John Milton. Sonnet X: To the Lady Margaret Ley.

John Milton

SONNET X.

TO THE LADY MARGARET LEY.

DAUGHTER to that good Earl, once President
Of England's Council and her Treasury,
Who lived in both unstained with gold or fee,
And left them both, more in himself content,
Till the sad breaking of that Parliament
Broke him, as that dishonest victory
At Chæronea, fatal to liberty,
Killed with report that old man eloquent,
Though later born than to have known the days
Wherein your father flourished, yet by you,
Madam, me thinks I see him living yet:
So well your words his noble virtues praise
That all both judge you to relate them true
And to possess them, honoured Margaret.

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        The Complete Poems of John Milton. Vol 4.
        Charles W. Eliot, ed.
        New York: P. F. Collier & Son, 1909. 81.

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