Nooks and Corners of Lancashire and Cheshire.: A Wayfarer's Notes in the Palatine Counties, Historical, Legendary, Genealogical, and Descriptive.Croston, James
History
Nooks and Corners of Lancashire and Cheshire.: A Wayfarer's Notes in the Palatine Counties, Historical, Legendary, Genealogical, and Descriptive.
Croston, James
Cheshire (England); Lancashire (England)
John Bradshaw married Mary, the daughter of Thomas Marbury, of Marbury,
Cheshire, by his first wife Eleanor, daughter of Peter Warburton, of
Arley, and he thus connected himself with some of the best families
in the county. This lady, who was some years his senior, predeceased
him without having borne any issue; and when the President died he
had not a child to continue his name or inherit the vast wealth he
had accumulated. The closing years of his life were for the most part
spent at his pleasant retreat at Walton-on-Thames, of which mention
has already been made; and there is very little doubt but that within
the wainscotted rooms of that quaint old mansion many and frequent
were the consultations touching the fate of England. A popular writer,
who visited the house some years ago, in describing it, says that an
aged woman, who then occupied a portion of the building, summed up her
account of it with the remark that “it was a great house once, but full
of wickedness; and no wonder the spirits of its inhabitants troubled
the earth to this day.” Though we are not of those who “see visions and
dream dreams,” and hold familiar converse with visitants from the world
of shadows, we may yet echo the remark of the writer referred to: “It
is trite enough to say what tales these walls could tell, but it is
impossible to look into them without wishing ‘these walls had tongues.’”
The character of Bradshaw has been variously estimated and depicted in
every hue, though it would seem to have been little understood, for his
admirers have refused to see any defects in him, while those who abhor
his principles have denounced him as a “monster of men.” It does not
come within our province to offer any critical opinion on his life and
actions—to pronounce upon the purity of his motives or the sincerity
of his doings. His cousin Milton, who, however, can hardly be accepted
as an impartial witness, has written his eulogy in an eloquent passage
in the “Second Defence of the People of England;” and Godwin, in his
“History of the Commonwealth,” thus speaks of him:—
An individual who was rising into eminence at this time was John
Bradshaw, the kinsman of Milton. He was bred to the profession
of the law, and his eloquence is praised by Lilburn. Milton, who
seems to have known him thoroughly, speaks of him in the highest
terms, as at once a professed lawyer and an admirable speaker, an
uncorrupt patriot, a man of firm and entrepid cast of temper, a
pleasant companion, most hospitable to his friends, most generous
to all who were in need, most peaceable to such as repented of
their errors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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