The following particulars were given me in writing by Mr. _Strong_, and they contain the admeasurement of the coffin, as taken by him, with a rule. ‘A leaden coffin, found under the common-councilmen’s pew, on the north side of the chancel, nearly under the place where the old pulpit and clerk’s desk stood. The coffin appeared to be old, much corroded, and without any inscription or plate upon it. It was, in length, five feet ten inches, and in width, at the broadest part, over the shoulders, one foot four inches.’ Conjecture naturally pointed out, both to Mr. _Strong_ and Mr. _Cole_, that, by moving the leaden coffin, there would be a great chance of finding some inscription on the wooden one underneath; but, with a just and laudable piety, they disdained to disturb the sacred ashes, after a requiem of one hundred and sixteen years; and having satisfied their curiosity, and ascertained the fact, which was the subject of it, Mr. _Cole_ ordered the ground to be closed. This was on the afternoon of Tuesday, August the 3rd; and, when I waited on Mr. _Strong_, on Saturday morning, the 7th, he informed me that the coffin had been found on the Tuesday, had been examined, washed, and measured by him and Mr. _Cole_; but that the ground had been immediately closed, when they left the church;--not doubting that Mr. _Cole’s_ order had been punctually obeyed. But the direct contrary appears to have been the fact. On Tuesday evening, the 3rd, Mr. _Cole_, Messrs. _Laming_ and _Taylor_, _Holmes_, &c., had a _merry meeting_, as Mr. _Cole_ expresses himself, at Fountain’s house; the conversation there turned upon _Milton’s_ coffin having been discovered; and, in the course of the evening, several of those present expressing a desire to see it, Mr. _Cole_ assented that, if the ground was not already closed, the closing of it should be deferred until they should have satisfied their curiosity. Between eight and nine on Wednesday morning, the 4th, the two overseers (_Laming_ and _Fountain_) and Mr. _Taylor_, went to the house of _Ascough_, the clerk, which leads into the church-yard, and asked for _Holmes_; they then went with _Holmes_ into the church, and pulled the coffin, which lay deep in the ground, from its original station to the edge of the excavation, into day-light. Mr. _Laming_ told me that, to assist in thus removing it, he put his hand into a corroded hole, which he saw in the lead, at the coffin foot. When they had thus removed it, the overseers asked _Holmes_ if he could open it, that they might see the body. _Holmes_ immediately fetched a mallet and a chisel, and cut open the top of the coffin, slantwise from the head, as low as the breast; so that the top, being doubled backward, they could see the corpse; he cut it open also at the foot. Upon first view of the body, it appeared perfect, and completely enveloped in the shroud, which was of many folds; the ribs standing up regularly. When they disturbed the shroud, the ribs fell. Mr.