Far Simile of part of Milton, Ode to Rouse from the Original in the Bodleian Library Pay Ciii Ad Joannem Köusium Oxoniensis Academia Bibliothecarium 1. Strophes Cerulei patris, portion to his losses; for excepting the thousand pounds, which were given him by the government for writing his Defence of the people against Salmasius, we may conclude that he got very little by the copies of his works, when it doth not appear that he received any more than ten pounds for Paradise Lost. Some time before he died he sold the greatest part of his library, as his heirs were not qualified to make a proper use of it, and as he thought that he could dispose of it to greater advantage than they could after his decease. Finally, by one means or other he died worth one thousand five hundred pounds besides his household goods, which was no incompetent subsistence for him, who was as great a philosopher as a poet. * See the Nuncupative Will, and Mr. Warton's notes upon it, annexed to this account, by which it appears that Milton designed to leave every thing to his wife. What property, however, he possessed at his death does not appear from any of the papers connected with the Will. The account which Dr. Newton gives is taken from Philips. Of the books which belonged to him, a copy of Euripides, with many marginal emendations in his own hand, is now the property of Mr. Cradock, of Gumly in Leicestershire. Some of the marginal notes have been given to the public by Joshua Barnes, and Mr. Jodrell. See Mr. Warton's note on v. 55 of the ode, Ad J. Rousium. The Earl of Charlemon, (descended from a sister of Mr. King, Milton's Lycidas,) has a copy of Lycophron, which belonged to Milton. In the margin are observations written in the same beautiful hand, if I remember right, with the ode to Rouse preserved in the Bodleian Library; but several years have elapsed since Lord Charlemont shewed me the Lycophron. The Rev. Francis Blackburne, (grandson of Archdeacon Blackburne, who wrote the Remarks on Dr. Johnson's Life of Milton,) is also possessed of a copy of the Bible said to have belonged to Milton. There are two little drawings in it of a profile, with his name annexed, and one of them subscribed "Myself, 1640"; and occasionally a remark upon a text of Scripture, or upon the state of the times, apparently in his hand-writing. One is dated Canterbury, 1639, "This year " of very dreadful commotion, To this account of Milton it may be proper to add something concerning his family. We said before, that he had a younger brother and a sister. His brother Christopher Milton was a man of totally opposite principles; was a strong royalist, and after the civil war made his composition through his brother's interest; had been entered young a student in the Inner Temple, of which house he lived to be an ancient bencher; and being a professed papist, was in the reign of James II. made a judge and knighted; but soon obtained his quietus by reason of his age and infirmities, and retired to Ipswich, where he lived all the latter part of his life. His sister Anne Milton had a considerable fortune given her by her father in marriage with Mr. Edward Philips, (son of Mr. Edward Philips of Shrewsbury,) who coming young to London was bred up in the Crown Office in Chancery, and at length became secondary of the office under Mr. Bembo. By him she had, besides other children who died infants, two sons Edward and John, whom we have had frequent occasion to mention before. Among our author's juvenile poems there is a copy of verses on the death of a fair infant, a nephew, or rather niece of his, dying of a cough; and this being written in his 17th year, as it is said in the title, it may be naturally inferred that Mrs. Philips was elder than either of her brothers. She had "and I weene will ensue mur- When that day of death shall come, Soone the fresh turfe's tender blade At the easy price of eighty pounds, according to the record of Compositions, Lond. 1655. Todd. likewise two daughters, Mary who died very young, and Anne who was living in 1694, by a second husband Mr. Thomas Agar, who succeeded his intimate friend Mr. Philips in his place in the Crown Office, which he enjoyed many years, and left to Mr. Thomas Milton, son of Sir Christopher before mentioned. As for Milton himself he appears to have been no enemy to the fair sex by having had three wives. What fortune he had with any of them is no where said, but they were gentlemen's daughters; and it is remarkable that he married them all maidens, for (as he says in his Apology for Smectymnuus, which was written before he married at all) he " thought with them, who both in " prudence and elegance of spirit would choose a virgin " of mean fortunes honestly bred before the wealthiest " widow." But yet he seemeth not to have been very happy in any of his marriages; for his first wife had justly offended him by her long absence and separation from him; the second, whose love, sweetness, and goodness he commends, lived not a twelvemonth with him; and his third wife is said to have been a woman of a most violent spirit, and a hard mother-in-law to his children. She died very old, about twenty years ago, at Nantwich in Cheshire: and from the accounts of those who had seen her, I have learned, that she confirmed several things which have been related before; and particularly that her husband used to compose his " 'Aubrey says, however, that she was "a gentle person, of a peaceful and agreeable hu"mour;" and it appears by the witnesses to Milton's Nuncupative Will, that her daughters in-law, excepting probably the youngest, were very far from amiable. She died, according to Mr. Todd, in the summer of 1730. Е. |