John Milton

Part of an entertainment presented to the Countess Dowager of Darby at Harefield, by som Noble persons of her Family, who appear on the Scene in pastoral habit, moving toward the seat of State with this Song
I
Song
Look Nymphs, and ...

Hence, vain deluding Joys,
The brood of Folly without father bred
How little you
Or fill the fixed mind with all your toys

Hence, loathed Melancholy,
Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight
In Stygian cave forlorn'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy
Find out some uncouth cell,

The Scene before the Prison in Gaza
Samson:  A little onward lend thy guiding
To these dark steps, a little further on;
For yonder bank hath choice of Sun or shade,

Fly envious Time, till thou run out thy race,
Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours,
Whose speed is but the heavy Plummets pace;
And glut thy self with what thy womb devours,

O Nightingale, that on yon blooming spray Warblest at eve, when all the woods are still, Thou with fresh hopes the Lover’s heart dost fill, While the jolly Hours lead on propitious May
Thy liquid notes that close the eye of Day,
First he...

In this Monody the author bewails a learned Friend, unfortunately drowned in his passage from Chester on the Irish Seas, 1637; and, by occasion, foretells the ruin of our corrupted Clergy, then in their height
Yet once more,
O ye laurels...