“I... Steer Right Onward” 1654–1658August. Also, his treasury was empty and with every passing month the need for
money escalated.
In 1658 Milton had a good deal of diplomatic correspondence. As usual, a few
letters concerned the losses of merchants and ships,^129 but his pen was chiefly en-
gaged with more important matters. He wrote an enthusiastic letter for Cromwell
(April 2) congratulating Charles X of Sweden on the Treaty of Roeskilde and
celebrating his “moderation, equanimity, and prudence” (CPW V.2, 819–20). A
long letter (May 14) to the Grand Duke of Tuscany protests the denial of harbor
and supplies to English ships at Livorno (the duke did not want to offend Spain),
and ends by warning that the English will not accept protestations of friendship in
the face of overt injuries (CPW V.2, 823–5). One pair of letters, to Louis XIV and
to Mazarin (c. May 20), introduce Thomas, Viscount Fauconberg, the Protector’s
son-in-law, who was sent to congratulate Louis on the happy prospects for the
siege of Dunkirk (826–32); another pair (June 19) congratulates the king and Mazarin
on a notable victory there by the combined English and French forces;^130 and a final
pair (July 1) thanks both men for promptly fulfilling their promise to turn over
Dunkirk to England (844–7). Two letters on May 26 address in urgent terms the
renewed threat to the Waldensians from the Duke of Savoy, who is breaking the
1655 treaty. That to the King of France recounts new persecutions – many
Waldensians are cast out of their homes, forbidden to practice their religion, rav-
aged and slain by soldiers – and urges Louis to make them his subjects either by an
exchange of territory or by offering them asylum (833–5). That to the Protestant
Swiss cantons urges them to offer assistance to their near neighbors and prevent
“the tearing away of that most ancient root of a purer religion in these remnants of
primitive believers.” His hope, he says, is that the English and Swiss will turn “all
our resources and strength, all our zeal, to the defense of His church against the fury
and madness of her enemies” (836–7). In a letter to Charles X of Sweden (June 4)
Cromwell excuses his failure to offer military support in Sweden’s wars with the
comment that he has been “occupied with warding off our own dangers.”^131
Milton’s financial affairs were in pretty good order. On January 14, 1658 he was
able to lend £500 to Thomas Maundy, taking a mortgage on a property in Ken-
sington as security.^132 But his marital happiness with Katherine Woodcock was cut
short by her death on February 3. Edward Phillips reports that Katherine died in
childbed, though in fact she died more than three months after the birth of her
daughter (EL 71, 77); much later Milton’s granddaughter stated that she died from
consumption.^133 Phillips may have been out of touch and misinformed, or, more
likely, Katherine may have remained weak and ill after the birth so that the family
attributed her death to a “consumption” then contracted. The fact that Katherine’s
mother, Elizabeth Woodcock of Hackney, witnessed Milton’s January 14 transac-
tion with Maundy suggests that she may have been living with the Miltons during
her daughter’s illness. Katherine was buried on February 10 in St Margaret’s Church,
Westminster.^134 On March 17 the infant daughter died and was buried three days