Online Encyclopedia

year or two his teaching had been only supplementary to the education which the boy was receiving by daily attendance at St Paul's public school, See also:

close to Bread Street . The See also:

head-master of the school was See also:

Alexander Gill, an elderly Oxford divine, of high reputation for scholarship and teaching ability .

Under him, as See also:

ASHER

asher or second master, was his son, Alexander Gill the younger, also an Oxford See also:

GRADUATE (Med. Lat. graduale, to admit to an academical degree, gradus)

graduate of scholarly reputation, but of blustering See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character . Milton's acquaintanceship with this younger Gill, begun at St Paul's school, led to subsequent friendship and See also:

correspondence . Far more affectionate and intimate was the friendship formed by Milton at St Paul's with his schoolfellow See also:

Charles See also:

DIODATI, GIOVANNI (1576-1649)

Diodati, the son of an See also:

ITALIAN

Italian physician, Dr See also:

Theodore Diodati, a naturalized Englishman settled in London, and much respected, both on his own See also:

account and as being the See also:

BROTHER

brother of the famous Protestant divine, See also:

JEAN

Jean Diodati of See also:

Geneva . Young Diodati, who was destined for his father's profession, See also:

LEFT

left the school for Trinity College, Oxford, early in 1623; but Milton remained till the end of 1624 . In that year his See also:

elder See also:

SISTER

sister, Anne, married Edward Phillips, a clerk in the See also:

Government office called the See also:

CROWN

Crown Office in See also:

CHANCERY

Chancery . Milton had then all but completed his sixteenth year, and was as scholarly, as accomplished and as handsome a youth as St Paul's school had sent forth . We learn from himself that his exercises " in . English or other See also:

TONGUE (O. Eng. lunge)

tongue, prosing or versing, but chiefly this latter," had begun to attract See also:

ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention even in his boyhood . Of these poems the only specimens that now remain are two copies of Latin verses, preserved in a common-See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place book of his (printed by the See also:

Camden Society in 1877), and his " See also:

PARAPHRASE (Gr. irapa¢pavis, from rrapa4p4av, to relate something in different words, 'raga, beside, and ¢pai"eav, speak, tell)

Paraphrase on See also:

PSALM (from the Gr. word * hXAew, to play the harp)

Psalm CXIV " and his " Paraphrase on Psalm CXXXVI." At the age of sixteen years and two months, Milton was entered as a student of Christ's College, Cambridge, in the grade of a " Lesser Pensioner," and he matriculated two months later, on the 9th of See also:

APRIL

April 1625 . The master of Christ's was Dr Thomas Bainbrigge; and among the thirteen See also:

FELLOWS, SIR CHARLES (1799-1860)

fellows were See also:

Joseph See also:

Meade, still remembered as a commentator on the See also:

Apocalypse, and William See also:

CHAPPELL, WILLIAM (1809–1888)

Chappell, afterwards an Irish See also:

bishop . It was under Chappell's tutorship that Milton was placed when he first entered the college . At least three students who entered Christ's after Milton, .but during his See also:

RESIDENCE (Latin residere, to remain behind, to dwell, reside)

residence, deserve mention .

One was Edward See also:

King, a youth of Irish See also:

BIRTH (a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages from the root of the verb " to bear ")

birth and high Irish connexions, who entered in 1626, at the age of fourteen, another was John See also:

Cleveland, afterwards known as royalist and satirist, who entered in 1627; and the third was See also:

Henry More, subsequently famous as the Cambridge Platonist, who entered in 1631, just before Milton left . Milton's own brother, Christopher, joined him in the college in February 163o-1631, at the age of fifteen . Milton's See also:

ACADEMIC

academic course lasted seven years and five months, bringing him from his seventeenth year to his twenty-See also:

FOURTH

fourth . The first four years were his time of undergraduateship . It was in the second of these—the year 1626—that there occurred the See also:

QUARREL

quarrel between him and his tutor, Chappell, which Dr See also:

Johnson, making the most of a lax tradition from Aubrey, magnified into the supposition that Milton may have been one of the last students in either of the English See also:

UNIVERSITIES

universities that suffered the indignity of See also:

CORPORAL

corporal See also:

