400 M I L 
ceding, was feme time after the death of Stefagoras, who 
died without iflue, fent by the Athenians with one ftiip 
to take pofiefiion of the Cherfonefus. At his arrival Mil- 
tiades appeared mournful, as if lamenting the recent death 
of his brother. The principal inhabitants of the country 
vifited the new governor to condole with him ; but their 
confidence in his fincerity proved fatal to them. Mil- 
tiades feized their perl'ons, and made himfelf abfolute in 
Cherfonefus. To ftrengthen himfelf, he married Hege- 
fipyla, the daughter of Olorus the king of the Thracians. 
His triumph was fhort. In the third year of his govern¬ 
ment, his dominions were threatened by an invafion of 
the Scythian Nomades, whom Darius had fome time be¬ 
fore irritated by entering their country. He fled before 
them ; but, as their hoftilities were of fliort duration, he 
was foon reftored to his kingdom. Three years after, he 
left Cherfonefus, and let fail for Athens, where he was 
received with great applaufe. He was prefent at the cele¬ 
bration of the battle of Marathon; and his exploits thence¬ 
forward became a part of the general hiftory of Greece : 
lee vol. viii. p. 854., 5. He died a prifoner, about 489 
years before the Chriftian era. His body was ranfomed 
by his fon Cimon ; who afterwards greatly diftinguiflied 
himfelf: fee the fame article, vol. viii. p. 867-9. The ac- 
cufations againll Miltiades were probably the more rea¬ 
dily believed by his countrymen, when they remembered 
how he made himfelf abfolute in Cherfonefus ; and, in 
condemning the barbarity of the Athenians towards a 
general who was the fource of their military profperity, 
we muft remember the jealoufy which ever reigns among 
a free and independent people, and how watchful they are 
in defence of the natural rights which they fee wrefted 
from others by violence. Cornelius Nepos has written 
the life of Miltiades the fon of Cimon ; but his hiftory is 
incongruous and unintelligible, from his confounding 
the aCtions of the fon of Cimon with thofe of the fon of 
Cypfelus. Greater reliance is to be placed on the narra¬ 
tion of Herodotus, whofe veracity is confirmed, and who 
was indifputably better informed, and more capable of 
giving an account of the life and exploits of men who 
Hourilhed in his age, and of which he could fee the living 
monuments. Herodotus was born about fix years after 
the famous battle of Marathon; but C. Nepos, as a writer 
of the Augultan age, flourilhed about 450 years after the 
age of the father of hiftory. Herodot. lib. 4 & 6. 
MIL'TON, a town of United America, in the ftate of 
Virginia, on the Rivanha : 150 miles weft of Richmond. 
MIL'TON, a town of New York, near Saratoga.—A 
town of New York, on the north-eaft coaft of lake Cayuga. 
MIL'TON, a town of Pennfylvania: 220 miles weft- 
north-weft of Walhington. 
MIL'TON, a town of the ftate of Vermont, on the eaft 
coaft of Lake Champlain. 
MIL'TON, a town of the ftate of Maflachufetts; feven 
miles fouth of Bofton. 
MIL'TON, a village in the county of York, on the 
Swale: two miles eaft of Boroughbridge. 
MIL'TON (Great and Little), villages near Thame in 
Oxfordlhire. At the former flxteen houfes were burnt 
down on the 19th of July, 1762. Potter’s clay is dug 
plentifully near the latter. 
MIL'TON, or Abbey Milton, a market-town in the 
county of Dorfet, fo called on account of an abbey found¬ 
ed here by king Athelftan, laid to be in expiation of the 
murder of his brother Edwin. Adjoining to the abbey 
is the church, which is yet of a great fize, but was once 
as large as mod cathedrals. It is a very fine Gothic build¬ 
ing, and has a fretwork ceiling in ftone, remarkably light; 
and in it are feveral ancient monuments. The fituation 
of thefe edifices is very fine ; it is a regular knole, which 
fwells boldly in the middle of the grand amphitheatre, 
formed by the furrounding hills j an inftance out of many 
of the judgment with which the monks chofe their fitu- 
ations. Milton has a market on Tuefday; and an almf- 
houfe for fix people, who have 12s. a-week, and three 
MIL 
yards of cloth for a gown, one pair of Ihoes and ftdekings, 
and 10s. each, on St. Thomas’s day yearly. Here is alfo 
a free-fchool. It is eight miles fouth-well of Blandford, 
and 112 weft-fouth-weft of London. Lat. 50.49. N. Ion. 2. 
