Who the virtuous young lady was is not known.
[2.] See the gospel of Matthew VII 13.
[5.] See Luke X 40-42; Ruth I 14.
[8.] Note the “identical” rhyme. The effect of such a rhyme is unpleasant. Modern poets avoid it.
[9-14.] See Matthew XXV 1-13.
X (1644 or 1645).
Lady Margaret’s father was the Earl of Marlborough, who had been President of the Council under Charles I. Milton attributes his death to political anxiety caused by the dissolution of Charles’s third Parliament in 1629.
[6-8. that dishonest victory at Chæronea.] The victory of Philip over the Greeks at Chæronea, B.C. 338, is called by the poet dishonest because obtained by means of intrigue and bribery. [that old man eloquent] is the orator and rhetorician Isocrates, who, in his grief over the defeat of his countrymen, committed suicide.
[9. later born than to have known:] too late to have known. Serius nata quam ut cognosceres.