(Vol. viii., pp. 12. 134. 200. 375. 452. 471. 544. 594.)
GARLICHITHE is again on the wrong scent. In his first communication on this
subject, he allowed himself to go astray by mistaking Randle Minshull the
_grandfather_ for Randle Minshull the _son_; and now, with the like
fatality, he fails to discriminate between Richard Minshull the _uncle_,
and Richard Minshull the _brother_, of Elizabeth Milton. A second
examination of my Reply in Vol. viii., p. 200., will suffice to show him
that Richard Minshull, the party to the deed there quoted, was named by me
as the _brother_, and not the _uncle_, of Milton's widow, and that
therefore his argument, based on disparity of age, &c., falls to the
ground. On the other hand, Richard Minshull of Chester, to whom the letter
alluded to was addressed, was the brother of Randle Minshull of Wistaston,
and by the same token, uncle of Elizabeth Milton, and of Richard Minshull,
her brother and co-partner in the deed already referred to.
GARLICHITHE, and all others who have taken an interest in this discussion,
will now, I trust, see clearly that there has been nothing adduced by
either MR. MARSH or myself inconsistent with ages or dates; but that, on
the contrary, all our premises and conclusions are borne out by evidence
clear, irreproachable, and incontestable.
All objections being now, as I conceive, fully combated and disposed of,
the substance of our investigations may be summed up in a very few words.
The statement of Pennant, adopted by all succeeding writers, to the effect
that Elizabeth, the widow of John Milton, was a daughter of Sir Edward
Minshull of Stoke, is clearly proved to be a fiction. It has been farther
proved, from the parish registers, as well as from bonds and other
documentary evidence, that she was, without doubt, the daughter of Randle
Minshull of Wistaston, a village about three miles from Nantwich; that she
was the cousin of Milton's familiar friend, Dr. Paget, and as such became
entitled to a legacy under the learned Doctor's will, and that she is
expressly named by Richard Minshull as his sister in the deed before
quoted.