PUNISHMENT (from Lat. punire, to punish, from poena, punishment, Gr. 7rocvil)

punishment . The See also:

LEGEND (through the French from the med. Lat. legenda, things to be read, from legere, to read)

legend deserves no See also:

CREDIT (Lat. credere, to believe)

credit; but it is certain that Milton, on account of some disagreement with Chappell; left college for a time, though he did not lose his See also:

TERM

term; and that when he did return, he was transferred from the tutorship of Chappell to that of Nathaniel Tovey . From the first of the Latin elegies one infers that the cause of the quarrel was some outbreak of self-assertion on Milton's part . We learn indeed, from words of his own elsewhere, that it was not only Chappell and Bainbrigge that he had offended by his See also:

INDEPENDENT

independent demeanour, but that, for the first two or three years of his undergraduateship, he was generally unpopular, for the same See also:

REASON (Lat. ratio, through French raison)

reason, among the younger men of his college . They had nicknamed him " the Lady " —a See also:

NICKNAME

nickname which the students of the other colleges took up, converting it into " the Lady of Christ's "; and, though the allusion was chiefly to the See also:

PECULIAR

peculiar See also:

grace of his See also:

PERSONAL

personal See also:

APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance, it conveyed also a sneer at what the rougher men thought his unusual prudishness, the haughty fastidiousness of his tastes and morals . A See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change in this See also:

state of things had certainly occurred before See also:

JANUARY

January 1628-1629, when, at the age of twenty, he took his B.A. degree . By that time his intellectual pre-See also:

EMINENCE (Lat. eminentia)

eminence had come to be acknowledged . His reputation for scholarship and See also:

LITERARY

literary See also:

GENIUS (from Lat. genere, gignere)

genius, extraordinary even then, was more than confirmed during the remaining three years and a See also:

HALF

half of his residence in Cambridge .

A fellowship in Christ's which See also:

fell vacant in 163o would undoubtedly have been his had the See also:

election to such posts depended then absolutely on merit . As it was, the fellowship was conferred, by royal favour on Edward King, his junior in college See also:

STANDING

standing by sixteen months . In See also:

JULY

July 1632 Milton completed his career at the university by taking his M.A. degree . Tradition still points out Milton's rooms at Christ's College . They are on the first See also:

FLOOR (from O. Eng. flor, a word common to many Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch vloer, and Ger. Flur, a field, in the feminine, and a floor, masculine)

floor on the first See also:

stair on the See also:

north See also:

side of the See also:

GREAT

great See also:

court . Of Milton's skill at Cambridge, in what See also:

Wood calls " the collegiate and academical exercises," specimens remain in his Prolusiones quaedam oratoriae . They consist of seven rhetorical Latin essays, generally in a whimsical vein, delivered by him, either in the See also:

hall of Christ's College or in the public university See also:

SCHOOLS

schools . To Milton's Cambridge See also:

period belong four of his Latin " See also:

FAMILIAR (through the Fr. familier, from Lat. familiaris, of or belonging to the familia, family)

Familiar Epistles," and the greater number of his preserved Latin poems, including: (I) the seven pieces, written in 1626, which compose his Elegiarum See also:

LIBER

liber, two of the most interesting of them addressed to his friend, Charles Diodati, and one to his former tutor, Young, in his See also:

EXILE (Lat. exsilium or exilium, from exsul or exul, which is derived from ex, out of, and the root sal, to go, seen in salire, to leap, consul, &c.; the connexion with solum, soil, country is now generally considered wrong)

exile at See also:

Ham-See also:

BURG

burg; (2) the five See also:

SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short See also:

GUNPOWDER

Gunpowder See also:

Plot epigrams, now appended to the Elegies; and (3) the first five pieces of the Sylvarum liber, the most important of which are the See also:

HEXAMETER

hexameter poem " In quintum novembris " (1626), and the piece entitled Naturam Just before Milton quitted Cambridge, his father, then verging on his seventieth year, had practically retired from his Bread Street business, leaving the active management of it to a partner, named Thomas See also:

BOWER, WALTER (1385-1449)

Bower, a former apprentice of his, and had gone to spend his declining years at See also:

Horton in See also:

Buckinghamshire, a small See also:

