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First Edition 1909.

Reprinted 1909, 1912.

NOTE.

'HIS volume is partly a recast of the earlier

THIS

editions of this poem in the "Pitt Press Series," and I desire to repeat my acknowledgment of indebtedness to other Editors.

I have also the pleasure to thank the General Editor of the series for many valuable suggestions.

A. W. V.

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INTRODUCTION.

LIFE OF MILTON.

The three

periods in
Milton's life.

MILTON'S life falls into three clearly defined divisions.
The first period ends with the poet's return
from Italy in 1639; the second at the
Restoration in 1660, when release from the
fetters of politics enabled him to remind the world that
he was a great poet, if not a great controversialist; the
third is brought to a close with his death in 1674. The
poems given in the present volume date from the first of
these periods; but we propose to summarise briefly the
main events of all three.

Born 1608;
the poet's

father.

John Milton was born on December 9, 1608, in
London. He came, in his own words, ex
genere honesto. A family of Miltons had
been settled in Oxfordshire since the reign
of Elizabeth. The poet's father had been educated at an
Oxford school, possibly as a chorister in one of the
College choir-schools, and imbibing Anglican sympathies
had conformed to the Established Church. For this he
was disinherited by his father, a Roman Catholic. He
settled in London, as a scrivener. A scrivener com-
bined the occupations of lawyer and law-stationer. It
appears to have been a lucrative calling; certainly
John Milton (the poet was named after the father)
attained to easy circumstances. He married about 1600,
and had six children, of whom several died young. The
third child was the poet.

The elder Milton was evidently a man of considerable
culture, in particular an accomplished musician, and a
composer whose madrigals were deemed worthy of being

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