To Unknown 25 August 1859

My dear Sir,

I have just been looking at the Milton documents in possession of Lady Cullum. They have been a long time in the family. It appears they had some years ago been lent to D. Turner, & after a while returned to the family. They have nothing to do with the receipt sold at D. T.'s sale. Lady C. thinks that must have been the first part payment advanced, & that Mr M. Mills has a second. The two in her possession consist of a receipt signed by Milton for 5£ & another by his widow for 8£ - & lastly a regularly drawn up legal document of final release signed by the widow. There are different witnesses to each signature. The dates are

• April 26. 1669 (called the second 5£)
• Dec^r 21. 1680 (8£ in full payment of all [illeg.])
• April 29. 1681

Yrs faithfully

J. S. Henslow

There is a letter from H. Ellis of British Museum dated July 19. 1824 enquiring about these Milton documents which is preserved in the book in which they are kept.