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Francis T. Palgrave, ed. (1824–1897). The Golden Treasury. 1875.

John Milton

LXXVII. To Cyriack Skinner

CYRIACK, whose grandsire, on the royal bench

Of British Themis, with no mean applause

Pronounced, and in his volumes taught, our laws,

Which others at their bar so often wrench;

To-day deep thoughts resolve with me to drench

In mirth, that after no repenting draws;

Let Euclid rest, and Archimedes pause,

And what the Swede intends, and what the French.

To measure life learn thou betimes, and know

Toward solid good what leads the nearest way;

For other things mild Heaven a time ordains,

And disapproves that care, though wise in show,

That with superfluous burden loads the day,

And, when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains.