d
Halifax's _Life_ was written, and possibly might have been the cause of the
designation "Widow" being applied to Catherine Barton by mistake. Whatever
the connexion of this lady with Lord Halifax may have been, it does not
seem to have given any offence to her relatives. You will observe that
Geoffrey Barton names his sons Charles and Montague, and his daughter
Catherine. Charles afterwards received the rectory of St. Andrew's Holborn
from the family of Montague; and Cutts was Dean of Bristol under Bishop
Montague. And Montague obtained preferment from Mr. Conduit. Neither the
family of Montague, nor that of Barton, seem to have thought the connexion
discreditable. Moreover, the births of these children of Geoffrey Barton, a
clergyman, occurred at the very period when the name of Catherine should
have been most distasteful, had the intimacy been dishonourable.

Mr. Conduit died in the year 1738, and Mrs. Conduit in the year 1739; and
Catherine Conduit did not become Lady Lymington till 1740. Probably both
Mr. and Mrs. Conduit made wills. Have they been examined at Doctors'
Commons?

J. W. J.

* * * * *

MILTON'S WIDOW.

(Vol. viii., pp. 12. 134. 200. 375. 452. 471.)

It is pleasing to find so much interest excited among the readers of "N. &
Q." relative to the parentage of this lady; and we may fairly hope that the
spirit of research which has thus been awakened, will not die away until
the last spark of error and mystery has been extinguished.

T. L. P. has favoured us with quotations from a little pamphlet, entitled
_Historical Facts connected with Nantwich and its Neighbourhood_. Now,
after giving this work a most careful perusal, I cannot but think that the
title of the book is, in this instance at least, a misnomer. The authoress,
for it was written by a lady long resident in the vicinity, has evidently
wrought upon the foundations of others; and taking the veteran Ormerod as a
sufficient authority, has given full vent to her imagination, and pictured,
with "no 'prentice hand," the welcome visits of Milton to Stoke Hall, a
place which, in all probability, was never once honoured with the presence
of this great man. There is no evidence whatever adduced to give even the
semblance of colour to this unfortunate error; whereas, on the side of the
Wistaston family, the proofs of its identity as the family of Mrs. Milton
are numerous and, to my notion, incontrovertible.

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