Page:Comus and other poems - Milton (1906).djvu/82

  Captain or Colonel, or Knight in Arms,
 * Whose chance on these defenceless dores may sease,
 * If ever deed of honour did thee please,
 * Guard them, and him within protect from harms,

He can requite thee, for he knows the charms
 * That call Fame on such gentle acts as these,
 * And he can spred thy Name o're Lands and Seas,
 * What ever clime the Suns bright circle warms.

Lift not thy spear against the Muses Bowre,
 * The great Emathian Conqueror bid spare
 * The house of Pindarus, when Temple and Towre

Went to the ground: And the repeated air
 * Of sad Electra's Poet had the power
 * To save th'Athenian Walls from ruine bare.

  Lady that in the prime of earliest youth,
 * Wisely hast shun'd the broad way and the green,
 * And with those few art eminently seen,
 * That labour up the Hill of heav'nly Truth,

The better part with Mary, and with Ruth,
 * Chosen thou hast, and they that overween,
 * And at thy growing vertues fret their spleen,
 * No anger find in thee, but pity and ruth.

Thy care is fixt, and zealously attends
 * To fill thy odorous Lamp with deeds of light,
 * And Hope that reaps not shame. Therefore be sure

Thou, when the Bridegroom with his feastfull friends
 * Passes to bliss at the mid hour of night,
 * Hast gain'd thy entrance, Virgin wise and pure.

 Rh