chief supporter of a church
establishment.

XVII (1652).

Sir Henry Vane was member of a committee of the Council of State
appointed in 1649 to consider alliances and relations with the European
powers. Milton, as Secretary of the Council, had abundant opportunity to
observe Vane's skill in diplomacy, his ability to "unfold the drift of
hollow states hard to be spelled." Both Vane and Milton held to the
doctrine, preeminently associated with the name of Roger Williams, of
universal toleration, based on the refusal to the civil magistrate of any
authority in spiritual matters.

1. Vane, young in years: Vane was born in 1613.

3. gowns, not arms: civilians, not soldiers. The expression is a
Latinism, the _gown_ standing for the _toga_.

4. The fierce Epirot and the African bold: Pyrrhus and Hannibal.

6. hard to be spelled. Compare Il Penseroso 170.

XVIII (1655).

The historical event which furnishes the occasion of this sonnet is the
persecution of the Protestant Waldenses by the Piedmontese and French
governments, at the time of Cromwell's Protectorate. Cromwell's vigorous
and successful intervention was the means of staying this horror, and
gives evidence of the respect entertained for his government among the
states of Europe.

4. when all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones. Christianity had
been introduced into the Waldensian country while Britain was still
pagan.

5. their groans Who were thy sheep: the groans of those who were.

12. The triple Tyrant. The Pope, who wore a triple crown.

14. the Babylonian woe. The puritans interpreted the _Babylon_ of
Revelation as the church of Rome. See Revelation XVIII.

XIX.

The sonnet, says Masson, may have been written any time between 1652 and
1655.

2. Ere half my days. Milton's blindness is considered to have become
total in 1652, when he was at the age of forty-four. How shall we
understand these words?

3. See the Parable of the Talents, Matthew XXV.

8. I fondly ask. See note on Il Pens. 6.

XX.

Probable date, 1655. Of the Mr. Lawrence to whom the sonnet is addressed
nothing is certainly known.

6. Favonius is the Latin name for Zephyrus, the west wind.

10. Attic: refined, delicate, poignant.

13. and spare To interpose them oft: refrain from too free enjoyment of
them.