Dec. 17. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



595 



Mr. Hughes is quite right, both in his facts, so 

 far as they go, and in the inference he draws from 

 them in confirmation of tlie now well ascertained 

 identity of IMilton's widow with the daughter of 

 Randle MynshuU of Wistaston. His observations 

 derive additional force from the fact, that two gene- 

 rations of MinshuU of Wistaston married ladies of 

 the name of Goldsmith. Thomas JMinshull, the 



great-grandfitlier of Milton's widow, married 



Goldsmith of Nantwich, as his son llichard in- 

 formed Randal Holmes, in a letter among the 

 Harl. MSS., noticed by ]\Ir. Hunter, and as 

 pointed out by Mr. Hughes; but the writer of 

 that letter also married a lady of the same name, 

 Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Goldsmith, of 

 Bosvvorth, in the county of Leicester. The fact is 

 •worth noticing, though no very accurate estimate 

 can be formed of the precise degree of relation- 

 ship to be inferred from the title of "cousin" a 

 couple of centuries ago. My authority is the 

 Cheshire visitation of 1663-4. Several other MS. 

 pedigrees are in existence ; in some of which the 

 Lady's name is stated as Ellen, instead of Elizabeth, 

 and her father's as Richard instead of Nicholas. 

 Thomas MinshuU of Manchester, the uncle of 

 Milton's widow, deserves perhaps a passing word 

 of notice, as having embalmed the mortal remains 

 of Humphrey Chetham, J. F. M. 



Warrington. 



Our elegant poet Fenton, having written a 

 Life of Milton, and no doubt often visited his 

 place of nativity (Shelton, in the Staffordshire 

 Potteries), he surely must have known something 

 respecting Milton^s third wife's family, who lived 

 only a few miles from thence ; and if the Fenton 

 papers have, as is probable, been preserved by his 

 family, some of whom I am informed still live in 

 the neighbourhood of Shelton, it is not unlikely 

 they will throw some light on the family of the 

 poet's widow. Newington. 



BOOKS CHAINED TO DESKS IN CHURCHES OLD 



PAROCHIAL LIBRARIES. 



(Vol. viii., p. 93.) 



On a recent visit to Aberystwith, I walked to 

 the mother church of Llanbadarn, a fine old build- 

 ing, which I was glad to find, since a former visit, 

 was undergoing important repairs in its exterior. 

 While inspecting the interior, I requested the 

 clerk to show me into the vestry, and upon in- 

 quiring if the church possessed any black-letter 

 Bible, Foxe's Martyrs, or any of those volumes 

 which at the Reformation were chained to the 

 desks or pews, he opened a case in the vestry, in 

 which I was sorry to observe many volumes, not 

 of that early date, but about a century and a half 

 old, yet valuable in their day as well as at present, 



in a sad dilapidated state, arising from the damp- 

 ness of the room, which is without a fire-place. 

 Many of the volumes were the gift of a Doctor 

 Fowle, with his autograph, stating that they were 

 given as a lending library to the parishioners. 



The present incumbent is the Rev. — Hughes, 

 a very excellent and zealous pastor, with the 

 modern church in Aberystwith annexed, who, 

 should this narrative meet his eye, or be commu- 

 nicated to him, might be induced to make in- 

 quiries into the losses which had taken place, and 

 prevent farther dilapidations and decay, in what 

 was, no doubt, once considered a valuable acqui- 

 sition to the inhabitants of the parish. 



Permit me to add, that in a room over the en- 

 trance porch of that venerable Saxon church St. 

 Peter in the East, at Oxford, there is a large lend- 

 ing library for the use of the parishioners, largely 

 contributed to by several of its recent and present 

 zealous incumbent, and to which church so much 

 has lately been done to remove former eye-sores, 

 and to render it one of the most chastely decorated, 

 and best attended parisli churches in the Uni- 

 versity. J. M. G. 



Worcester. 



In an old MS. headed 



" Articles, Conditions, and Covenants, upon which 

 the Provost and other officers of King's College in 

 Cambridge have admitted Michael Mills, Schollar of 

 the said College, to be Keeper of the Publick Library 

 of the said College." 



the seventh and last article is • — • 



" For the rendering his business about the library 

 more easy, each person that makes use of any book 

 or books in the said library, is required to sett 'em up 

 again decently, without entangling tlie chains ; by 

 which is signified to aH concerned that no person what- 

 soever, upon any pretence, is permitted to carry any 

 book out of the library to their chambers, or any other- 

 wise to be used as a private book, it being against the 

 statutes of our college in y' case provided." 



Under " Orders for regulating the publick library 

 of King's College," Order IV. : 



" All the fellows and scholars, and all other persons 

 allowed the use of the library, shall carefully set up 

 those they use in their proper place, without entangling 

 the chains." 



Michael Mills got King's in 1683. T. H. L. 



In the church of Wiggenhall, St. Mary the 

 Virgin, the following books may be seen fastened, 

 by chains to a wooden desk in the chancel ; Foxe's 

 Book of Martyrs, in three volumes, chained to the 

 same staple ; the Book of Homilies ; the Bible, 

 with calendar in rubrics; and the works of Bi- 

 shop Jewell, in one volume. The title-page is 

 lost from all the above : in other respects they are 

 in a fair state of preservation, considering their 



