Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 37.djvu/451

 [q. v.] An oak in Sherwood Forest, under which Millhouse and Spencer Hall took refuge during a storm, bears the name of the poet.

Millhouse married first, in 1818, Eliza Morley, by whom he had eight children; and secondly, in 1836, Marion Moore, by whom he had two children. He is described as steady, sober, and honest, but in his later years he looked upon any but literary work as derogatory to his talent. His poems show facility in versification and true feeling for nature. He handles the sonnet courageously, but his defective education and narrow experiences deprived him of largeness of view or ‘sustained strength.’

Millhouse's published works are: The ‘Sonnets and Songs of Robert Millhouse,’ a selection from his works with a biographical sketch, edited by J. P. Briscoe, was published at Nottingham in 1881. Some of his best pieces appear in ‘Sketches of Obscure Poets,’ London, 1833.
 * 1) ‘Blossoms,’ a selection of sonnets, with prefatory remarks by L. Booker, LL.D.; 2nd edit. 1823.
 * 2) ‘Vicissitude,’ a poem in four books; ‘Nottingham Park’ and other pieces, with preface, by J. Millhouse, Nottingham, 1821.
 * 3) ‘The Song of the Patriot,’ sonnets and songs, with brief memoir of the author by J. Millhouse, 1826.
 * 4) ‘Sherwood Forest, and other Poems,’ London, 1827.
 * 5) ‘The Destinies of Man,’ London, 1832, printed at Nottingham.



MILLIKEN or MILLIKIN, RICHARD ALFRED (1767–1815), poet, was born at Castlemartyr, co. Cork, on 8 Sept. 1767. His father, Robert Milliken, was of Scottish origin, and before coming to Cork, where he joined the established church, was a quaker. Richard was apprenticed to an attorney, and after being admitted and sworn he began business for himself in Cork. He was not much employed in his profession, and most of his time was devoted to painting, poetry, and music. In 1795 he contributed poetical pieces to the Cork ‘Monthly Miscellany,’ and in April 1797 started, jointly with his sister, who wrote some historical novels, a magazine entitled ‘The Casket,’ which appeared monthly till February 1798. On the breaking out of the rebellion he joined the Royal Cork volunteers, and became notorious for his ‘zeal and efficiency.’ In 1807 he published at Cork ‘The Riverside,’ a blank-verse poem and in 1810 a short tale, ‘The Slave of Surinam.’ In 1815 he laid the foundation of a society for the promotion of the fine arts in Cork, which followed an exhibition of his own and other local artists' drawings. He died 16 Dec. 1815, and was buried with a public funeral at Douglas, near Cork.

Milliken is now remembered chiefly as the author of the song ‘The Groves of Blarney, they look so charming,’ a burlesque of a doggerel ballad, ‘Castle Hyde,’ written by an itinerant poet named Barrett about 1790. There are various readings of the song, the rebellion having given rise to some scurrilous additions to the original, and a version is printed in ‘The Reliques of Father Prout.’ The song was frequently sung on the stage by the elder Charles Mathews. Other of Milliken's lyrics, which figure in Irish anthologies, are the ‘Groves of de Pool’ and ‘Had I the Tun which Bacchus used.’ Of several dramas and farces apparently never published, ‘Dugourney in Egypt, an afterpiece,’ was played with success at Sadler's Wells in 1805–6.

In 1823 a volume of ‘Poetical Fragments of the late Richard Alfred Milliken,’ with memoir and portrait, was published in London by subscription. Neither the ‘Groves of Blarney’ nor the ‘Groves of de Pool’ is included.



MILLINGEN, JAMES (1774–1845), archaeologist, brother of [q. v.], was second son of Michael Millingen, a Dutch merchant who had emigrated from Rotterdam to Batavia, and had married there Elizabeth Westflaten Coole, daughter of the Dutch governor of the island. The family sprang from the small town named Millingen in the north-west of Holland. Leaving Batavia, the elder Millingen settled in Queen's Square, Westminster, where James was born on 18 Jan. 1774. An elder brother died at the age of fourteen and was buried in the abbey cloisters. The epitaph was written by the poet Cowper, who was friendly with the family. James was educated at Westminster School, and soon attracted the attention of his father's friend and neighbour, [q. v.], who encouraged him to study numismatics. Millingen also studied the science of war, but his health prevented him from pursuing a design of entering the engineer corps. The father's business seriously decreased while James was still a youth, and when the family in 1790 migrated to Paris,