Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/453

 10 s. VIIL NOV. 9, loo:.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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CROMWELL AND MILTON : A FAMOTJ PICTURE (10 S. viii. 22, 158). There is another picture, though perhaps not so wel known as that referred to by Mr. Augustini Birrell. which, while it does not prove tha " Cromwell and Milton were ever in the same room together," does in a measure support the very natural popular belie that they not only met, but also were in the habit of meeting, at any rate on occasions of public importance.

This picture is entitled ' Cromwell re- fusing the Crown of England, A.D. 1657, and the fine steel engraving of it before me (by Samuel Billing ?) is inscribed as

'"from the original picture in the possession of Frank Crossley, Esq., M.P., Belle Vue, Halifax, to whoir this plate is respectfully dedicated by his obligee Servants, Shaw & Sons."

The painter was T. H. Maguire ; and the publishers, Shaw & Sons, Nottingham ; Hay ward & Leggatt, 79, Cornhill, and J. & B. Jennings, 62, Cheapside, London.

The Protector is standing on a dais in front of the throne in the centre of a large pillared room. His right hand is on hi heart. The crown, mace, and other insignia of royalty are upon a table in the fore- ground, on the left of which is an open Bible, to which the Chancellor is pointing. At the other end of the table (to the right) is seated John Milton, described in the index plate as " Latin Secretary to Cromwell." He is writing, and his sword, hat, and cloak are near by. Between forty and fifty other people are grouped around, among them Sir John Glynn (Chancellor), Sir Thomas Wid- drington (Speaker), Sir Richard Onslow. the Hon. William Lenthall Lord Lisle and Col. Pride.

My copy of the large engraving is un- dated. It belonged to my father before I was born, and has been in my possession for many years. I have resided in India (with a few brief intervals of visits to England) for some twenty years, and this may account for my not having met with many copies. Is the original still in existence ? and if so, where ?

The picture is an ambitious one, but I may remark that, on the assumption that the people at the back of the room are of normal stature, those in the foreground are giants. WILMOT CORFIELD.

Calcutta.

In addition to the argument supplied by MR. McGovERN from Masson's Life of Milton ' in favour of a personal acquaint- ance having existed between the poet and

the Lord Protector, the following quota- tion from the same work may be of interest :

" Quartered at Charing Cross, and going daily to the Council room, first at Derby House, and then in Whitehall, in the midst of all the political stir of Westminster, Milton was necessarily more in public society than had hitherto been his habit. Through his official position itself he must have formed many acquaintances and some interesting friendships. Not one of the Councillors in constant attendance but must have had a daily word or two with the Latin Secretary, and among those who became more intimate with him, in addition to President Bradshaw, we have reason for including Cromwell, Fairfax, Vane, Whitelocke, Pickering, and Alderman Penningtori. As Cromwell was bound for Ireland, there was to be an interruption for some time of any personal intercourse with him [author's italics] ; but, save for the week or so spent in pursuit of the Army Levellers, Crom- well had hardly missed a Council meeting through the first three months of Milton's familiarity with the Council room. Nor if he had read nothing of Milton's before, can he have avoided reading, or looking into, the ' Tenure of Kings and Magis- trates,' the first published justification as that was of the actions in which he had been chief, or the ' Observations on Ormond's Peace with the Irish,' which appertained to the business now peculiarly his, and in which there was that splendid compli- ment to himself in reply to Ormond's insult. ' ' Life of Milton,' iv. 105.

Masson is also of opinion that Cromwell's appointment of Andrew Marvell in 1653 as tutor to his ward William Upton (who before his father's death was formally betrothed to the Protector's youngest daughter), follow- ing as it did upon Milton's panegyric in the

Defensio Secunda,' and the fact that Mar- veil was an intimate friend of Milton's and was later assigned to him as assistant secre- tary at Whitehall, point to the conclusion that Marvell owed this promotion (which his letters to Cromwell showed he esteemed most highly) to the recommendation of Milton or Fairfax, but probably to the former (iv. 619).

Again, in 1743 a volume of 180 pages of original letters and State papers addressed to Cromwell between 1649 and 1658 was published. This is known to have been in bhe possession of Milton, who gave i t to Thomas Ellwood, from whom it passed ultimately nto the hands of John Nickolls [?], a mem-

er of the Society of Antiquaries. This ollection consists of several documents of a very private character, some on military matters being in cipher. Most of them were written after Milton grew blind, so that their aeing in his possession is all the more sur- prising. Masson's conclusion is that they were confided to the poet for the production of an historical work on Cromwell, and that