Chapter C: De D

"_Trepidation talk'd_" (Vol. iii., p. 450.).--The words attributed to Milton are--

"That crystalline sphere whose balance weighs
The trepidation talk'd, and that first moved."

Paterson's comment, quoted by your correspondent, is exquisite: he evidently thinks there were two trepidations, one _talked_, the other _first moved_.

The _trepidation_ (not a tremulous, but a turning or oscillating motion) is a well-known hypothesis added by the Arab astronomers to Ptolemy, in explanation of the precession of the equinoxes. This precession they imagined would continue retrograde for a long period, after which it would be direct for another long period, then retrograde again, and so on. They, or their European followers, I forget which, invented the _crystal_ heaven, an apparatus outside of the _starry_ heaven (these cast-off phrases of astronomy have entered into the service of poetry, and the _empyreal_ heaven with them), to cause this slow turning, or trepidation, in the starry heaven. Some used _two_ crystal heavens, and I suspect that Paterson, having some confused idea of this, fancied he found them both in Milton's text. I need not say that your correspondent is quite right in referring the words _first moved_ to the _primum mobile_.

Again, _balance_ in Milton never _weighs_. _Scale_ is his word (iv. 997. x. 676.) for a weighing apparatus. Where he says of Satan's army (i. 349.),

"In even balance down they light
On the firm brimstone,"

he appears to mean that they were in regular order, with a right wing to balance the left wing. The direct motion of the crystal heaven, following and compensating the retrograde one, is the "balance" which "_was_ the trepidation _called_;" and this I suspect to be the true reading. The past tense would be quite accurate, for all the Ptolemaists of Milton's time had abandoned the _trepidation_. As the text stands it is nonsense; even if Milton did _dictate_ it, we know that he never _saw_ it; and there are several passages of which the obscurity may be due to his having had to rely on others. Witness the lines in book iv. 995-1002.

M.

_Registry of Dissenting Baptisms in Churches_ (Vol. iii., p. 370.).--I forward extracts from the Registers of the parish of Saint Benedict in this town relating to the baptism of Dissenters. (Mr. Hussey, mentioned in several of the entries, was Joseph Hussey, minister of a Dissenting congregation here from 1691 to 1720. His meeting-house on Hog Hill (now St. Andrew's Hill) in this town was pillaged by a Jacobite mob, 29th May, 1716. He died in London in 1726, and was the author of several works, which are now very scarce.)

"1697. October 14th. William the Son of Richard Jardine and
Elisabeth his Wife was baptiz'd in a Private Congregation by Mr.
Hussey in ye name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost.

"Witnesses, Robert Wilson, Richard Jardine.

"1698. Henery the Son of John and Sarah Shipp was baptized in a
Private Congregation by Mr. Hussey December 1. Elisabeth the
Daughter of Richard and Elisabeth Jardine was born ye twenty-first
day of January and baptized the second day of February 1698/99 in
a Private Congregation.

"1700. Walter the Son of Richard and Elisabeth Jardine born July
23 and said to be baptized in a Separate Congregation by Mr.
Hussey Aug. 20.

"1701. Elisabeth Daughter of Richard Jardine and Elisabeth his
wife born October 7. and said to be baptized at a Private
Congregation Novemb. 3d.

"1702. June 22. Miram the Son of Thomas Short and Mary his Wife
said to be baptized at a Separate Congregation. Jane the Daughter
of Richard Jardine and Elizabeth his Wife said to be baptized at a
Separate Congregation Dec. 21.

"1703. John the Son of Alexander Jardine and Elisabeth his Wife
said to be baptized at a Separate Congregation, Mar. 31.

"1705. Alexander the Son of Alexander Jardine and ... his Wife was
as 'tis said baptized in a Separate Congregation July 1705.

"1706. John the Son of Alexander Jardine and Elisabeth his Wife
said to be baptized at a Private Congregation Dec. 11.

"1707. Nov. 11. John the Son of Alexander and Elis. Jardine was
said to be baptized in Separate Congregation.

"1710. Aug. 23. John ye Son of Bryan and Sarah Ellis was said to
have been baptized in Separate Congregation.

"Nov. 15. Nath. ye Son of Alexander and Elisa Jardine was
said to be baptiz'd in a Separate Congregation."

I have no recollection of having met with similar entries in any other Parish Register.