The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Preface.
• Miscellaneous Poems.
• On the Morning of Christs Nativity.
• The Hymn.
• A Paraphrase On Psalm 114.
• Psalm 136.
• The Passion.
• On Time.
• Upon the Circumcision.
• At a Solemn Musick.
• An Epitaph On the Marchioness of Winchester.
• Song On May Morning
• Another On the Same.
• L’allegro.
• Il Penseroso.
• Sonnets.
• Arcades.
• Lycidas.
• A Maske Presented At Ludlow Castle, 1634: On Michaelmasse Night, Before the Right Honorable, Iohn Earle of Bridgewater, Vicount Brackly, Lord Præsident of Wales, and One of His Maiesties Most Honorable Privie Counsell.
• Poems Added In the 1673 Edition.
• Anno Aetatis 17. On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough.
• Anno Aetatis 19. At a Vacation Exercise In the Colledge, Part Latin, Part English. the Latin Speeches Ended, the English Thus Began.
• The Fifth Ode of Horace. Lib. I.
• Sonnets.
• On the New Forcers of Conscience Under the Long Parliament.
• On the Lord Gen. Fairfax At the Seige of Colchester.
• To the Lord Generall Cromwell May 1652.
• To S R Henry Vane the Younger.
• To Mr. Cyriack Skinner Upon His Blindness.
• Psal. I. Done Into Verse, 1653.
• April, 1648. J. M. Nine of the Psalms Done Into Metre, Wherein All But What Is In a Different Character, Are the Very Words of the Text, Translated From the Original.
• Passages From Prose Writings.
• A Collection of Passages Translated In the Prose Writings.
• Joanni Miltoni
• Elegiarum Liber Primus.
• Sylvarum Liber.
• Paradise Lost.
• Book I.
• Book II.
• Book III.
• Book IV.
• Book V.
• Book VI.
• Book VII.
• Book VIII.
• Book IX.
• Book X.
• Book XI.
• Book XII.
• Paradise Regaind. a Poem.
• The First Book.
• The Second Book.
• The Third Book.
• The Fourth Book.
• Samson Agonistes, a Dramatic Poem.
• Appendix.
• ( a ): Specimen of Milton’s Spelling, From the Cambridge Autograph Manuscript.
• ( B ): Note of a Few Readings In the Same Manuscript.
• ( C ) Erratum

April, 1648. J. M.
Nine of the Psalms done into Metre, wherein all but what is in a different Character, are the very words of the Text, translated from the Original.

PSAL. LXXX.

• 1 Thou Shepherd that dost Israel keep
• Give ear in time of need,
• Who leadest like a flock of sheep
• Thy loved Josephs seed,
• That sitt’st between the Cherubs bright
• Between their wings out-spread
• Shine forth, and from thy cloud give light,
• And on our foes thy dread.
• 2 In Ephraims view and Benjamins,
• And in Manasse’s sight10
• Awake^* thy strength, come, and be seen
• To save us by thy might.
• 3 Turn us again, thy grace divine
• To us O God vouchsafe;
• Cause thou thy face on us to shine
• And then we shall be safe.
• 4 Lord God of Hosts, how long wilt thou,
• How long wilt thou declare
• Thy ^* smoaking wrath, and angry brow
• Against thy peoples praire.20
• 5 Thou feed’st them with the bread of tears,
• Their bread with tears they eat,
• And mak’st them^* largely drink the tears
• Wherwith their cheeks are wet.
• 6 A strife thou mak’st us and a prey
• To every neighbour foe,
• Among themselves they ^* laugh, they ^* play,
• And ^* flouts at us they throw.
• 7 Return us, and thy grace divine,
• O God of Hosts vouchsafe30
• Cause thou thy face on us to shine,
• And then we shall be safe.
• 8 A Vine from Ægypt thou hast brought,
• Thy free love made it thine,
• And drov’st out Nations proud and haut
• To plant this lovely Vine.
• 9 Thou did’st prepare for it a place
• And root it deep and fast
• That it began to grow apace,
• And fill’d the land at last.40
• 10 With her green shade that cover’d all,
• The Hills were over-spread
• Her Bows as high as Cedars tall
• Advanc d their lofty head.
• 11 Her branches on the western side
• Down to the Sea she sent,
• And upward to that river wide
• Her other branches went.
• 12 Why hast thou laid her Hedges low
• And brok’n down her Fence,50
• That all may pluck her, as they go,
• With rudest violence?
• 13 The tusked Boar out of the wood
• Up turns it by the roots,
• Wild Beasts there brouze, and make their food
• Her Grapes and tender Shoots.
• 14 Return now, God of Hosts, look down
• From Heav’n, thy Seat divine,
• Behold us, but without a frown,
• And visit this thy Vine.60
• 15 Visit this Vine, which thy right hand
• Hath set, and planted long,
• And the young branch, that for thy self
• Thou hast made firm and strong.
• 16 But now it is consum’d with fire,
• And cut with Axes down,
• They perish at thy dreadfull ire,
• At thy rebuke and frown.
• 17 Upon the man of thy right hand
• Let thy good hand be laid,70
• Upon the Son of Man, whom thou
• Strong for thyself hast made.
• 18 So shall we not go back from thee
• To wayes of sin and shame,
• Quick’n us thou, then gladly wee
• Shall call upon thy Name.
• Return us, and thy grace divine
• Lord God of Hosts voutsafe,
• Cause thou thy face on us to shine,
• And then we shall be safe.80

