the Royal Society, and professor of rhetoric in Gresham-College, London, saw the above Mrs. Clark, Milton’s daughter at the house of one of her relations not long before her death, when she informed me, says that gentleman, ’That she and her sisters used to read to their father in eight languages, which by practice they were capable of doing with great readiness, and accuracy, tho’ they understood no language but English, and their father used often to say in their hearing, one tongue was enough for a woman.  None of them were ever sent to school, but all taught at home by a mistress kept for that purpose.  Isaiah, Homer, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses were books which they were often called to read to their father; and at my desire she repeated a great number of verses from the beginning of both these poets with great readiness.  I knew who she was upon the first sight of her, by the similitude of her countenance with her father’s picture.  And upon my telling her so, she informed me, that Mr. Addison told her the same thing, on her going to wait on him; for he, upon hearing she was living sent for her, and desired if she had any papers of her father’s, she would bring them with her, as an evidence of her being Milton’s daughter; but immediately on her being introduced to him, he said, Madam, you need no other voucher; your face is a sufficient testimonial whose daughter you are; and he then made her a handsome present of a purse of guineas, with a promise of procuring for her an annual provision for life; but he dying soon after, she lost the benefit of his generous design.  She appeared to be a woman of good sense, and genteel behaviour, and to bear the inconveniencies of a low fortune with decency and prudence.’

Her late Majesty Queen Caroline sent her fifty pounds, and she received presents of money from several gentlemen not long before her death.  Milton had a brother, Mr. Christopher Milton who was knighted and made one of the barons of the Exchequer in King James II’s reign, but he does not appear to have been a man of any abilities, at least if he had any, they are lost to posterity in the lustre of his brother’s.

There is now alive a grand-daughter of this Christopher Milton, who is married to one Mr. John Lookup, advocate at Edinburgh, remarkable for his knowledge of the Hebrew tongue.  The lady, whom I have often seen, is extremely corpulent, has in her youth been very handsome, and is not destitute of a poetical genius.  She has writ several copies of verses, published in the Edinburgh Magazines; and her face bears some resemblance to the picture of Milton.

Mr. Wood, and after him Mr. Fenton, has given us the following description of Milton’s person.

“He was of a moderate size, well-proportioned, and of a ruddy complexion, light brown hair, and had handsome features, yet his eyes were none of the quickest.  When he was a student in Cambridge, he was so fair and clear, that many called him the Lady of Christ’s-College.  His deportment was affable, and his gait erect and manly, bespeaking courage and undauntedness; while he had his sight he wore a sword, and was well skilled in using it.  He had a delicate tuneable voice, an excellent ear, could p[l]ay on the organ, and bear a part in vocal and instrumental music."[6]