The High Priest of Blind Zeal: Milton, Montelion and mockery

Abstract

Abstract A long-standing debate about the relationship between the poet John Milton and his nephew John Phillips has been undermined by inaccuracies in the bibliographical record and the failure of scholars to identify relevant passages in Phillips’s writings. This article brings new evidence with specific reference to A Satyr Against Hypocrites (1655), containing an overlooked attack upon Milton; the Montelion almanacs (1660, 1661, 1662), establishing that all were authored by Phillips, each containing disparaging remarks about Milton; and Don Juan Lamberto (1660–1), confirming Phillips’s authorship and revealing a hitherto unrecognized satirical attack upon Milton.