Despite his acknowledged infidelity, I must tender my thanks to GARLICHITHE for his obliging reference to Mr. Hunter's tract; albeit there is, I may be permitted to suggest, no position assumed in any note upon Milton's widow which that tract in any way contravenes or sets aside. The fact is, GARLICHITHE, in the outset, entirely misapprehends the nature of my argument; and so leads himself, by a sort of literary "Will-o-the-wisp," unconsciously astray. It was not Randle the _grandfather_ of Richard Minshull, writer of the two letters transcribed by Mr. Hunter, but Randle the eldest _son_ of this Richard Minshull to whom I referred as the father of Elizabeth Milton. Nor is it _possible_ that this Elizabeth could have "died in infancy," seeing that I possess a copy of a bond (the original is also extant) from her brother Richard, then of Wistaston, where he was baptized April 7, 1641, secured to her as Elizabeth _Milton_, dated June 4, 1680. As to the marriage itself, it may have taken place in London, where the poet resided; or, which is more probable, at or near the residence of their mutual friend, Dr. Paget. Milton was certainly not over-careful about ritual observances, and it is not therefore unlikely that the rigid Puritan preferred a private, or what is termed a civil marriage, to one religiously and properly conducted in the church of his forefathers. T. HUGHES. * * * * * PECULIAR ORNAMENT IN CROSTHWAITE CHURCH. (Vol. viii., p. 55.) It is probable that these circles with eight radiations are the original dedication-crosses of the church. Such crosses are still to be seen painted on the piers of the nave in Roman Catholic churches. Durandus, describing the consecration of a church, says: "In the meanwhile within the building twelve lamps be burning before twelve crosses, which be depicted on the walls of the church.... Lastly, he [the bishop] anointeth with chrism the twelve crosses {201} depicted on the wall."--Durandus _On Symbolism_, ed. Neale and Webb, p. 115. In the Pontifical, _De Ecclesiæ Dedicatione_, the rubric directs,-- "Item, depingantur in parietibus Ecclesiæ intrinsecùs per circuitum duodecim cruces, circa decem palmos super terram, videlicet tres pro quolibet, ex quatuor parietibus. Et ad caput cujuslibet crucis figatur unus clavus, cui affigatur una candela unius unciæ." Dedication-crosses occur at Salisbury Cathedral, and at Uffington Church, Berks, and in both cases on the exterior of the buildings.