Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1881 — Milton the Great Poet. [ARTICLE]

Milton the Great Poet.

John Milton was a blue-eyed, yel-low-haired Saxon.hoy, the type of the English race. He was somewhat short, stout, and' healthy; his eyes were bright and sparkling in his youth, before he Imk'HliA* blind. But he inherited weakness of sight from his mother. He was born 1609, In a pleasant house on Bread street, Ix>ndon, almost under the shadow of Bow Bells. It was back in a court. His father who had made a fortune, as a scrivener, was fond of music, hooks, and literature, and his son was carefully educated at Ht. Paul’s School. Milton relates that he frequently studied In the house in Brean street until midnight, and his head ached and his sight, grew dim with these late vigils. He was then al*out twelve years old. He was one of the liest scholars at Ht. Paul’s Hchool, ami loved study as most boys like play. He was eager tx> know h*»\v men lived and acted in Greece ami Rome, what they thought of, ami what they had discovered. He studied the rise ami the fall of empires and republics, ami lieeanie a republican in the midst of kings and princes. He was always fond of poetry, and soon h*>gan to write nne verses. One of his earliest pieces is his “Ode on the Nativity.”— Harper's Youny People.