MILTON was thus by birth a gentleman; but had his descent been otherwise, his works would ennoble him to posterity.
The lord, by giddy fortune courted,
Stalks through a part by thousands played;
The minstrel, proud and unsupported,
Stands forth the Noble God has made[3]
We sought our illustration of GREAT MILTON in the "Oxfordshire" of that voluminous and expensive work, "the Beauties of England and Wales;" but, strange to say, the family name of Milton is not even mentioned there, although the house is still
By chance or Nature's changing course untrimm'd.
The editor, however, tells us, on the authority of Leland, that there was at Great Milton a priory "many yeres syns;" and quotes the following quaint lines from a tablet in the church:—
Here lye mother and babe, both without sins, Next birth will make her and her infant, twins.