A Book was writ of late call'd Tetrachordon;
And wov'n close, both matter, form and stile;
The Subject new: it walk'd the Town a while,
Numbring good intellects; now seldom por'd on.
Cries the stall-reader, bless us! what a word onA title page is this! and some in
Stand spelling fals, while one might walk to Mile--End Green. Why is it harder Sirs then Gordon,
Colkitto, or Macdonnel, or Galasp?
Those rugged names to our like mouths grow sleek That would have made Quintilian stare and gasp.
Thy age, like ours,
O Soul of Sir John Cheek,
Hated not Learning wors then Toad or Asp;
When thou taught'st Cambridge, and King Edward Greek.'When Milton publish'd his books of Divorce, he was greatly condemn'd by the Presbyterian clergy, whose advocate and champion he had been before.
He publish'd his Tetrachordon or Expositions upon the four chief places in Scripture, which treat of marriage or nullities in marriage, in 1645; and soon after we may suppose he composed these two sonnets, (11 and 12), which were first printed in the edition of 1673, and to which we have prefixed the title that he himself has in the Manuscript.(line 1:
A book was writ of late...&c):
In the Manuscript he had written at first,"I writ a book of late call'd
And weav'd in close, both matter, form and stile;
It went off well about the town a while,
Numb'ring good wits, but now is seldom por'd on."The reader will readily agree, that it was alter'd for the better.(line 9:
Colkitto, or Macdonnel, or Galasp?):
We may suppose these were persons of note and eminence amongst the Scotch ministers who were for pressing and enforcing the Covenant.
Galasp we know was one of the Scotch ministers and commissioners from the Kirk to the Parlament.
See the verses "on the forcers of conscience."(line 12: -- Sir John Cheek):
Or Cheke.
He was the first Professor of the Greek tongue in the university of Cambridge, and was highly instrumental in bringing that language into repute, and restoring the original pronunciation of it, tho' with great opposition from the patrons of ignorance and popery, and especially from Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, and chancellor of the university.
He was afterwards made one of the tutors to Edward VI.
See his life by Strype, or in Biographia Britannica.'~ Th.
Newton,
Milton's Works, 2nd edition, 1753.
