232 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»«i S. VII. Mar 19. '5^, 



The effect is wrought by one thing, and another carries 

 the glory of it. A better instance cannot be found than 

 this very case which is now in handling. A man is 

 •wounded ; the weapon taken, and a wound-working salve 

 laid to it ; in the meanwhile the wounded person is com- 

 manded to use abstinence as much as may be, and to keep 

 the wound clean ; whilst he thus doth, he heals, and the 

 weapon-salve bears the bell away: whereas it is most 

 certain that wounds not mortal (for I hope their salve 

 cures not mortal wounds) will of themselves grow whole, 

 if the party would abstain as much as possible he can, 

 and remove from the wound such things as may offend. 

 For nothing hinders wounds from cicatrising more than 

 concourse of humour to the diseased part, and keeping 

 things irritatory about the orifice of the wound : the first 

 of these is performed by abstinence, which is naturally a 

 drier; the other by keeping the wound clean. He that 

 can do these two things shall need no other chirurgery to 

 cure an ordinary wound." 



He concludes his letter with the following amus- 

 ing (except to the person chiefly concerned) trial 

 of a Jew's faith in a somewhat similar remedy 

 which he was anxious to propagate : — 



" I have read that a learned Jew undertook to persuade 

 Albertus, one of the Dukes of Saxony, that by certain 

 Hebrew letters and words taken out of the Psalms, and 

 written in parchment, strange cures might be done upon 

 any wound. As he one day walked with the Duke, and 

 laboured him much to give credit to what he discoursed 

 in that argument, the Duke suddenly drew his sword, 

 and wounding him much in divers places, tells him he 

 would now see the conclusion tried upon himself. But 

 the poor Jew could find no help in his semhamphoras 

 nor his Hebrew characters, but was constrained to take 

 himself to more real chirurgery. Sir, I wish no man any 

 harm, and therefore I desire not the like fortune might 

 befal them who stand for the use of weapon-salve : only 

 thus much I will say, that if they should meet with some 

 Duke of Saxonj', he would go near to cure them of the 

 errors, howsoever they would shift to cure their wounds." 



It is not a little surprising that people of educa- 

 tion should exhibit such credulity. It does not 

 appear who " the honourable person " to whom the 

 letter was indited was. ** The Doctor " was no 

 doubt one of "a guild of men who style themselves 

 the Brethren of the Mosy Cross, — a fraternity, 

 who, what, or where they are, no man yet, no, not 

 they who believe, admire, and devote themselves 

 unto them, could ever discover." It might be, 

 however, that by " the Doctor " was meant Sir 

 Kenelm Digby, as I find in Chambers' Dictionary 

 (1741) sub voce, " Sympathetic Powder," that he 

 not only was a believer in it, but also wrote an 

 express treatise on the subject. Tee Bee. 



MILTON S GENEALOGr. 



In that valuable book, the first volume of Pro- 

 fessor Masson's Milton, the genealogy of Milton 

 is still left unsettled for want of the name of the 

 poet's grandfather being determined. I therefore 

 suggested to Professor Masson one mode by which 

 the doubt might possibly be solved, namely, by 

 investigating the record of the admission of Jno. 



Milton the elder as a citizen and scrivener. This, 

 too, I brought before the London and Middle- 

 sex Archaeological Club, and was encouraged to 

 proceed, though the Guildhall and Scriveners' 

 records of freedom of Elizabeth's time are im- 

 perfect. Mr. Benjamin Scott, the Chamberlain 

 of London, Mr. John Sewell, the Clerk of the 

 Chamber of London, and Mr. Park Nelson, Clerk 

 of the Worshipful Company of Scriveners, have 

 kindly assisted me in this search, and the latter 

 has favoured me with an entry from the records 

 of the Company, which settles the main point, and 

 throws light upon many matters of interest to the 

 students of the poet's life. 



In the books of the Company it is recorded on 

 the 27th Feb. 1599, that John Milton, son of 

 Richard Milton of Stanston [.szc] co. Oxon, and 

 late apprentice to James Colbron, Citizen and 

 Writer of the Court Letter of London [Scrivener] 

 was admitted to the Freedom of the Company. 



1. This fully settles the question, not only as 

 to the name of the grandfather, but that he was 

 the Richard Milton of Stanton St. John's, who 

 was conjectured by Mr. Hunter to be the grand- 

 father, and who was in the 19 Eliz. (1577) as- 

 sessed to the Subsidy Rolls of Oxfordshire ; in 

 the 43 Eliz. fined 60Z. for recusancy, and again 

 fined 60^. on the 13 July, 1601. 



2. The grandfather was a recusant, as asserted 

 by Aubrey. 



3. Professor Masson (p.«15.) shows that Henry 

 Milton of Stanton St. John's was father of Richard 

 Milton, and consequently great-grandfather of 

 the poet. This connects John Milton with several 

 known members of the O.xfordshire family. 



4. The Stanton St. John's stock having been 

 established, it now becomes worth while to make 

 farther investigations, so as to connect this line 

 with the individuals named by Mr. Hunter and 

 Professor Masson. My leaning is to the belief 

 that, although Richard Milton is in the Recusant 

 Rolls described as a " Yeoman," he was a member 

 of an ancient family reduced in position. 



5. Aubrey's account that John Milton the elder 

 " came to London and became a scrivener (brought 

 up by a friend of his ; was not an apprentice), 

 and got a plentiful estate by it," is erroneous as 

 to the main facts. The notion raised by it is, 

 that the father, at a mature age, having joined 

 the Church of England, came to London, and 

 became a scrivener by " redemption " or pur- 

 chase of his freedom, which in those days would 

 have cost a considerable sum of money. 



6. John Milton the elder was an apprentice, 

 and according to the custom of London would 

 have been admitted to the freedom on reaching 

 the age of twenty-one years. In all likelihood 

 an apprentice fee was paid with him, as the trade 

 of a scrivener was a respectable one, and it may 

 have been paid by Richard Milton. 



