ly, on which he set out in April, 1638. As an indication of
his social position in England, we must note that he carries with him
letters of introduction which secure to him notice and recognition from
men of rank or of notable literary and scientific standing. He goes
abroad as a cultivated private gentleman, known to have achieved
distinction as a student. Undoubtedly his chief qualification for holding
his own in learned Italian society was his command of languages,
especially of Latin, unless indeed we are to put before his linguistic
accomplishments the refined and gentlemanly personal bearing which was
his birthright, and which, in his years of intense application to books,
he had not forfeited. In Italy he associated with men whose intellectual
interests were the universal ones of science, in which he was as much at
home as they. Thus he possessed a perfect outfit of the endowments and
the acquisitions which a traveller needs to make his travel fruitful to
himself and honorable to his country.

In Italy he made friends among men of note, and established relations
which were to have their importance in his future life. But most
memorable among his Italian experiences was his visit to the aged
Galileo, who was then a "prisoner to the Inquisition" for teaching that
the earth moves round the sun. The modern astronomy was then winning its
way among men of thought very much as the doctrine of evolution has been
winning its way during the last half century. Few minds surrendered
instantly and without misgiving to the new conception. Milton has still
many years to meditate the question before he comes to the composition of
Paradise Lost, when his scheme of the physical universe will have to
recognize the requirements of poetic art and the prevalence of ancient
beliefs regarding the origin and order of the cosmos. From the fact that
the poet puts the earth in the centre of the universe, that he adopts, in
fact, the Ptolemaic system, though he knew the Copernican, we are not
entitled to infer that he held a fixed conviction in the matter, and
that, on direct examination as to his views, he would have absolutely
professed one theory and rejected the other. The poet has all rights of
choice, and may be said to know best where to stand to take his view of
the world.

Milton remained abroad some sixteen months, and was home again in August,
1639. The Horton household was now broken up, the father going to live,
first with his