MILTON'S WIDOW.
(Vol. viii., pp. 12. 134. 200. 375. 452. 471. 544. 594.)
Garlichithe is again on the wrong scent. In his first communication on this subject, he allowed himself to go astray by mistaking Randle Minshull the grandfather for Randle Minshull the son; and now, with the like fatality, he fails to discriminate between Richard Minshull the uncle, and Richard Minshull the brother, of Elizabeth Milton. A second examination of my Reply in Vol. viii., p. 200., will suffice to show him that Richard Minshull, the party to the deed there quoted, was named by me as the brother, and not the uncle, of Milton's widow, and that therefore his argument, based on disparity of age, &c., falls to the ground. On the other hand, Richard Minshull of Chester, to whom the letter alluded to was addressed, was the brother of Randle Minshull of Wistaston, and by the same token, uncle of Elizabeth Milton, and of Richard Minshull, her brother and co-partner in the deed already referred to.
Garlichithe, and all others who have taken an interest in this discussion, will now, I trust, see clearly that there has been nothing adduced by either Mr. Marsh or myself inconsistent with ages or dates; but that, on the contrary, all our premises and conclusions are borne out by evidence clear, irreproachable, and incontestable.
All objections being now, as I conceive, fully combated and disposed of, the substance of our investigations may be summed up in a very few words. The statement of Pennant, adopted by all succeeding writers, to the effect that Elizabeth, the widow of John Milton, was a daughter of Sir Edward Minshull of Stoke, is clearly proved to be a fiction. It has been farther proved, from the parish registers, as well as from bonds and other documentary evidence, that she was, without doubt, the daughter of Randle Minshull of Wistaston, a village about three miles from Nantwich; that she was the cousin of Milton's familiar friend, Dr. Paget, and as such became entitled to a legacy under the learned Doctor's will, and that she is expressly named by Richard Minshull as his sister in the deed before quoted.
T. Hughes.
Chester.