Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-02-10
MILLIONS GRAVE UNKNOWN.
story of Alleged Dissertation of His
Tomb Recalled.

At the present time, when the pro
posed Druce elimination looms SO large
" among the topics of the day, it may
not be ont Of place to unearth, so 70
speak. the little known story Of the sup-
posed discovery Of the remains of Sill
ton. Aug. 4, 1890, the neishborhood Of
st. Giles. Cripplegate. was thrown into
a state of excitement and indignation
by the news that the body Of Milton,
buried just 11G years before had dur
ing some repairs to the church been
found beneath a desk in the chanceL
The corpse was in a leadcn coffin,
which was broken open by disturbing
ghouls. and the remains were exposed
to view. hundreds Of curious visitors
crowding to see the CHASTITY sight Two
vestrymen sold locks Of the hair and
some Of the teeth Of the venerated poet.
disposing also Of his lower jaw. his
right hand and his ribs
The ubiquitous journalist stepped
forward and forthwith wrote pam
phlet upon the subject. describing the
corpse and its treatment, and at once
as in these days. the inevitable news
paper controversy arose Sides were
taken. and The St James Chronicle
of the period boldly disputed that it
was Millions corpse at all and tabUlat-
ed a number Of reasons to bear out that
contention.
The time at which poet becomes
famous after his demise may roasona-
bly, be computed at a hundred years
Shakespeare was thought little Of until
that period had elapsed. and it was
nearly a century before Burns fame
may be said to have ripened, and here
it is clear that Milton had not been
much in mems minds from his death 10
this disintermcnt. for his place Of So
pulture was actually unknown. Forty
years before Bishop Newton had en-
deavored to discover it. but could obtain
10 information whatever rs to its
whereabouts And so it would seem
certain that the unfortunate odd man
eloquent" had died almost "unwcpt.
unhonorcd and uusung.
One Of the reasons against it being
the body Of the poet. as given by the
above paper, was that che was very
poor and much emaciatod ut the time
of his death and Tint it was most I'M
likely that his rapacious wife, who OPP
pressed her husbands children while he
was living and cheated them after
death. would or could have provided
an expensive leaden coffin in which TO
inter him.
From this and more cogent reasons
lovers Of the glorious Milton may rest
pretty sure that his bones were not
only disturbed 10y proxy but that it
was another s body which thus received
the veneration Of some and the dosecra-
ton of others.
The body disinterrad was that Of a
small person. with dark brown hair
whereas Milton. being O. at his death.
had gray hair The brow too. was
small and low. while that Of the poet
was broad and high. The teeth. again,
were small white and even. which
could not have been the case with ILL
ton. a doctor too, gave it as bis opin-
ion that the corpse was that Of a Young
femal,, although iy reason Of the ray
ages Of decay he could not DE certain
One other argument cited by tie o1-
ponent paper. which has q touch Of
pathos in it, reduces the matter to a
certainty that the remains were not
those Of our great singer Poor Milton.
in addition to his blindness and his
wife 5 neglect suffered agonies Of CONT.
and his fingers were full Of chalk
stones. while the disinterred skeleton
had small, smooth finger bones. with
no vestige Of such Disagreement
So the lovers Of the memory Of the
author Of Paradise Lost" may he as
5ured that Millions remains iostil IN
disturbed in-what VIII De news to the
vast majority of his aanircrs-some
unknown grave within the precincts Of
the old church Of ST. Giles. London
Nail