PSAL. LXXXI.

• 1 To God our strength sing loud, and clear,
• Sing loud to God our King,
• To Jacobs God, that all may hear
• Loud acclamations ring.
• 2 Prepare a Hymn, prepare a Song
• The Timbrel hither bring
• The cheerfull Psaltry bring along
• And Harp with pleasant string.
• 3 Blow, as is wont, in the new Moon
• With Trumpets lofty sound,10
• Th’ appointed time, the day wheron
• Our solemn Feast comes round.
• 4 This was a Statute giv’n of old
• For Israel to observe
• A Law of Jacobs God, to hold
• From whence they might not swerve.
• 5 This he a Testimony ordain’d
• In Joseph, not to change,
• When as he pass’d through Ægypt land;
• The Tongue I heard, was strange.20
• 6 From burden, and from slavish toyle
• I set his shoulder free;
• His hands from pots, and mirie soyle
• Deliver’d were by me.
• 7 When trouble did thee sore assaile,
• On me then didst thou call,
• And I to free thee did not faile,
• And led thee out of thrall.
• I answer’d thee in ^* thunder deep
• With clouds encompass’d round;30
• I tri’d thee at the water steep
• Of Meriba renown’d.
• 8 Hear O my people, heark’n well,
• I testifie to thee
• Thou antient flock of Israel,
• If thou wilt list to mee,
• 9 Through out the land of thy abode
• No alien God shall be
• Nor shalt thou to a forein God
• In honour bend thy knee.40
• 10 I am the Lord thy God which brought
• Thee out of Ægypt land
• Ask large enough, and I, besought,
• Will grant thy full demand.
• 11 And yet my people would not hear,
• Nor hearken to my voice;
• And Israel whom I lov’d so dear
• Mislik’d me for his choice.
• 12 Then did I leave them to their will
• And to their wandring mind;50
• Their own conceits they follow’d still
• Their own devises blind.
• 13 O that my people would be wise
• To serve me all their daies,
• And O that Israel would advise
• To walk my righteous waies.
• 14 Then would I soon bring down their foes
• That now so proudly rise,
• And turn my hand against all those
• That are their enemies.60
• 15 Who hate the Lord should then be fain
• To bow to him and bend,
• But they, His people, should remain,
• Their time should have no end.
• 16 And he would feed them from the shock
• With flower of finest wheat,
• And satisfie them from the rock
• With Honey for their Meat.

PSAL. LXXXII.

• 1 God in the ^* great ^* assembly stands
• Of Kings and lordly States,
• Among the gods^† on both his hands
• He judges and debates.
• 2 How long will ye ^* pervert the right
• With ^* judgment false and wrong
• Favouring the wicked by your might,
• Who thence grow bold and strong?
• 3 ^* Regard the ^* weak and fatherless
• ^* Dispatch the ^* poor mans cause,10
• And ^† raise the man in deep distress
• By ^† just and equal Lawes.
• 4 Defend the poor and desolate,
• And rescue from the hands
• Of wicked men the low estate
• Of him that help demands.
• 5 They know not nor will understand,
• In darkness they walk on,
• The Earths foundations all are ^* mov’d
• And ^* out of order gon.20
• 6 I said that ye were Gods, yea all
• The Sons of God most high
• 7 But ye shall die like men, and fall
• As other Princes die.
• 8 Rise God, ^* judge thou the earth in might,
• This wicked earth ^* redress,
• For thou art he who shalt by right
• The Nations all possess.

