1729 A. Pope Dunciad (new ed.) iii. 157 Down, down they larum, with impetuous whirl, The Pindars, and the Miltons, of a Curl.

1772 P. M. Freneau & H. H. Brackenridge Poem on Rising Glory of Amer. 24 I see a Homer and a Milton rise.

a1825 A. L. Barbauld Legacy for Young Ladies (1826) ii. 127 How much more has the man to love,..in whom her image is identified with the virtues of an Alfred,..with the fame and fortunes of the Sidneys and Hampdens, the Lockes and Miltons who have illustrated her annals!

1874 H. Rogers Superhuman Origin Bible ix. 382 Certain transcendent geniuses—the Bacons, the Newtons, the Shakespeares, the Miltons.

1922 H. L. Mencken Prejudices (1923) 3rd Ser. iii. 89 The one sound test of a Milton is that he functions as a Milton.

1994 Guardian 21 July (OnLine section) 9/2 The same applies to software and he has no doubt that, from the changed folds of techno-charged brains, digital Miltons will emerge.

1751 T. Gray Elegy xv. 8 Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest.

1837 Southern Literary Messenger 3 594/1 No doubt but we have had Homers in embryo, many a ‘mute inglorious Milton’, and many a Tasso, ‘cabined, cribbed and confined’ by oppressive circumstances.

1859 Ladies' Repository Oct. 587/1 We should find many a ‘mute inglorious Milton’, with an eye to detect and a heart to feel whatever is sublime or beautiful.

1883 Authors & Publishers (Galba P. Putnam's Sons) 61 We do not believe..that a careful search through American villages would develop any ‘mute, inglorious Miltons’ rusting away their undeveloped lives.

1922 H. L. Mencken Prejudices (1923) 3rd Ser. iii. 89 A genuine artist..would have thoughts and feelings of his own, and the impulse to give them objective form would be irresistible... There are no mute inglorious Miltons, save in the hallucinations of poets.

1933 J. Buchan Prince of Captivity i. iv. 125 We've got to see that our Miltons don't remain mute and inglorious, but above all that our Hampdens are not left to rot on a village green.

1948 T. S. Eliot Notes Def. Culture vi. 102 The Equality of Opportunity dogma..derives emotional reinforcement from the belief in the mute inglorious Milton. This myth assumes that a great deal of first-rate ability—not merely ability, but genius—is being wasted for lack of education.

1991 R. Brookhiser Way of WASP iii. 34 Conformity's enemies accuse it of muzzling invention, of keeping Miltons mute and inglorious.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones IV. xi. viii. 160 Should any daring Tongue, with unhallowed Licence prophane; i.e. depreciate the delicate fat Milton Oyster,..the prophane Wretch is struck deaf for his Impiety. View more context for this quotation

1778 Farmer's Mag. Nov. 350 Oysters hold good all the Winter..the native Milton are the whitest and fattest.

1841 W. M. Thackeray Professor ii, in Bentley's Misc. Sept. 285 Mrs. Grampus herself operated with the oyster-knife, and served the Milton morsels to the customers.

1845 ‘Bon Gaultier’ Bk. Ballads 35 Fill me once more the foaming pewter up! Another board of oysters, ladye mine! To night Lucullus with himself shall sup, These mute inglorious Miltons are divine.