“Teach the Erring Soul” 1669–1674customarily wore a sword with a small silver hilt (EL 203). Despite the uselessness
of a sword to a blind man, Milton clearly wished to hold on to that perquisite of a
gentleman. Richardson also comments on his appearance and his life at Bunhill
during his last years:
I have heard... that he Us’d to Sit in a Grey Coarse Cloath Coat at the Door of his
House, near Bun-hill Fields Without Moor-gate, in Warm Sunny Weather to Enjoy the
Fresh Air, and So, as well as in his Room, received the Visits of People of Distinguish’d
Parts, as well as Quality. and very Lately I had the Good Fortune to have Another
Picture of him from an Ancient Clergy-man in Dorsetshire, Dr. Wright; He found him
in a Small House, he thinks but One Room on a Floor; in That, up One pair of Stairs,
which was hung with a Rusty Green, he found John Milton, Sitting in an Elbow
Chair, Black Cloaths, and Neat enough, Pale, but not Cadaverous, his Hands and
Fingers Gouty, and with Chalk Stones. among Other Discourse He exprest Himself
to This Purpose; that was he Free from the Pain This gave him, his Blindness would
be Tolerable. (EL 203–4)Never, Edward Phillips states, was the parade of foreign visitors “more frequent
than in this place, almost to his dying day” (EL 76).^4
In March or early April, 1670 an eminent member of the House of Lords and “a
chief Officer of State” reportedly came to consult with him on the subject of di-
vorce.^5 At issue was a private Bill to enable John Manners, Lord Roos, to remarry
after divorcing a wife accused of infidelity. But that case was a stalking horse for
efforts to find a way for Charles II to divorce his childless queen and remarry,
thereby perhaps producing an heir and preventing the succession of his Roman
Catholic brother James. Supported by a phalanx of archbishops, bishops, and crypto-
Catholic peers, James strongly opposed the Roos Bill, but many Protestant peers
supported it. Charles signed it on April 11, though he made no use of it. Milton
would certainly have tried to help. The peer who came to him was probably Arthur
Annesley, Earl of Anglesey who, according to Edward Phillips, “came often here to
visit him as very much coveting his society and converse; as likewise others of the
Nobility, and many persons of eminent quality” (EL 76). Milton and Annesley had
much in common. Anthony à Wood describes Annesley as “a man of superior
tastes and abilities,” “much conversant in books,” and having “the command of a
very smooth, sharp, and keen pen.” He was a “great Calvinist” and favored “the
dissenting party,” but was so free in his sympathies with those of very different
persuasions as to leave in doubt where he stood on religious questions.^6 By others,
though, Milton was still being ridiculed for his views on divorce and, curiously
enough, education. John Eachard remarked snidely: “I am not I’ll assure you, any
of those occasional Writers, that missing preferment in the University can presently
write you their new ways of Education; or being a little tormented with an ill
chosen Wife, set forth the Doctrine of Divorce to be truly Evangelical.”^7
No doubt Milton took special pleasure that spring in a glowing tribute to Paradise