PSAL. LXXXIII.

• 1 Be not thou silent now at length
• O God hold not thy peace,
• Sit not thou still O God of strength
• We cry and do not cease.
• 2 For lo thy furious foes now * swell
• And^• storm outrageously,
• And they that hate thee proud and fell
• Exalt their heads full hie.
• 3 Against thy people they ^† contrive
• ^† Their Plots and Counsels deep,10
• ^* Them to ensnare they chiefly strive
• ^* Whom thou dost hide and keep.
• 4 Come let us cut them off say they,
• Till they no Nation be
• That Israels name for ever may
• Be lost in memory.
• 5 For they consult^† with all their might,
• And all as one in mind
• Themselves against thee they unite
• And in firm union bind.20
• 6 The tents of Edom, and the brood
• Of scornful Ishmael,
• Moab, with them of Hagars blood
• That in the Desart dwell,
• 7 Gebal and Ammon there conspire,
• And hateful Amalec,
• The Philistims, and they of Tyre
• Whose bounds the Sea doth check.
• 8 With them great Asshur also bands
• And doth confirm the knot,30
• All these have lent their armed hands
• To aid the Sons of Lot.
• 9 Do to them as to Midian bold
• That wasted all the Coast.
• To Sisera, and as is told
• Thou didst to Jabins hoast,
• When at the brook of Kishon old
• They were repulst and slain,
• 10 At Endor quite cut off, and rowl’d
• As dung upon the plain.40
• 11 As Zeb and Oreb evil sped
• So let their Princes speed
• As Zeba, and Zalmunna bled
• So let their Princes bleed.
• 12 For they amidst their pride have said
• By right now shall we seize
• Gods houses, and will now invade
• ^† Their stately Palaces.
• 13 My God, oh make them as a wheel
• No quiet let them find,50
• Giddy and restless let them reel
• Like stubble from the wind.
• 14 As when an aged wood takes fire
• Which on a sudden straies,
• The greedy flame runs hier and hier
• Till all the mountains blaze,
• 15 So with thy whirlwind them pursue,
• And with thy tempest chase;
• 16 ^* And till they ^* yield thee honour due,
• Lord fill with shame their face.
• 17 Asham’d and troubl’d let them be,61
• Troubl’d and sham’d for ever,
• Ever confounded, and so die
• With shame, and scape it never.
• 18 Then shall they know that thou whose name
• Jehova is alone,
• Art the most high, and thou the same
• O’re all the earth art one.

PSAL. LXXXIV.

• 1 How lovely are thy dwellings fair!
• O Lord of Hoasts, how dear
• The pleasant Tabernacles are!
• Where thou do’st dwell so near.
• 2 My Soul doth long and almost die
• Thy Courts O Lord to see,
• My heart and flesh aloud do crie,
• O living God, for thee.
• 3 There ev’n the Sparrow freed from wrong
• Hath found a house of rest,10
• The Swallow there, to lay her young
• Hath built her brooding nest,
• Ev’n by thy Altars Lord of Hoasts
• They find their safe abode,
• And home they fly from round the Coasts
• Toward thee, My King, my God.
• 4 Happy, who in thy house reside
• Where thee they ever praise,
• 5 Happy, whose strength in thee doth bide,
• And in their hearts thy waies.20
• 6 They pass through Baca’s thirstie Vale,
• That dry and barren ground
• As through a fruitfull watry Dale
• Where Springs and Showrs abound.
• 7 They journey on from strength to strength
• With joy and gladsom cheer
• Till all before our God at length
• In Sion do appear.
• 8 Lord God of Hoasts hear now my praier
• O Jacobs God give ear,30
• 9 Thou God our shield look on the face
• Of thy anointed dear.
• 10 For one day in thy Courts to be
• Is better, and more blest
• Then in the joyes of Vanity,
• A thousand daies at best.
• I in the temple of my God
• Had rather keep a dore,
• Then dwell in Tents, and rich abode
• With Sin for evermore.40
• 11 For God the Lord both Sun and Shield
• Gives grace and glory bright,
• No good from them shall be with-held
• Whose waies are just and right.
• 12 Lord God of Hoasts that raign’st on high,
• That man is truly blest
• Who only on thee doth relie.
• And in thee only rest.

