JOHN MILTON.

JOHN MILTON was born in 1608, in a house called "The Spread Eagle," in the very heart of old London. His father, also John Milton, was a scrivener or lawyer, and was well known as a musical composer. He had received a good education and took great pains with his

son, employing private tutors for him, and afterwards sending him to St. Paul's school, where he was for some time a day scholar.

The boy was as desirous of an edu

cation as his father

could wish, and be

came so interested in his books that he would read and 20 study until after midnight.

His compositions and verses attracted attention during his early boyhood. Before he was sixteen years old he had written two of the Psalms in verse.

While at St. Paul's he formed a close friendship 25 with Charles Diodati, the son of an exiled Italian physician. This friendship aroused Milton's interest in Italian literature.

Milton entered Christ's College, Cambridge, when he was seventeen years old, remaining there seven years. The handsome, graceful young man, with his scorn of all that lacked refinement, was not popular during the first years of his college course, and the students called 5 him "The Lady." They soon learned to honor his high character and brilliant scholarship. He was regarded as the best student of the university.

He had at first intended to become a clergyman, but gave up this plan and was uncertain as to what he 10 should do. His father had taken a house at Horton, about twenty miles from London, and, after leaving Cambridge, Milton spent five years at home, studying Greek and Latin, taking solitary walks, and writing wonderful verses. He also continued the study of 15 music under his father's teaching, and took great delight in it. Some of his most famous poems were written during those years at Horton.

Milton had long desired to travel, and after the death of his mother he found his home so lonely that he per- 20 suaded his father to allow him to visit France, Italy, and Switzerland. This journey occupied nearly sixteen months, and was a season of delight to the young poet, who, by reading, had become familiar with these old cities and the famous men who had walked their 25 streets. He also became acquainted with many learned men and persons of rank, and was received everywhere with courteous attention. During his stay at Florence he met the astronomer, Galileo, then old and blind, and

recently released from prison, where he had been confined on account of his theories and discoveries.

The house at Horton was occupied but a short time after Milton's return. His father went to live with 5 his son Christopher, and the poet went to London. He hired a pretty "garden-house," large enough for himself and his books, and lived there with his two nephews, of whose education he took charge. He was fond of teaching, and gradually several other boys joined the 10 class, and his house became a small private school.

In the spring of his thirty-fifth year Milton went to Oxford and returned a month later, bringing home a bride and a party of her relatives. After several days spent in feasting, the young wife of seventeen summers 15 was left alone with her husband, who became once more absorbed in his books. Mrs. Milton cared nothing for literature, and before the summer was over she went to visit her father, promising to return during September. She refused to go home at the appointed time and 20 remained away for two years.

During the meantime Milton's father had come to live with him, and the number of his pupils had so increased that he had taken a larger house. After the death of his father, Milton decided to devote more time 25 to writing, so he dismissed his pupils and removed to a smaller house. He became deeply interested in politics, writing some bold and daring essays on the questions of the day. When he was forty years old he was appointed Secretary of Foreign Tongues, with a large salary and

a residence in Whitehall Palace in Scotland Yard. His eyesight had begun to fail, and three years after accepting this office he became blind. He continued, however, to attend to his duties with the aid of two assistants. Shortly after he lost his sight his wife died, leaving 5 three little daughters. Four years later he married a second time, but this wife lived but a short time.

In 1660, when Milton was fifty-two years old, there came another change in the government, and Milton's life was in danger. He was obliged to hide for several 10 months. Life seemed very gloomy to the blind man. His friends were dead or in exile, he had lost a large share of his property, and his work during the last twenty years seemed thrown away.

Many years before, Milton had planned to write his great poem of "Paradise Lost." He now devoted himself to this work, dictating it to Dorothy, his youngest and favorite child, who bore some resemblance to her 5 father, and who was most in sympathy with him.

Milton married for the third time during his fiftyfifth year. This wife proved a blessing to him. She was a lover of music, and sang to him while he accompanied her upon the organ or bass viol. They walked 10 together and talked about his favorite books and men of learning. His poem "Paradise Lost" was finished during the next two years. He loaned a copy to a friend, who suggested his writing "Paradise Regained," which was published about four years later.

15. These poems rank as the grandest works of one of the greatest minds that the world has ever known. The poet's humble home became an attraction for many visitors, who wished to look upon and talk with the man whose genius was so great.