Notes to Chapter 119 Wall, an erstwhile student of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, wrote from Caversham.
The original of his letter is also lost, but a copy made by Revd Josiah Owen of Rochdale
is in BL Add Ms 4292, ff. 264v–265v. The date, May 26, is almost certainly a mistake for
March 26. As Austin Woolrych notes (“Introduction,” CPW VII, 83), had Wall written
after May 7 his Commonwealth sympathies would have led him to refer to the Rump’s
restoration. His language suggests that the Protectorate “Court” is still in being.
20 Woolrych, “Introduction,” CPW VII, 62–3.
21 To the Officers and Soldiers of the Armies of England, Scotland, and Ireland... The Humble
Petition and Advice of Divers well-Affected to the good Old Cause... [from] Southwark
(London, 1659, April 27), 7; cf. The Humble Remonstrance... of Major General Goffs
Regiment (London, 1659, April 26), 2; The Good Old Cause Explained, Revived, and
Asserted. And the Long Parliament Vindicated (London, 1659).
22 The Levellers called for a new, freely elected parliament in The Honest Design: or The
True Commonwealths-man (London, 1659, c. May 2); and The Humble Desires of a Free
Subject (London, 1659, c. May 2). See also [James Harrington], Pour Enclouer le Canon
(London, 1659, c. May 2).
23 A letter to Mazarin (February 19) asks his favor to Lady Richmond, who intended to
reside in France with her young son. Another (February 22) to Mazarin follows up a
previous letter seeking payment to Peter Pett for his ship seized and sold. A letter to
Portugal (February 23) congratulates the king on a recent victory over the Spanish,
“our common enemy,” and appeals for payment owed to Alexander Bunce for the hire
of his ship; another, in April, asks reparations for a shipowner whose vessel was seized
(CPW V.2, 862–6). In most collections both letters are misaddressed to John IV, who
died in November, 1656, but are properly addressed to Alphonso VI in the Lünig
collection; see Leo Miller, “Milton’s State Letters: The Lünig Version,” N&Q 215
(1970), 412–14. Two letters to the Grand Duke of Tuscany are dated April 19: the first
asks that a ship and goods owned by Sir John Dethicke and others be seized, as the ship’s
captain was thought to be defrauding them; the second letter asks restoration of mer-
chandise seized by Italian creditors from English traders (867–9).
24 It asked that he allow David Fithy to fulfill a contract to export hemp from Riga,
normally forbidden (870). In most collections both letters to Portugal are misaddressed.
25 The book was Lettre à ses Amis de la Communion Romaine (Montauban, 1651); possibly
he also sent his Declaration de Jean de Labadie... Contenant les raisons que l’ont obligé à
quitter la Communion de l’Eglise Romaine (Montauban, 1650). Milton’s letter refers to
their mutual friend “our Durie” – almost certainly Giles Dury, not John (CPW VII,
508–10).
26 Remarkably enough, from Pierre Du Moulin of Nîmes, the father of the true author of
Clamor.
27 The appointment was to the Somerset House Chapel, formerly served by Jean d’Espagne
who had died, Milton reports, “a few days ago.” The April 21 date on Milton’s letter to
Labadie is surely wrong, since Jean d’Espagne died on April 25. Probably, as Parker (I,
525) suggests, this is a copyist’s mistake for April 27.
28 A Declaration of the Officers of the Army, inviting the Members of the Long Parliament to return
to the Exercise and Discharge of their Trust (London, 1659, May 6), 2–3. In meetings with
republicans at Vane’s house some officers tried to preserve a figurehead position for
Richard, but were flatly refused.
Notes to Chapter 11