JOHN MILTON.

66

[JOHN MILTON, a younger son of a scrivener who had amassed a considerable fortune by his profession, was born in Bread Street, London, on the 9th of December, 1608. At an early age he was sent to St. Paul's School, where he made great progress, and at sixteen he entered Christ's College, Cambridge; after seven years' residence, he took a degree of M.A. (in the year 1632). Milton then retired to his father's house at Horton, in Buckinghamshire, where he wrote L'Allegro," "Il Penseroso," "Comus," and other of his shorter poems; afterwards he travelled in Italy for about fifteen months, whence he returned to take a part in the great political struggle which was then convulsing England. For many years, during which he gained his living as a schoolmaster, he strongly advocated the republican cause, and after the death of King Charles he was appointed Latin Secretary to the Council of State. At the Restoration, Milton retired into private life; and it was then, in his old age, when he had become totally blind, that he wrote his immortal poems, "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained." John Milton was married three times: first, in 1643, to Mary Powell, the daughter of a Royalist gentleman; this proved an unfortunate marriage. Six years after her death he was united to Catherine, the daughter of Captain Woodcock, a rigid sectarian, with whom he lived most happily for twelve months, when, to his great grief, she died. is of her that he speaks in one of his sonnets as his "late espoused saint." In 1660 he married Elizabeth Minshull (the daughter of a Cheshire gentleman), who proved an excellent wife, and who soothed his sorrows with exemplary care. John Milton died on Sunday, the 8th of November, 1674, and was buried in the chancel of St. Giles's Church, Cripplegate. In 1737, a monument was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey.]

HENCE, loathed Melancholy,

Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born,

It

'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy; Find out some uncouth cell,

Where brooding Darkness spreads his jealous wings,

And the night-raven sings;

There under ebon shades, and low-brow'd rocks,

As ragged as thy locks,

In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.

But come, thou goddess fair and free,

In heaven yclept Euphrosyne,

And by men, heart-easing Mirth,
Whom lovely Venus at a birth,
With two sister Graces more,

To ivy-crown'd Bacchus bore;

Or whether (as some sages sing)

The frolic wind that breathes the spring,

Zephyr, with Aurora playing,

As he met her once a-Maying,

There on beds of violets blue,

And fresh-blown roses wash'd in dew,

Fill'd her with thee, a daughter fair,

So buxom, blithe, and debonair.

Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee

Jest, and youthful Jollity,

Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles,

Nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles,

Such as hang on Hebe's cheek,

And love to live in dimple sleek;

Sport that wrinkled Care derides,

And Laughter holding both his sides.

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Come, and trip it as you go
On the light fantastic toe;

And in thy right hand lead with thee
The mountain-nymph, sweet Liberty:

And, if I give thee honour due,
Mirth, admit me of thy crew,

To live with her, and live with thee,

In unreprovèd pleasures free :

To hear the lark begin his flight,

And singing startle the dull night,
From his watch-tow'r in the skies,

L'ALLEGRO.

Till the dappled dawn doth rise;
Then to come, in spite of sorrow,
And at my window bid good-morrow,
Thro' the sweetbriar, or the vine

Or the twisted eglantine:
While the cock with lively din
Scatters the rear of darkness thin,
And to the stack, or the barn door,
Stoutly struts his dames before:

Oft list'ning how the hounds and horn