25. W. 
Milton Abbey (or at leaft the fite of it, as it is all re¬ 
built except the great hall) is the feat of lord Milton, 
who has made many improvements of the moft capital 
kind, which fo happily unite with the beauties of the 
ground as to render the whole uncommonly fine. The 
great peculiarity of the place is a remarkable winding val¬ 
ley, three miles long, furrounded on every fide by hills, 
whofe variety is very great. It is all lawn ; and, as the 
furface has many fine fwells, and other gentle inequalities, 
the effeCt is every-where beautiful. The hills, on one 
fide, are thickly covered with wood, from the edging of 
the vale itfelf, quite fpreading over the tops of the hills, 
Thefe continued 1 weeps of hanging w'oods are very noble. 
In fome places they form bold projections, which break 
forward in a pleafing ftyle ; in others, they withdraw, and 
open fine boloms ot wood, which are as piCturefque as 
can be eafily imagined. Throughout the whole, the union 
of lawn and wood is admirable. On the other fide of the 
vale, the hills are partly bare ; but are clumped with new 
plantations, and fcattered with Angle trees and thorns, 
contrafting the continued woods on the other hills in the 
boldeft manner. The riding that lurrounds the amphi¬ 
theatre riles the hill on this fide, and, Ikirting the edge of 
it in the way to the houfe, looks down the vale, and has 
a full command of the vaft range of woods which hang 
on the other fides of the other hills. One of the views is 
uncommonly fine : it is a projection of the oppofite hill j 
the Hoping bend fringed with a filleting of wood, and the 
crown of the hill a lawn fcattered with Angle trees gently 
hanging to the eye: a landfcape truly pleating. In other 
places, you look down fteep winding hollows, in which 
romantic clumps of wood leem fwallowed up by the im¬ 
pending hills. On riling the hill, if you turn the other 
way, towards the head of the vale, you look down from 
without the wall, commanding all the waves of the lawn 
at the bottom, which form a moft pleafing feenery, and 
look full into a vaft theatre of wood, which terminates 
the vale : the view nobly romantic. From the top of the 
hill, full northwards, is a very great profpeCt over the vale 
of Blackmoor: innumerable inclofures are fpread forth 
to the eye, the whole being bounded by diftant hills. 
Few great houfes have a finer approach : his lordlhip 
has cut and: formed a fpacious road, fix miles in length, 
through his grounds, leading from Blandford, London, &c. 
It pafles chiefly through his vaft woods, which, as they 
cover the fides of hills, open in various places, and let in 
moft agreeable views of the neighbouring and the diftant 
country. All the home-grounds are walled in, which 
include a circuit of fixteen miles; and the tops of the 
hills are planted with a great variety of trees, to the 
amount of five hundred acres. The whole of thefe works 
are conducted in a great ftyle, with equal tafte and fpirit: 
they are an ornament to the whole country, and do ho¬ 
nour to their noble proprietor. Wilkes's Britijh Diredory, 
Appendix. 
MIL'TON, a village and parifti in the county of Kent, 
forms the eaft fide of the town of Gravefend, with which 
it was incorporated in the reign of queen Elizabeth. See 
Gravesend, vol. viii. p. 806. 
Milton church is fituated at the end of an agreeable en- 
clofed walk to the eaft of the town of Gravefend. The 
attention which the pariftiioners have for fome years paft 
paid both to the prefervation and decent appearance of this 
edifice is deferving of commendation. Over the porch 
and clofe to the road leading from Gravefend to Rocheiter, 
they have ereCted a fouth dial, weft eight degrees, with 
its furniture j conftrufted by Mr. Giles, mafterof Gravef¬ 
end free-fchool. A concile defeription of the various 
lines on this dial may not be unacceptable. The curve 
lines (which are conic leCtions) that run acrofs the dial, 
t are 
