I.
O fairest flower no sooner blown but blasted,
Soft silken Primrose fading timeless lie,
Summers chief honour if thou hadst
Bleak winters force that made thy blossom drie;
For he being amorous on that lovely
That did thy cheek envermeil, thought to
But kill'd alas, and then bewayl'd his fatal bliss.
II.
For since grim Aquilo his
By boistrous rape th' Athenian damsel got,
He thought it toucht his Deitie full neer, If likewise he some fair one wedded not,
Thereby to wipe away th' infamous blot,
Of long-uncoupled bed, and childless eld,
Which 'mongst the wanton gods a foul reproach was held.
II.
So mounting up in ycie-pearled carr,
Through middle empire of the freezing
He wanderd long, till thee he spy'd from farr,
There ended was his quest, there ceast his
Down he descended from his Snow-soft chaire,
But all unwares with his cold-kind embrace Unhous'd thy Virgin Soul from her fair hiding place.
IV.
Yet art thou not inglorious in thy fate;
For so Apollo, with unweeting
Whilome did slay his dearly-loved
Young Hyacinth born on Eurotas' strand,
Young Hyacinth the pride of Spartan land;
But then transform'd him to a purple
Alack that so to change thee winter had no power.
V.
Yet can I not perswade me thou art
Or that thy coarse corrupts in earths dark wombe, Or that thy beauties lie in wormie bed,
Hid from the world in a low delved tombe;
Could Heav'n for pittie thee so strictly doom?
O no! for something in thy face did
Above mortalitie that shew'd thou wast divine.
VI.
Resolve me then oh Soul most surely blest(If so it be that thou these plaints dost hear)Tell me bright Spirit where e're thou
Whether above that high first-moving
Or in the Elisian fields (if such there were.) Oh say me true if thou wert mortal
And why from us so quickly thou didst take thy flight.
II.
Wert thou some Starr which from the ruin'd
Of shak't Olympus by mischance didst fall;
Which carefull Jove in natures true
Took up, and in fit place did reinstall?
Or did of late earths Sonnes besiege the
Of sheenie Heav'n, and thou some goddess
Amongst us here below to hide thy nectar'd
II.
Or wert thou that just Maid who once before Forsook the hated earth,
O tell me
And cam'st again to visit us once more?
Or wert thou that sweet smiling Youth!
Or that c[r]own'd Matron sage white-robed Truth?
Or any other of that heav'nly
Let down in clowdie throne to do the world some good.
IX.
Or wert thou of the golden-winged boast,
Who having clad thy self in humane weed,
To earth from thy praefixed seat didst poast,
And after short abode flie back with speed, As if to shew what creatures Heav'n doth breed,
Thereby to set the hearts of men on
To scorn the sordid world, and unto Heav'n aspire.
X.
But oh why didst thou not stay here
To bless us with thy heav'n-lov'd innocence,
To slake his wrath whom sin hath made our
To turn Swift-rushing black perdition hence,
Or drive away the slaughtering pestilence,
To stand 'twixt us and our deserved
But thou canst best perform that office where thou art. XI.
Then thou the mother of so sweet a
Her false imagin'd loss cease to lament,
And wisely learn to curb thy sorrows wild;
Think what a present thou to God hast sent,
And render him with patience what he lent;
This if thou do he will an off-spring give,
That till the worlds last-end shall make thy name to live.'This elegy was not inserted in the first edition of the author's poems printed in 1645, but was added in the second edition printed in 1673.
It was compos'd in the year 1625, that being the 17th year of Milton's age.
In some editions the title runs thus, -- "On the death of a fair infant, a nephew of his, dying of a cough:" but the sequel shows plainly that the child was not a nephew, but a niece, and consequently a daughter of his sister Philips, and probably her first child.(For since grim Aquilo, &c...):
Boreas or Aquilo carried off by force Orithyia daughter of Erectheus king of Athens. Ovid.
Met.
VI.
Fab. 9.
Milton hath invented this fine fable of Winter's rape upon his sister's daughter, on the same grounds as that of Boreas on the daughter of Erectheus, whom he ravish'd as she cross'd over the river Ilyssus (as Apollodorus says lib. 3) that is, she was drown'd in a high wind crossing that river.(For so Apollo, with unweeting hand...):
Apollo slew Hyacinthus by accident playing at quoits, and afterwards changed him into a flower of the same name.
The reader may see the story in Ovid.
Met.
X.
Fab. 6.(Or did of late earth's sons besiege the wall...):
For when the giants invaded Heaven, the deities fled and concealed themselves in various shapes.
See Ovid.
Met.
V. 319. &c.(Or drive away the slaughtering pestilence,...):
It should be noted that at this time there was a great plague in London, which gives a peculiar propriety to this whole stanza.'~ Th.
Newton,
Milton's Works, 2nd edition, 1753.