VILLAGE

village near Colnbrook, and not far from See also:

Windsor . Here, in a house close to Horton church, Milton mainly resided for the next six years—from July 1632 to April 1638 . Although, when he had gone to Cambridge, it had been with the intention of becoming a clergyman, that intention had been abandoned . His reasons were that " tyranny had invaded the church," and that, finding he could not honestly subscribe the oaths and obligations required he " thought it better to preserve a blameless silence before the sacred office of speaking, begun with See also:

SERVITUDE (Lat. servitus, from service, to serve)

servitude and forswearing." 1 In other words, he was disgusted with the See also:

SYSTEM

system which See also:

Laud was establishing and maintaining in the Church of See also:

England . " Church-outed by the prelates," as he emphatically expresses it, he seems to have thought for a time of the See also:

law, but he decided that the only life possible for himself was one dedicated wholly to See also:

SCHOLAR, SCHOLARSHIP

scholar-See also:

SHIP

ship and literature .

His compunctions on this subject, expressed already in his See also:

SONNET (Ital. Sonetto, dim. of Suono, Fr. Sonnet)

sonnet on arriving at his twenty-third year, are expressed more at length in an English See also:

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

letter of which two drafts are preserved in Trinity College, Cambridge, sent by him, shortly after the date of that sonnet, and with a copy of the sonnet included, to some friend who had been remonstrating with him on his " belatedness " and his persistence in a life of See also:

mere See also:

DREAM (from a root dreug, connected with Germ. trugen, to deceive)

dream. and study . There were See also:

GENTLE (through the Fr. gentil, from Lat. gentilis, belonging to the same gens, or family)

gentle remonstrances also from his excellent father . Between such a father and such a son, however, the conclusion was easy . What it was may be learnt from Milton's See also:

FINE

fine Latin poem Ad patrem . There, in the midst of an enthusiastic recitation of all that his father had done for him hitherto, it is intimated that the agreement between them on their one little See also:

MATTER

matter -of difference was already See also:

COMPLETE

complete, and that, as the son was See also:

bent on a private life of literature and See also:

POETRY

poetry, it had been decided that he should have his own way, and should in fact, so long as he See also:

CHOSE (Fr. for " thing ")

chose, be the master of his father's means and the See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief See also:

PERSON, OFFENCES AGAINST THE

person in the Horton See also:

HOUSEHOLD, ROYAL

household . For the six years from 1632 this, accordingly, was Milton's position . In perfect leisure, and in a pleasant rural retirement, with Windsor at the distance of an easy walk, and London only about 17 M . Off, he went through, he tells us, a systematic course of reading in the See also:

Greek and Latin See also:

CLASSICS

classics, varied by See also:

MATHEMATICS (Gr. /saBnµar1Kil, Sc. vOcvn or E7rlQTt'µn; from p iN.La, "learning" or "science ")

mathematics, music, and the See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind of See also:

PHYSICAL

physical See also:

SCIENCE (Lat. scientia, from scire; to learn, know)

science we should now See also:

CALL (from Anglo-Saxon ceallian, a common Teutonic word, cf. Dutch kallen, to talk or chatter)

call cosmography . It is an interesting fact that Milton's very first public appearance in the world of English authorship was in so See also:

HONOURABLE (Fr. honorable, from Lat. honorabilis, worthy of honour)

honourable a place as the second See also:

FOLIO (properly the ablative case of the Lat. folium, leaf, but also frequently an adaptation of the Ital. foglio)

folio edition of See also:

SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM (1564-1616)

Shakespeare in 1632 . His enthusiastic eulogy on Shakespeare, written in 163o, was one of three See also:

ANONYMOUS

anonymous pieces prefixed to that second folio . Among the poems actually written' by Milton at Horton the first, in all See also:

PROBABILITY (Lat. probabilis, probable or credible)

probability, after the Latin hexameters Ad patrem, were the exquisite See also:

COMPANION (through the O. Fr. compaignon or compagnon, from the Late Lat. companio,—cum, with, and panis, bread,—one who shares meals with another; the word has been wrongly derived from the Late Lat. compagnus, one of the same pages or district)

companion pieces L'See also:

ALLEGRO (an Italian word, meaning " cheerful," as in Milton's poem)

Allegro and Il See also:

PEN (Lat. penna, a feather, pen)

Pen*eroso . There followed, in or about 1633, the fragment called Arcades .

