To me, great Milton! oh! how dear thou art! Thou man of lofty thinking! Liberty, A living light, beamed strongly in thine eye! Thy soul, sustain'd by holiest thought, could dart, And fetch from Heaven a fire to warm man's heart With thy own stirring spirit! Memory, On thy great deeds reflecting, stills her sigh— Lest in a dream, she almost acts thy part! Thou hadst the largest mind, exalted man, That ever moved, a spirit, on the face Of troubled waters; for the deepest place Beneath the waves, whence Truth's pure spring began, Thy steady eye undauntedly could trace; By prejudice untouched, could calmly scan!
