off on an
excursion to some places in your neighbourhood; and now your most
excellent mother, on her way to Ireland--whose departure ought to
be a matter of no ordinary regret to both of us (for to me also she
has stood in the place of all kith and kin: _nam et mihi omnium,
necessitudinum loco fuit_)--carries you this letter herself.
That you feel assured of my affection for you, right and well; and
I would have you feel daily more and more assured of it, the more
of good disposition and of good use of your advantages you give me
to see in you. Which result, by God's grace, I see you not only
engage for personally, but, as if I had provoked you by a wager on
the subject, give solemn pledge and put in bail that you will
accomplish,--not refusing, as it were, to abide judgment, and to
pay the penalty of failure if judgment should be given against you.
I am truly delighted with this so good hope you have of yourself;
which you cannot now be wanting to, without appearing at the same
time not only to have been faithless to your own promises but also
to have run away from your bail. As to what you write to the effect
that you do not dislike Oxford, you adduce nothing to make me
believe that you have got any good there or been made any wiser:
you will have to shew me that by very different proofs. Victories
of Princes, which you extol with praises, and matters of that sort
in which force is of most avail, I would not have you admire too
much, now that you are listening to Philosophers [Robert Boyle and
his set?]. For what should be the great wonder if in the native
land of _wethers_ there are born strong horns, able to
_ram_ down most powerfully cities and towns? [_Quid enim
magnopere mirandum est si vervecum, in patria valida nascantur
cornua quae urbes et oppida arietare valentissime possint?_
Besides the pun, there is some geographical allusion, or allusion
of military history, which it is difficult to make out.] Learn you,
already from your early age, to weigh and discern great characters
not by force and animal strength, but by justice and temperance.
Farewell; and please to give best salutations in my name to the
highly accomplished Henry Oldenburg, your chamber-fellow.

"Westminster: Sept. 21, 1656."

If the date of this letter, as published by Milton himself, is
correct, it was written on a Sunday. Yet there can have been no
particular haste; for