In 1638 he left England, and went first to Paris; where, by the favour of Lord Scudamore, he had the opportunity of visiting Grotius, then refiding at the French court as ambaffador from Chriftina of Sweden. From Paris he hafted into Italy, of which he had with particular diligence ftudied the language and literature; and though he seems to have intended a very quick perambulation of the country, ftaid two months at Florence; where he found his way into the academies, and produced his compofitions with fuch applaufe as appears to have exalted him in his own opinion, and confirmed him in the hope, that, " by labour and intenfe ftudy, "which," fays he, "I take to be my por❝tion in this life, joined with a strong propenfity of nature," he might leave fome"thing fo written to after-times, as they "fhould not willingly let it die."

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It appears, in all his writings, that he had the ufual concomitant of great abilities, a lofty and steady confidence in himself, perhaps not without fome contempt of others; for fcarcely any man ever wrote fo much,

and

and praised fo few. Of his praise he was very frugal; as he fet its value high, and confidered his mention of a name as a fecurity against the waste of time, and a certain prefervation from oblivion.

At Florence he could not indeed complain that his merit wanted diftinction. Carlo Dati prefented him with an encomiaftic infcription, in the tumid lapidary style; and Francini wrote him an ode, of which the first stanza is only empty noife; the rest are perhaps too diffuse on common topicks: but the laft is natural and beautiful.

From Florence he went to Sienna, and from Sienna to Rome, where he was again received with kindness by the Learned and the Great. Holftenius, the keeper of the Vatican Library, who had refided three years at Oxford, introduced him to Cardinal Barberini and he, at a mufical entertainment, waited for him at the door, and led him by the hand into the affembly. Here Selvaggi praised him in a diftich, and Salfilli in a tetraftick: neither of them of much value. The Italians were gainers by this literary

commerce; for the encomiums with which Milton repaid Salfilli, though not fecure against a stern grammarian, turn the balance indifputably in Milton's favour.

Of these Italian teftimonies, poor as they are, he was proud enough to publish them before his poems; though he says, he cannot be fufpected but to have known that they were said non tam de fe, quam fupra fe.

At Rome, as at Florence, he staid only two months; a time indeed fufficient, if he defired only to ramble with an explainer of its antiquities, or to view palaces and count pictures; but certainly too fhort for the contemplation of learning, policy, or manners.

From Rome he paffed on to Naples, in company of a hermit, a companion from whom little could be expected; yet to him Milton owed his introduction to Manfo marquis of Villa, who had been before the patron of Taffo. Manfo was enough delighted with his accomplishments to honour him with a forry diftich, in which he commends him for every thing but his religion and Milton, in

return,

return, addressed him in a Latin poem, which must have raised an high opinion of English elegance and literature.

His purpose was now to have vifited Sicily and Greece; but, hearing of the differences between the king and parliament, he thought it proper to haften home, rather than pafs his life in foreign amufements while his countrymen were contending for their rights. He therefore came back to Rome, though the merchants informed him of plots laid against him by the Jefuits, for the liberty of his converfations on religion. He had fenfe enough to judge that there was no danger, and therefore kept on his way, and acted as before, neither obtruding nor fhunning controversy. He had perhaps given fome offence by visiting Galileo, then a prifoner in the inquifition for philofophical herefy; and at Naples he was told by Manfo, that, by his declarations on religious questions, he had excluded himself from fome diftinctions which he should otherwife have paid him. But fuch conduct, though it did not pleafe, was yet fufficiently fafe, and Milton ftaid two months more at Rome, and went on to Florence without moleftation.

From Florence he vifited Lucca. He afterwards went to Venice; and, having fent away a collection of mufic and other books, travelled to Geneva, which he probably confidered as the metropolis of orthodoxy.

Here he repofed, as in a congenial element, and became acquainted with John Diodati and Frederick Spanheim, two learned profeffors of Divinity. From Geneva he paffed through France; and came home, after an absence of a year and three months.

At his return he heard of the death of his friend Charles Diodati; a man whom it is reasonable to suppose of great merit, fince he was thought by Milton worthy of a poem, intituled, Epitaphium Damonis, written with the common but childish imitation of paftoral life.

He now hired a lodging at the house of one Ruffel, a taylor in St. Bride's Churchyard, and undertook the education of John and Edward Philips, his fifter's fons. Finding his rooms too little, he took a house and garden