younger son, Christopher, at Reading, and afterward to
spend his last years in the family of John in London, where he died in
1647.

With his removal to London in 1639 a distinct period in Milton's life
comes to an end. He has hitherto been uninterruptedly acquiring knowledge
both by studious devotion to books and by observation of human life in
foreign lands. He has read all the great literatures in ancient and
modern languages. He has felt the poetic impulse and has proved to
himself that he has at command creative power. His purpose still is to
produce a poem. But this poem of his aspirations is distinctly a great
and majestic affair, and not at all a continuation of such work as that
which he has hitherto given to his friends, and which he esteems as
prolusions of his youth.

The poetic waiting-time which Milton, now in full vigor of manhood,
prescribes for himself, he is constrained, both by inner conviction and
by external necessity, to fill with hard and earnest work. Henceforth,
for a score of years, he ceases almost entirely to write verse, and he
earns his living. He becomes a householder in London, where, as the
father had gained his livelihood by drawing up contracts and mortgages
for his fellow-citizens, the son proceeds to gain his by teaching their
boys Latin.

To the work of teaching, Milton addressed himself with intelligence and
predilection. About education he had ideas of his own which he applied in
practice and advocated in writing. His Tract on Education is a document
of importance in the history of pedagogy, and is, besides, one of those
memorable pieces of English prose which every student of literature,
whatever his professional aims, must include in his reading. He kept his
school in his own house, where he boarded some of his pupils. We could
not imagine John Milton going into a great public school, like St.
Paul's, to serve as under-teacher to one of the tyrannical head-masters
of the day. The only school befitting his absolutely convinced and
masterful spirit is one in which he reigns supreme. The great subject is
Latin, and so thoroughly is Latin taught that finally other subjects are
explained through the medium of this language. He had, himself, brought
from his school and college days very decided discontent with the methods
then in vogue. This discontent he expresses in language of peculiar
energy and even harshness. He is a true reformer.

In 1643 Milton, then thirty-five years ol