PSAL. LXXXV.

• 1 Thy Land to favour graciously
• Thou hast not Lord been slack,
• Thou hast from hard Captivity
• Returned Jacob back.
• 2 Th’ iniquity thou didst forgive
• That wrought thy people woe,
• And all their Sin, that did thee grieve
• Hast hid where none shall know.
• 3 Thine anger all thou hadst remov’d,
• And calmly didst return10
• From thy^† fierce wrath which we had prov’d
• Far worse then fire to burn.
• 4 God of our saving health and peace,
• Turn us, and us restore,
• Thine indignation cause to cease
• Toward us, and chide no more.
• 5 Wilt thou be angry without end,
• For ever angry thus
• Wilt thou thy frowning ire extend
• From age to age on us?20
• 6 Wilt thou not^* turn, and hear our voice
• And us again^* revive,
• That so thy people may rejoyce
• By thee preserv’d alive.
• 7 Cause us to see thy goodness Lord,
• To us thy mercy shew
• Thy saving health to us afford
• And life in us renew.
• 8 And now what God the Lord will speak
• I will go strait and hear,30
• For to his people he speaks peace
• And to his Saints full dear,
• To his dear Saints he will speak peace,
• But let them never more
• Return to folly, but surcease
• To trespass as before.
• 9 Surely to such as do him fear
• Salvation is at hand
• And glory shall ere long appear
• To dwell within our Land.40
• 10 Mercy and Truth that long were miss’d
• Now joyfully are met
• Sweet Peace and Righteousness have kiss’d
• And hand in hand are set.
• 11 Truth from the earth like to a flowr
• Shall bud and blossom then,
• And Justice from her heavenly bowr
• Look down on mortal men.
• 12 The Lord will also then bestow
• Whatever thing is good50
• Our Land shall forth in plenty throw
• Her fruits to be our food.
• 13 Before him Righteousness shall go
• His Royal Harbinger,
• Then^* will he come, and not be slow
• His footsteps cannot err.

PSAL. LXXXVI.

• 1 Thygracious ear, O Lord, encline,
• O hear me I thee pray,
• For I am poor, and almost pine
• With need, and sad decay.
• 2 Preserve my soul, for^† I have trod
• Thy waies, and love the just,
• Save thou thy servant O my God
• Who still in thee doth trust.
• 3 Pitty me Lord for daily thee
• I call; 4 O make rejoyce10
• Thy Servants Soul; for Lord to thee
• I lift my soul and voice,
• 5 For thou art good, thou Lord art prone
• To pardon, thou to all
• Art full of mercy, thou alone
• To them that on thee call.
• 6 Unto my supplication Lord
• Give ear, and to the crie
• Of my incessant praiers afford
• Thy hearing graciously.20
• 7 I in the day of my distress
• Will call on thee for aid;
• For thou wilt grant me free access
• And answer, what I pray’d,
• 8 Like thee among the gods is none
• O Lord, nor any works
• Of all that other Gods have done
• Like to thy glorious works.
• 9 The Nations all whom thou hast made
• Shall come, and all shall frame30
• To bow them low before thee Lord,
• And glorifie thy name.
• 10 For great thou art, and wonders great
• By thy strong hand are done,
• Thou in thy everlasting Seat
• Remainest God alone.
• 11 Teach me O Lord thy way most right,
• I in thy truth will bide,
• To fear thy name my heart unite
• So shall it never slide.40
• 12 Thee will I praise O Lord my God
• Thee honour, and adore
• With my whole heart, and blaze abroad
• Thy name for ever more.
• 13 For great thy mercy is toward me,
• And thou hast free’d my Soul
• Eev’n from the lowest Hell set free
• From deepest darkness foul.
• 14 O God the proud against me rise
• And violent men are met50
• To seek my life, and in their eyes
• No fear of thee have set.
• 15 But thou Lord art the God most mild
• Readiest thy grace to shew,
• Slow to be angry, and art stil’d
• Most mercifull, most true.
• 16 O turn to me thy face at length,
• And me have mercy on,
• Unto thy servant give thy strength,
• And save thy hand-maids Son.60
• 17 Some sign of good to me afford,
• And let my foes then see
• And be asham’d, because thou Lord
• Do’st help and comfort me.

