John Milton

Sometimes 5 Imprimaturs are seen together dialogue-wise in the Piatza of one Title page, complementing and ducking each other with their shav'n reverences, whether the Author, who stands by in perplexity at the foot of his Epistle, shall to the Presse or to the spunge.

Then to the well-trod stage anon, / If Jonsons learned Sock be on, / Or sweetest Shakespear fancies childe, / Warble his native Wood-notes wilde, There on beds of violets blue, / And fresh-blown roses wash'd in dew, / Fill'd her with thee, a daughter fair, / So buxom, blithe, and debonair. There, under ebon shades... in dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.

He on his side / Leaning half-raised, with looks of cordial love / Hung over her enamoured. Forth rush the levant and the ponent winds. Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, / While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof. Much pleasure we have lost while we abstained / From this delightful fruit, nor known till now / True relish, tasting. more, it seems, inflamed with lust than rage Meanwhile the eternal eye, whose sight discerns Abstrusest thoughts, from forth his holy mount, And from within the golden lamps that burn Nightly before him, saw without their light Rebellion rising,—saw in whom, how spread Among the Sons of Morn, what multitudes Were banded to oppose his high decree; His fair large front and eye sublime declared / Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks / Round from his parted forelock manly hung / Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad: Drew after him the third part of Heaven's sons / Conjured against the Highest. With solemn adoration down they [the angels] cast / Thir Crowns inwove with Amarant and Gold; / Immortal Amarant, a Flour which once / In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life / Began to bloom, but soon for mans offence / To Heav'n remov'd where first it grew, there grows, / And flours aloft shading the Fount of Life, […] [T]he Cohort bright / Of watchful Cherubim; four faces each / Had, like a double Janus, all thir shape / Spangl'd with eyes more numerous then those / Of Argus, and more wakeful then to drouze, […] […] round he throws his baleful eyes / That witness'd huge affliction and dismay / Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate: [O]ut-flew / Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs / Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze / Far round illumin'd hell: […] What in me is dark / Illumine, what is low raise and support; / That to the highth of this great Argument / I may assert th' Eternal Providence, / And justifie the wayes of God to men. On th' other side, Adam, soon as he heard / The fatal Trespass don by Eve, amaz'd, / Astonied stood and Blank, while horror chill / Ran through his veins, and all his joynts relax'd; / From his slack hand the Garland wreath'd for Eve / Down drop'd, and all the faded Roses shed: […]

Who, for so many benefits received, / Turned recreant to God, ingrate and false, / And so of all true good himself despoiled; Under his special eye / Abstemious I grew up and thrived amain; / He led me on to mightiest deeds / Above the nerve of mortal arm / Against the uncircumcised, our enemies; Who, for so many benefits received, / Turned recreant to God, ingrate and false, / And so of all true good himself despoiled; Crystal and myrrhine cups, embossed with gems / And studs of pearl.