It was part of a See also:

PASTORAL (from Lat. pastor, a shepherd)

pastoral masque performed by the young See also:

PEOPLE

people of the See also:

NOBLE, SIR ANDREW (1832- )

noble family of See also:

EGERTON, SIR PHILIP DE MALPAS GREY

Egerton before the countess-See also:

DOWAGER (from the Old Fr. douagiere, mod. douairiere)

dowager 1 See the See also:

PREFACE (Med. Lat. prefatia, for classical praefatio, praefari, to speak beforehand)

preface to Book II. of his Reason of Church Government (1641-1642), which is of great See also:

BIOGRAPHICAL

biographical See also:

INTEREST

interest . II of See also:

Derby, at her See also:

MANSION (through O. Fr. mansion, mod. maison, from Lat. mansio, dwelling-place, stage on a journey; manere, to remain)

mansion of Harefield, about ro m. from Horton . That Milton contributed the words for the entertainment was, almost certainly, owing to his friendship with Henry See also:

Lawes, who supplied the music . Next in See also:

order among the compositions at Horton may be mentioned the three short pieces, " At a See also:

SOLEMN (Lat. sollemnis, sollemnis, less correctly solennis, yearly, annual; from sollus = totus, whole, entire, Gr. Mos., and annus, year)

Solemn Music," " On Time," and " Upon the See also:

CIRCUMCISION (Lat. circum, round, and caedere, to cut)

Circumcision "; after which comes See also:

COMUS (from sd p.os, revel, or a company of revellers)

Comus, the largest and most important of all Milton's See also:

minor poems . The name by which that beautiful See also:

DRAMA (literally "action," from Gr. Snail, act or do)

drama is now universally known was not given to it by Milton himself . He entitled it, more simply and vaguely, " A Masque presented at See also:

Ludlow See also:

Castle, 1634, on Michaelmas See also:

NIGHT

night, before John See also:

EARL

Earl of See also:

Bridgewater, See also:

Lord See also:

PRESIDENT (Fr. president, from Lat. praesidens, post-Augustan Lat. for praeses, director, ruler, from praesidere, to sit in front of, preside)

President of See also:

WALES (Cymru, Gwalia, Cambria)

Wales " (1637) . The earl of Bridgewater, the head of the Egerton family, had been appointed president of the See also:

COUNCIL (Lat. concilium, from cum, together, and the root cal, to call)

council of Wales; among the festivities on his See also:

ASSUMPTION, FEAST OF

assumption of the office, a great masque was arranged in the hall of Ludlow Castle, his See also:

OFFICIAL (Late Lat. QJicialis, for class. Lat. apparitor, from officium, office, duty)

official residence . Lawes supplied the music and was See also:

STAGE (Fr. 6/age; from Lat. stare, to stand)

stage manager; he applied to Milton for the poetry; and on Michaelmas night, the 29th of See also:

SEPTEMBER (Lat. septem, seven)

September 1634, the drama furnished by Milton was performed in Ludlow Castle before a great assemblage of the See also:

NOBILITY

nobility and gentry of the Welsh principality, Lawes taking the part of "the attendant spirit," while the parts of " first brother," " second brother " and " the lady," were taken by the earl's three youngest children, See also:

VISCOUNT (through O. Fr. viscomte, mod. vicomte, from Low Lat. vice-comes, cf. Portug. visconde, Ital. visconte)

Viscount See also:

Brackley, Mr Thomas Egerton and Lady Alice Egerton . From September 1634 to the beginning of 1637 is a See also:

COMPARATIVE

comparative See also:

BLANK (from the Fr. blanc, white)

blank in our records . Straggling incidents in this blank are a Latin letter of date December 4, 1634, to Alexander Gill the younger, a Greek See also:

TRANSLATION

translation of " Psalm CXIV.," a visit to Oxford in 1635 for the purpose of See also:

INCORPORATION (from Lat. incorporare, to form into a body)

incorporation in the degree of M.A. in that university, and the beginning in May 1636 of a troublesome lawsuit against his now aged and infirm father . The lawsuit, which was instituted by a certain Sir Thomas See also:

Cotton, See also:

BART, JEAN (1651-1702)

bart., See also:

NEPHEW

nephew and executor of a deceased John Cotton, Esq., accused the elder Milton and his partner Bower, or both, of having, in their capacity as scriveners, misappropriated See also:

DIVERS

divers large sums of money that had been entrusted to them by the deceased Cotton to be let out at interest . The lawsuit was still in progress when, on the 3rd of April 1637, Milton's See also:

MOTHER

mother died, at the age of about sixty-five .