PSAL. LXXXVII.

• 1 Among the holy Mountains high
• Is his foundation fast,
• There Seated in his Sanctuary,
• His Temple there is plac’t.
• 2 Sions fair Gates the Lord loves more
• Then all the dwellings faire
• Of Jacobs Land, though there be store,
• And all within his care.
• 3 City of God, most glorious things
• Of thee abroad are spoke;10
• 4 I mention Egypt, where proud Kings
• Did our forefathers yoke,
• I mention Babel to my friends,
• Philistia full of scorn,
• And Tyre with Ethiops utmost ends,
• Lo this man there was born:
• 5 But twise that praise shall in our ear
• Be said of Sion last
• This and this man was born in her,
• High God shall fix her fast.20
• 6 The Lord shall write it in a Scrowle
• That ne’re shall be out-worn
• When he the Nations doth enrowle
• That this man there was born.
• 7 Both they who sing, and they who dance
• With sacred Songs are there,
• In thee fresh brooks, and soft streams glance
• And all my fountains clear.

PSAL. LXXXVIII.

• 1 Lord God that dost me save and keep,
• All day to thee I cry;
• And all night long, before thee weep
• Before thee prostrate lie.
• 2 Into thy presence let my praier
• With sighs devout ascend
• And to my cries, that ceaseless are,
• Thine ear with favour bend.
• 3 For cloy’d with woes and trouble store
• Surcharg’d my Soul doth lie,10
• My life at death’s uncherful dore
• Unto the grave draws nigh.
• 4 Reck’n’d I am with them that pass
• Down to the dismal pit
• I am a ^* man, but weak alas
• And for that name unfit.
• 5 From life discharg’d and parted quite
• Among the dead to sleep,
• And like the slain in bloody fight
• That in the grave lie deep.20
• Whom thou rememberest no more,
• Dost never more regard,
• Them from thy hand deliver’d o’re
• Deaths hideous house hath barr’d.
• 6 Thou in the lowest pit profound
• Hast set me all forlorn,
• Where thickest darkness hovers round,
• In horrid deeps to mourn.
• 7 Thy wrath from which no shelter saves
• Full sore doth press on me;30
• ^* Thou break’st upon me all thy waves,
• ^* And all thy waves break me.
• 8 Thou dost my friends from me estrange,
• And mak’st me odious,
• Me to them odious, for they change,
• And I here pent up thus.
• 9 Through sorrow, and affliction great
• Mine eye grows dim and dead,
• Lord all the day I thee entreat,
• My hands to thee I spread.40
• 10 Wilt thou do wonders on the dead,
• Shall the deceas’d arise
• And praise thee from their loathsom bed
• With pale and hollow eyes?
• 11 Shall they thy loving kindness tell
• On whom the grave hath hold,
• Or they who in perdition dwell
• Thy faithfulness unfold?
• 12 In darkness can thy mighty hand
• Or wondrous acts be known,50
• Thy justice in the gloomy land
• Of dark oblivion?
• 13 But I to thee O Lord do cry
• E’re yet my life be spent,
• And up to thee my praier doth hie
• Each morn, and thee prevent.
• 14 Why wilt thou Lord my soul forsake,
• And hide thy face from me,
• 15 That am already bruis’d, and^† shake
• With terror sent from thee;60
• Bruz’d, and afflicted and so low
• As ready to expire,
• While I thy terrors undergo
• Astonish’d with thine ire.
• 16 Thy fierce wrath over me doth flow
• Thy threatnings cut me through.
• 17 All day they round about me go,
• Like waves they me persue.
• 18 Lover and friend thou hast remov’d
• And sever’d from me far.70
• They fly me now whom I have lov’d,
• And as in darkness are.

Finis.

[* ]G[Editor: illegible character]orera.

[* ]Gnashanta.

[* ]Shalish.

[* ]Jilgnagu.

[* ]Jilgnagu.

[* ]Jilgnagu.

[* ]Be Sether ragnam.

[* ]Bagnadathel.

[† ]Bekerev.

[* ]Tishphetu gnavel.

[* ]Shiphtu-dal.

[† ]Hatzdiku.

[* ]Jimmotu.

[* ]Shiphta.

[• ]Jehemajun.

[† ]Jagnarimu.