respectable; attended Saint Giles' Church, and really didn't care to
cultivate the society of play-actors who kept bad hours, slept in the
theater, and had meal-tickets at half a dozen taverns.

There were six children born into the Milton family, three of whom died in
infancy. Of the survivors, the eldest was Anne, the second John, the third
Christopher.

Anne was strong, robust and hearty; John was slender, pale, with dreamy,
dark gray eyes and a head too big for his body; Christopher was so-so.
And, in passing, it is well to explain, once for all, that Christopher
made his way straight to the front in life, taking up his father's
business and being appointed a Court Officer. Thence he was promoted to
the Woolsack, became rich, cultivated a double chin, was knighted, and
passed out full of honors. The chief worriment and source of shame in the
life of Sir Christopher Milton came from the unseemly conduct of his
brother John, who was much given to producing political and theological
pamphlets. And once in desperation Sir Christopher Milton requested John
Milton to change his family name, that the tribe of Milton might be saved
the disgrace of having in it "a traducer of the State, an enemy of the
King, and a falsifier of Truth." Sir Christopher Milton was an excellent
and worthy man, and I must apologize for not giving him more attention at
this time; but lack of space forbids.

Sickly boys who are wise beyond their years are ever the pets of big
sisters, and the object of loving, jealous, zealous care on the part of
their mothers. John Milton talked like an oracle while yet a child, and
one biographer records that even as a babe he sometimes mildly reproved
his parents for levity.