A See also:

FLAT (a modification of O. Eng. flet, an obsolete word of Teutonic origin, meaning the ground beneath the feet)

flat See also:

BLUE (common in different forms to most European languages)

blue See also:

stone, with a brief inscription, visible on the See also:

CHANCEL (through O. Fr. from Lat. plur. cancelli, dim. of cancer, grating, lattice, probably connected with an Indo-European root Kar-, to bend; cf. circus, curve, &c.)

chancel-See also:

PAVEMENT (Lat. pavimentu;n, a floor beaten or rammed hard, from pavire, to beat)

pavement of Horton church, still marks the place of her See also:

BURIAL

burial . Milton's testimony to her character is that she was " a most excellent mother and particularly known for her charities through the neighbourhood." The year 1637 was otherwise eventful . It was in that year that his Comus, after lying in See also:

MANUSCRIPT

manuscript for more than two years, was published by itself, in the See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form of a small See also:

QUARTO

quarto of thirty-five pages . The author's name was withheld, and the entire responsibility of the publication was assumed by Henry Lawes . Milton seems to have been in London when the little See also:

VOLUME

volume appeared . He was a good See also:

DEAL

deal in London, at all events, during the summer and autumn months immediately following his mother's See also:

DEATH

death . The See also:

PLAGUE (in Gr. Xotµos; in Lat. pestis, pestilentia)

plague, which had been on one of its periodical visits of ravage through England since early in the preceding year, was then especially severe in the Horton neighbourhood, while London was comparatively See also:

FREE

free . It was probably in London that Milton heard of the death of Edward King, who had sailed from See also:

Chester for a vacation visit to his relatives in See also:

Ireland, when, on the loth of See also:

AUGUST (originally Sextilis)

August, the ship in perfectly See also:

CALM

calm See also:

WATER

water struck on a See also:

rock and went down, he and nearly all the other passengers going down with her . There is no mention of this event in Milton's two Latin " Familiar Epistles " of September 1637, addressed to his friend Charles Diodati, and dated from London; but in See also:

NOVEMBER (Lat. novem, nine)

November 1637, and probably at Horton, he wrote his matchless pastoral monody of Lycidas . It was his contribution to a collection of obituary verses, Greek, Latin and English, inscribed to the memory of Edward King by his numerous See also:

friends, at Cambridge and elsewhere . The collection appeared early in 1638 . The second part contained thirteen English poems, the last of which was Milton's monody, signed only with his See also:

INITIALS (Lat. initialis, of or belonging to a beginning, initium)

initials " J .

M." Milton was then on the wing for a See also:

FOREIGN

foreign tour . He had long set his See also:

heart on a visit to See also:

Italy, and circumstances now favoured his wish . The vexatious Cotton lawsuit, after See also:

HANGING

hanging on for nearly two years, was at an end, as far as the elder Milton was concerned, with the most See also:

ABSOLUTE (Lat. absolvere, to loose, set free)

absolute and honourable vindication of his character for probity, though with some continuation of the See also:

case against his partner, Bower . Moreover, Milton's younger brother Christopher, though but twenty-two years of age, and just about to be called to the See also:

bar of the Inner See also:

Temple, had married; and the young couple had gone to reside at Horton to keep the old man company . Before the end of April 1638 Milton was on his way across the channel, taking one English man-servant with him . At the time of his departure the last great See also:

NEWS

news in England was that of the See also:

NATIONAL

National Scottish See also:

Covenant . To Charles the news of this " damnable Covenant," as he called it, was enraging beyond measure; but to the See also:

mass of the English Puritans it was far from unwelcom