Sonnet 15: Fairfax, whose name in arms through Europe rings

On the Lord General Fairfax at the Siege of Colchester

Fairfax, whose name in arms through Europe rings
   Filling each mouth with envy, or with praise,
   And all her jealous monarchs with amaze
   And rumours loud, that daunt remotest kings;
Thy firm unshak’n virtue ever brings
   Victory home, though new rebellions raise
   Their hydra heads, and the false north displays
   Her brok’n league, to imp their serpent wings:
O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand;
   For what can war but endless war still breed?
   Till Truth and Right from Violence be freed,
And Public Faith clear’d from the shameful brand
   Of Public Fraud. In vain doth Valour bleed
   While Avarice and Rapine share the land.