It had probably been in the very beginning of May, if not earlier; for on the 10th of May there was out in London, in the form of a printed squib, _An Hue and Cry after Mercurius Politicus_, giving a sketch of his career, and containing some doggrel verse about his escape, in this style:-- "But, if at Amsterdam you meet With one that's purblind in the street, Hawk-nosed, turn up his hair, And in his ears two holes you'll find; And, if they are, not pawned behind, Two rings are hanging there.
"His visage meagre is and long, His body slender," &c.[1] [Footnote 1: "_O.

Cromwell's Thankes to the Lord General faithfully presented by Hugh Peters in another Conference, together with an Hue and Cry after Mercurius Politicus: London, Printed by M.T._" ("1660, May 10" in the Thomason copy).] Our latest glimpse of Milton is on the 7th of May, the day before the public proclamation of Charles in London.

On that day "John Milton, of the City of Westminster," transferred to his friend "Cyriack Skinner, of Lincoln's Inn, Gentleman," a Bond for L400 given by the Commissioners of the Excise in part security for money which Milton had invested in their hands.

In the deed of conveyance, still extant, under the words at the end, "_Witness my hand and seal thus_," there follows the signature "JOHN MILTON," not in his own hand, but recognisably in the fine and peculiar hand of that amanuensis to whom he had dictated the sonnet in memory of his second wife about two years before.

In yet another hand is the date "7th May, 1660"; but attached, to verify all, is Milton's family-seal of the double-headed eagle.