> He dictated the story of Paradise Lost to a scribe He had many aides, including his daughters, Anne, Mary, and Deborah. If you visit the NY Public Library th

> He dictated the story of Paradise Lost to a scribe He had many aides, including his daughters, Anne, Mary, and Deborah. If you visit the NY Public Library there’s a large painting depicting Milton dictating to one of the daughters while the other two listen in: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/66760d80-c7f1-0135-7e34-49d3fe482577 https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/66760d80-c7f1-0135.... This is a popular topic and have been painted a number of times. In reality his relationship with his daughters was very strained, it is reported that he forced them to read to him works in languages they didn’t understand and their education was not a priority for him. From https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/16/books/unjust-were-the-ways-of-milton.html https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/16/books/unjust-were-the-way...: He did not even bother to tell them of his forthcoming marriage to his third wife. When they heard the news from a servant, Mary replied, according to A. N. Wilson's 1983 biography, "that was no news to hear of his wedding but if she could hear of his death that was something.” The household was volatile at best, unbearable when the girls were in full fury against their father and his new wife. Milton's daughters complained that their stepmother was a termagant. One early biographer noted that Milton suffered "the Affront and Scorn of a Wife he Lov'd." Anne and Mary never forgave their father for whatever sins they believed he committed against them. But Deborah, the youngest, and the daughter who most resembled Milton, seems to have made peace with his memory. After his death, she even came to serve as a source for early scholars seeking information about the famous man of letters.