“For the Sake of Liberty” 1652–1654Monsieur Salmasius his Wives Gentlewoman, and getting her with Child.”^74 That
newsletter also printed a witty though untranslatable Latin epigram that was making
the rounds:
Galli e Concubitu Gravidam, Te, Pontia, Mori
Quis bene moratam, moriger amque neget?The distich transposes her nickname Bontia to Pontia (with scandalous allusion to a
Roman woman notorious for infanticide), and also plays naughtily on Latin stems:
morus (black, Gallican, a cock, a mulberry tree, bearing black fruit, a French fool;
and moriger (well behaved, obedient, accommodating, be-moored, be-fooled, More-
bearing, fool-bearing, etc.).^75 Milton also seems to have received information from
foreign contacts regarding charges of heresy and licentious behavior against More at
Geneva and about the legal and ecclesiastical inquiries into these matters.^76 Some
offshoots of the Salmasius controversy were reprinted in 1652: John Phillips’s
Responsio three times and the Pro Rege... Apologia twice.
As the year turned, Milton heard from two college acquaintances who had
sought his influence in furthering their careers. Richard Heath, who had entered
Christ’s College in 1631 and whom Milton had recommended the previous year
for his post as Vicar of St Alkmund’s, Shrewsbury, wrote a courteous and admir-
ing letter (now lost) expressing gratitude for Milton’s assistance with his studies.^77
Milton’s reply (December 13, 1652) commends Heath as an upright pastor and
worthy citizen with right-minded views on church and state, and welcomes his
expressed desire to live “somewhere near me, so that we might have more fre-
quent and more pleasant intercourse of life and studies” (CPW IV.2, 855). After
graciously complimenting Heath’s “considerable progress” in Latin, he agrees to
his request to correspond in English; Heath’s specialty was oriental languages, and
he evidently felt at some disadvantage with a master Latinist. No further letters or
reports of visits survive, but the relationship may have continued; the men shared
an interest in Brian Walton’s polyglot Bible, which Heath later helped with and
Milton supported in the council.^78 The other letter, dated January 15, 1653, was
from Andrew Sandelands, a fellow of Christ’s during part of Milton’s residency. A
former adherent of the Scots royalist General Montrose, he sought Milton’s sup-
port for his elaborate scheme to supply the English navy with timber, masts, and
tar from the fir trees of Scotland.^79 He also made the somewhat bizarre request
that Milton would “procure to mee the gift of that weatherbeaten scull of my
Noble and truly honoble patron.” Montrose’s skull had for three years been
mounted on a spike over Edinburgh prison (CPW IV.2, 856–8). Milton’s reply is
lost. No doubt he turned Sandeland’s several papers over to the committees al-
ready looking into his proposal and he probably found some polite way to avoid
meddling with Montrose’s skull.^80 On March 29 Sandelands wrote to Milton
again, complaining that government delays in implementing his project had left