66 Their vocal worship to the The fruit of that forbidden tree." resounding." quire." 66 66 Thro' Eden took their solitary way."* Across the top are scenes from the life of our Lord-The Annunciation, The Nativity, His Baptism, and The Temptation in the Wilderness, with inscriptions from "Paradise Regained: "-"I sent thee to the Virgin pure.” "In the inn was left no better room." himself among them was baptized." "The Tempter foiled in all his wiles."+ At the top, in the tracery openings, are jubilant angels, and at the apex figures of Adam and our Lord, representing the first and second Adam. "He At the base of the window under one of the panels is the inscription : : To the glory of God: and in memory of the immortal Poet, JOHN MILTON, whose Wife and Child lie buried here, this Window is dedicated by George W. Childs, of Philadelphia. 1888. Below the adjoining panel to the right are Whittier's lines:: The New World honours him whose lofty plea For England's freedom made her own more sure; Whose song, immortal as its theme, shall be Their common freehold while both worlds endure. J. G. WHITTIER. Regarding these lines the Quaker Poet wrote to Mr. Childs : "My dear Friend, am glad to comply with thy request and that of our friend Archdeacon Farrar. I hope the lines may be satisfactory. It is difficult to put all that could be said of Milton in four lines. How very beautiful and noble thy benefactions are! Every one is a * Book i. 315; ix. 198; i. 2; xii. 649. testimony of goodwill. I think even such a scholar as Dr. Farrar will not object to my use of the word 'freehold.' Milton himself uses it in the same way in his prose writings, viz., 'I too have my chapter and freehold of rejoicing.' "I am, with high respect and esteem, thy aged friend, "JOHN G. WHITTIER." On the day after the unveiling, on Sunday the 19th February, Archdeacon Farrar preached a special sermon in St. Margaret's. The hymn preceding it was Milton's version of the 136th Psalm, written in his sixteenth year: "Let us with a gladsome mind Praise the Lord, for he is kind." and the text was: "Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire." Lam. ii. 7. After referring to the season-that of Lent-to the noble associations and great men commemorated in that church, to Milton's connection with it, and to the appropriateness of the Window being the gift of an American, the preacher dwelt on the life of Milton as conspicuously displaying the four great cardinal virtues into which Virtue has been divided-prudence and temperance, fortitude and justice. This sermon, which is printed in Mr. Davis's book and occupies twenty pages therein, is, whether we regard the chasteness of the style, the eloquence of the language, or its breadth of thought, probably the finest monograph that has yet been composed or spoken on Milton. In one sentence his character is summed up:- -"Were I to search the whole range of English History for a type of Christian nobleness, who might inspire our youths with the glory of a distinguished life, and the magnanimity of a lofty character, I know not one in whom was better manifested the indefinable distinction, the life-long selfrestraint, the intense purpose, the grave selfrespect, the lofty disdain for all which was sordid and ignoble which marks the sincerity of the sons of God. He was, as Wordsworth says of him, 'Soul awful-if this world Has ever held an awful soul."" Allhallows Church. On the spot where Allhallows Church stood the street has recently been rebuilt; and in the front wall of one of the houses there is a bust of Milton, and underneath this inscription: : Milton Born in Bread St. Baptized in Church of Allhallows Which stood here ante The Portraits of Milton. A very full account of the portraits of Milton is to be found in a paper by Mr. J. F. * Marsh, and published in the "Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire," entitled, "On the Engraved Portraits and Pretended Portraits of Milton,' Liverpool, T. Brakell, 1860. It contains twelve plates from the engravings of Milton. The sumptuous edition of Milton's " Poetical Works," in 3 vols., folio, published by Boydell in 1794-1797, contains many beautiful engravings; four being portraits of Milton-that by Jansen of him as a boy of ten; an engraving from the portrait taken of him at twenty-one; one from the drawing by Vertue, apparently based on the Faithorne likeness of 1670; and an absurd-looking portrait, with an imperial, by Van Plas, which Marsh classes with the pretended portraits. In the Second Edition of " Paradise Lost," 1674, there is a good likeness (after Faithorne's) by Dolle, and underneath is-“Ætat 63, 1671." There is also a chapter on the portraits in that remarkable work, Ramblings in the Elucidation of the Autograph of Milton," by S. Leigh Sotheby, 1861. 66 Milton's Cottage, Chalfont St. Giles. Chalfont St. Giles is now much more accessible than it was a few years ago, as since 1889 a branch of the Metropolitan Railway runs from Gower Street to Chalfont Road, just three miles from Chalfont. It is a pleasant walk, and conveyances can be had in the village to meet or return to the trains. The village is very picturesque, and contains many ⚫ houses and cottages which must be very little altered from what they looked when Milton made this his retreat in the year of the plague. The Cottage, the "pretty box" that Ellwood took for him, is the last house in the village on the left-hand side of the road leading to Beaconsfield. It stands at right angles to the road, the entrance being at the side. To the right of the door is the room which tradition has assigned as that occupied by Milton; it is about twenty feet by fifteen, and the ceiling is not more than seven feet high. It is now preserved by trustees, and furnished with some old articles of furniture— an old oak and walnut table, old oak stools, old dog-irons, kettle and hangers; five small cannon-balls found in the roof of the church in the rectory garden, supposed to have been fired by Cromwell's troops; and six ancient pikes, formerly kept in the belfry of the church. In a glass case are some old editions of Milton's works, and on the wall three portraits of Milton. There is also a copy of "Paradise Lost," illustrated by Gustave Doré, of Milton's Poetical Works by Masson, and Sotheby's Ramblings in the elucidation of the Autograph of Milton." 66 The Church of Chalfont St. Giles, which is very old, is in the centre of the village and not far from the Cottage. In it there is a mural tablet with the following inscription:- From Heaven He to his own a Comforter will send, The promise of the Father, who shall dwell, His Spirit, within them, and the law of faith Working through love, upon their hearts shall write, I, who erewhile the happy Garden sung, THESE PASSAGES WERE WRITTEN BY JOHN MILTON WHILST RESIDING IN THIS VILLAGE, A.D. 1665. |