This most extraordinary man, this prince of English poets, this consistent champion of civil and religious liberty, was the son of John Milton and Sarah Caston; they had two other children, Anna, who married Edward Philips; and Christopher, bred to the common law.
Mr. John Milton was born in Bread-street, in the city of London, December 9, 1608,* descended of an ancient family of that name at Milton, near Abingdon, in Oxford, shire, where it had been a long time settled as appears from the monument still to be seen in the church of Milton; till one of the family having taken the unfortunate side in the contest between the houses of York and Lancaster, was sequestered of all his estate, except what he held by his wife.
The poet's grandfather, whose name also was John Milton, was under ranger, or keeper, of the forest of Shotover, near Horton, in Oxfordshire, he being a zealous papist. His father was a polite man, a great master of music, and, by profession, a scrivener, in which calling, through his diligence and honesty, he got a competent estate in a short time; for he was disinherited by his bigoted parents for embracing the Protestant religion, and abjuring the popish idolatry. He lived at the sign of the Spread Eagle, (the armorial bearings of the family,) in Bread-street.
Of his mother, it is said, "she was a woman of incomparable virtue and goodness." John Milton was destined to be a scholar: and partly under domestic tutors, (whereof one was Thomas Young,* to whom the first of his familiar letters is inscribed; and afterwards, Dr. Gill, the chief master of Paul's School, to whom, likewise, the fifth of the same letters is inscribed,) he made an incredible progress in the knowledge of words and things, his diligence and inclination outstripping the care of his instructors; and after he was twelve years of age, such was his insatiable thirst for learning, that he seldom went to bed before midnight.
Being thus initiated into several tongues, and having not slightly tasted the inexpressible sweets of philosophy, he was sent, at the age of fifteen, to Christ's College, in Cambridge to pursue more arduous and solid studies.
This Image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, where Works published prior to 1978 were copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" PDF from the U.S. Copyright Office. Works published before 1923 in this case 1866., are now in the public domain.
This file is also in the public domain in countries that figure copyright from the date of death of the artist (post mortem auctoris in this case Paul Gustave Doré (January 6, 1832 – January 23, 1883) and that most commonly runs for a period of 50 to 70 years from December 31 of that year. +sookie tex
TEXT CREDIT: John Milton: his life and times : religious and political opinions : with an appendix containing animadversions upon Dr. Johnson's Life of Milton, etc., etc. Issue 232 of PCMI Collection. Author: Joseph Ivimey. Publisher: D. Appleton & Co., 1833. Original from: the University of California. Digitized: Dec 3, 2007. Length: 300 pages. Subjects: Literary Criticism › Poetry, Literary Criticism / Poetry, Poetry / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Poets, English.
No comments:
Post a Comment