The Life of John Milton, Volume 5 (of 7), 1654-1660 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 998 pages of information about The Life of John Milton, Volume 5 (of 7), 1654-1660.

The Life of John Milton, Volume 5 (of 7), 1654-1660 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 998 pages of information about The Life of John Milton, Volume 5 (of 7), 1654-1660.
has reference to that fact.  “Peter Julius Coyet,” it begins, “having performed his mission to us, and so performed it that he ought not to be dismissed by us without the distinction of justly earned praise, is on the point of returning to your Majesty”; and in three sentences more very handsome testimony is borne to Coyet’s ability and fidelity in the discharge of his duty, and his Swedish Majesty is again assured of the Protector’s high regard for himself.  “A constant course of victories against all enemies of the Church” is the Protector’s wish for him.—­Evidently, again, Cromwell, whatever might be the issue of the Treaty, was anxious to stand well with the Scandinavian; in corroboration of which we have this special paragraph in Whitlocke under date May 3:  “This day the Protector gave the honour of knighthood to MYNHEER COYET, the King of Sweden’s Resident here, who was now SIR PETER COYET, and gave him a fair jewel, with his Highness’s picture, and a rich gold chain:  it cost about L400.”  Coyet, therefore, had remained in London a fortnight after the date of Milton’s letter.[1] Indeed he remained a few days longer, assisting in the Treaty to the last.

[Footnote 1:  Whitlocke, IV. 227-255:  i.e. from Feb. 20, 1655-6, to May 3, 1656.]

(LXXV.) To Louis XIV.  OF FRANCE, May 14, 1656:[1]—­John Dethicke, Merchant, at present Lord Mayor of the City of London, and another merchant, named William Wakefield, have represented to his Highness that, as long ago as October 1649, a ship of theirs, called The Jonas of London, was taken at the mouth of the Thames by one White of Barking, acting under a commission from the son of the late King, and taken into Dunkirk, then governed for the French King by M. L’Estrades.  They had applied for satisfaction at the time, but had received a harsh answer from the governor.  Perhaps his French Majesty, on receipt of this letter, will direct justice to be done.

[Footnote 1:  Not dated in Printed Collection, Phillips, or Skinner Transcript; but dated by reference to it in a subsequent letter.]

(LXXVI.) TO THE STATES-GENERAL OF THE UNITED PROVINCES, May 1656:—­Also about a ship, but this time for the recovery of insurance on one.  She was The Good Hope of London, belonging to John Brown, Nicholas Williams, and others; she had been insured in Amsterdam; she had been taken by a ship of the Dutch East India Company on her way to the East Indies; the insurers had refused to pay the sum insured for; and for six years the poor owners had been hopelessly fighting the case in the Dutch courts.  It is a case of real hardship.
(LXXVII.) TO THE SAME, May 1656:—­Three times before letters have been written to the States-General in the interest of Thomas and William Lower, who had been left property in Holland by their father’s will, but have been unjustly kept out of the same by powerful persons there, and tossed from law-court to law-court.  This fourth application, it is hoped, may be more successful.

These thirteen State Letters, were there nothing else, would prove that in and after the winter of 1655-6 Milton’s services were again in request for ordinary office-work.  But they do not represent the whole of his renewed industry in that employment.

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The Life of John Milton, Volume 5 (of 7), 1654-1660 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.