By the Rev. W. P. S. Bingham. 



99 



" Daughter to that good Earl, once President 

 Of England's Council, and her Treasury, 

 Who lived in hoth, unstained with gold or fee, 

 And left them both, more in himself content, 

 Till sad the breaking of that Parliament 

 Broke him, as that dishonest victory 

 At Chaeronea, fatal to liberty, 

 Killed with report that old man eloquent. 

 Though later born than to have known the days 

 Wherein your father flourished, yet by you, 

 Madam, methinks I see him living yet : 

 So well your words his noble virtues praise, 

 That all both judge you to relate them true, 

 And to possess them, honoured Margaret." 



He left by his will £20 to the poor of Westbury, and £20 for 

 the repair of the bells. His widow, still young, beautiful, and 

 fascinating, re-married Ashburnham the Cofferer, and lived an 

 eventful life through the Commonwealth. I had collected some 

 notes of the lives of the succeeding Earls, but this paper has been 

 too long already. Heywood still stands, and its present occupant 

 is a worthy successor of William of Westbury and James, Earl of 

 Marlborough, being the third of the eminent judges who have spent 

 their holidays under the shadow of its trees. As you pass that 

 house to-morrow you will be struck by the beauty of its situation, 

 and will remember that it was once the residence of the " good 

 Earl" whose praise was sung by Milton. 



admirable wit and good sense, had a particular esteem for our author, and took 

 much delight in his company, as likewise did her husband, Capt. Hobson ; and 

 what regard Milton had for her appears from a sonnet that he wrote to her, 

 extant among his occasional poems. Life of Milton, T. Burt. 



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