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Mrs . HpSTEjl MILNER .
^ heu 1 fugaces — ——Lrabuntur anni : nee pietas inoram Rtfgis , et iristanti senectae Afferet , indomitarque inorti ! Hone Ho ^ swi ftly glide our Hying years , Alas 1 nor piety nor tears Can stop the flrcting day ; > Deeprfiurrdw ' d wrinkles , posting age , And death ' s unconquerable rage , . - Are strangers to delay 1
© n Friday , January 24 th , 1 S 17 , died at art- advanced age , Mrs . Hester Milner , *> f ^ Cress ^ Strcety Islington ^ She was the youngest daughter of Or . John Milner , formerly the much respected pastor of the Presbyterian congregation at Ptfckhain , wher « he for many years conducted a
seminary with distinguished reputation . -Of his talents and erudition he gave indubitable proofx by the publication of his Latin and trreefc Grammars , which are still held in estimation by the learned world . These and a few single Sermons were the whole
of his writ ? ngs . With this gentleman the amiable Dr . John Hawksworth , author of the -Adventurer , lived as an assistant—as did also Dr . Oliver Goldsmith , who was tiatxeh esteemed by both master and pupils for the amenity of his disposition and the benevolence of his heart . Mrs . H . Milner
amused her friends with anecdotes of his genius and eccentricity . Among others she told me that upon her asking biui one jday what Commentator on the Scriptures he would recommend , Goldsmith , after a pause , replied , " Common Sense is the best interpreter of the Sacked Writings V * A domestic anecdote relative to the Milner
family , who came from Somersetshire , must not be lost . Those conversant with the History of England well know that the unfortunate Duke of Monuiouth , having landed at Lyrae , in 1685 , was soon after proclaimed king at Tauuton . His object was to preserve the civil and religious liberties of [ Britain from destruction ^ with which thijy were threatened under the
dynasty of the Stuarts . A lady who presided over a respectable female seminary at Taunton , Waited upon the X > uke with twelveoi her pupils , presenting him us the defender of Protestantism , with a handsomely bound Bible , and offering him their congratulations . The new monarch was soon defeated , mid j » eri » h « d on the scaffold ! His followers were by means of those barba-
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___ * ¦ i > ' rinns , Kirke and JefFeries , ' ' visjfecl witifr indiscriminate vengeance . The schofti was dispersed and ruined . 7 he yobfig ladies were so frightened , that orie ofHbem through a mere paroxysm of terror lost hvr life ! Mrs . H . Milner told % i < f r ! hat Tier
// iOt / ier * £ itifithcr was a pnpil at the scbofcrt , but the parents hearing of the indiscreet zv <\\ of the coiiductrc 6 S' of the seiinrmrr , sbnt for their daughter'a few dfeys before , and thus providentially rescued her from the impending calamity 1 - * Dr . Milner left behind him one son and
ten daughters , so that the good old gentleman used facetiously to tell his frichds that ** his family * as large , having ten daughters , and there was a brotker "tos every one of them !' The son was a phy * sician at St . Thomas ' s Hospital , and afterwards a practitioner of eminence at IMaitl - stone for near half a century , where he
died , much respected by tht * 'inhabitants of that town and its vicinity . ' The fortune which he had acquired by his profession as well as by marriage , was bequeathed to his sisters , who had lived with him ^ and between whom there subsisted a higk degree of mutual affection . Upotj the decease of the brother , the family continued to feside
at IVlaidstone for a few years , \ v 4 teii , JJ ^ TS . Hester Milner and her only sujfvjpfing sister removed to Islington . ' ' U * his sister dying , the subject of this ruemoir was the only one left of this numerous family . ' At Maidstone she ^ 'as ^ a member of iti& " Wesbyterian congregation under , tne pa § £ eral care of the Rrs . A . Harris ; and oh 'her
settlement at Islington , she atttfirtted'the Rev . Nathaniel Jehtiiug ^ , whom she jtrstly respected for his candour and piety . ^ She was aware that these gentlemen were « ot alike in their reVigious creetl , but she never troubled herself with speculative points , and was most commendubly disposed to receive instruction from good men of every denomination .
Mrs . Milner possessed an excellent understanding , improved by a more ffhan ordinary degree of ' reflection . In person ^ manners and acquirements , she was "altogether of the old school . Her conversation was intelligent and instructive . " She touched on interesting tu [» ics , and was pleased with information respecting them . With French and Italian she was ' well
acquainted . Of ITeleintichus and of hfcrusrtlem Delivered She had that relish af the original , that she could not bear nny Version of them , though it is acknowledged . that their translators , Hawksworth and Hool ^ , executed their tiulta with fidelity .
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1817, page 117, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2461/page/53/
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