, skillfully, and magnanimously
all the offices, both private and public, of peace and war."

He criticised the schools of his time and sought to make them more
practical. Like the earlier Innovators, and in harmony with the spirit
that was rapidly growing, he thought that too much time was given to the
study of Latin, and urged that science, music, physical culture, and
language as a means of acquiring a knowledge of useful things, should
receive more attention in the schools. Quick says, "A protest against a
purely literary education comes with tremendous force from the student
who sacrificed his sight to his reading, the accomplished scholar whose
Latin works were known throughout Europe, and the author of 'Paradise
Lost.'"[107]

Milton's experience in teaching was confined to a small boarding school,
such as those usually resorted to for educating the sons of the better
classes in England at that time. For pupils he began with two nephews,
to whom were soon added a few other boys. These were sons of Milton's
friends, and some of them came as boarders, others as day students.
Milton seemed to like the work of teaching, and it was during this
period that his "Tractate" was written. He probably taught school in
this way for eight or nine years, and then was appointed to a small
office under the government, which secured his living. The rest of his
life was devoted chiefly to literary work.

=Milton's "Tractate."=--The principal lessons from this educational work
are embodied in the following quotation: "The end then of Learning is to
repair the ruines of our first Parents by regaining to know God aright,
and out of that knowledge to love him, and to imitate him, to be like
him, as we may the nearest by possessing our souls of true virtue, which
being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest
perfection."[108] This rather cumbersome definition shows how fully
Milton was possessed of the Puritan spirit, which then controlled
England, and which magnified religious zeal.

Milton's scheme of education may be briefly summed up as follows:--

1. The school premises should consist of a spacious house with large
school grounds, intended for about one hundred and thirty students from
twelve to twenty-one years of age, who should receive their complete
secondary and university education in the same school. This scheme, so
unique in Milton's time, is practically carried out in France and the
United States, wh