164
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. XIL AUG. 29, im.
I. 6 from foot, in 6th edit.) being rendered by
" The Unknown Land of Australia." "Terra
Australia" in Burton's days included more
than the modern Australia. See the late
Prof. E. E. Morris's interesting article on
Australia and Australian in his 'Austral
English ' (1898). EDWAKD BENSLY.
The University, Adelaide, South Australia. (To be continued.)
THE UNITED STATES AND ST. MAR-
GARET'S, WESTMINSTER.
(Seea^e, pp. 1,63, 123.)
IT was eventually decided that the dedi- catory inscription on the Milton window should not be from the pen of Dr. Farrar, but by the American Quaker poet John Green- leaf Whittier. The work proceeded satis- factorily, and was ready for the unveiling ceremony in February, 1888, and on the 18th of that month it was disclosed to view. Dr. Farrar wrote to Mr. Childs immediately after the ceremony, giving full particulars, and stating that
" I only invited a select number of friends. Among them were the poets Mr. Robert Browning and Mr. Lewis Morris ; among others Mr. Lecky, Mr. Courtney Herbert, Mr. and the Baroness Burdett- Coutts, the Speaker's family, the United States Minister and Mrs. Phelps, Prof, and Mrs. Flower, Lord Stanley of Alderley, General Sir Edward Staveley, and other distinguished personages. Mr. Matthew Arnold read a very h'ne paper on Milton, which is to be published in the Century, and which will, I am sure, please you very much. After the paper had been read in the vestry we went into the church and unveiled the window."
The letter winds up :
" So that now, my dear Mr. Childs, your noble gift has come to a fruitful completion, and in the church of the House of Commons will be a lasting and beautiful memorial both of the great poet and your munificence. It has carried out a wish which I long cherished. Heartfelt thanks ! I shall preach on Milton to-morrow, and 1 shall ask you to accept the MS. of the sermon."
It is impossible to do more than mention that Matthew Arnold's paper was published in the Centum/ for May, 1888, and found many admirers, as was only natural. It was a noble effort on a noble subject, and was really his last work, for very shortly afterwards he was laid to rest in the quiet little village church of Laleham. On the day after the unveiling of the window the Archdeacon preached on Milton, his text being taken from Lamenta- tions iv. 7. This was one of the most scho- larly and brilliant sermons which he preached from the pulpit of this church. Like the address of the previous day, it was in every way worthy of the great theme which gave it its origin. The church was packed from
end to end, the congregation, among which
I found a place, listening with the closest
attention.
The window was described in a volume issued in 1890, giving the story of the various gifts of Mr. Childs in commemoration of Eng- lish worthies. It states that the window is remarkable for its fulness of detail and richness of colour. Both in artistic design and execution it is worthy of high praise. It is divided by its stonework into four lights with tracery openings, and is of fifteenth- century character, in the Perpendicular style, which is that of the church generally. The design of the stained glass is planned on three lines of panels in horizontal order, the middle tier being somewhat deeper than those above and below. In the two divisions of the central portions four panels viz., those of the central and lower tiers respec- tively are devoted to the personal history of the poet. As already stated, in one of the bottom panels the boy Milton is shown at St. Paul's School among his fellow-school- mates. In the next panel Milton's visit to Galileo is depicted. Above these are two of the larger panels, combined to make one central subject representing the poet dic- tating * Paradise Lost ' to his daughters. Around these panels are eight others illus- trative of 'Paradise Lost' and 'Paradise Re- gained.' In reference to the former are represented the incidents of : 1. Satan's sum- mons to his legions ; 2. Adam and Eve at prayer in Paradise ; 3. The Temptation ; 4. The Expulsion. In the upper tier the four panels are devoted to the illustration respectively of : 1. The Annunciation ; 2. The nativity of our Lord ; 3. The baptism of our Lord ; 4. The defeat of Satan in his tempta- tion of our Lord. In the tracery openings are jubilant angels, and at the apex of the whole figures of Adam on the left and our Lord on the right, representing thus the first and second Adam. At the base of the window, under the second light, is the dedicatory in- scription :
"To the Glory of God: and in memory of the immortal poet John Milton : whose wife and child Vx? nu-fj here : this win( }ow is dedicated by George VV. Lnilds, of Philadelphia, MDCCCLXXXVIII." Occupying a corresponding space and posi- tion under the third light of the window is the following fine tribute by Whittier to his
brother poet of long ago :
T ^ New World honours him whose lofty plea
lor England's freedom made her own more sure, Whose song, immortal as its theme, shall be
Ineir common freehold while both worlds endure.
eg din & these lines Mr. Whittier wrote to Mr. Childs as follows :
