father, trustful and unselfish as of old, found the considerable sum
requisite for a prolonged foreign tour; and in April, 1638, Milton,
provided with excellent introductions from Sir Henry Wootton and others,
seeks the enrichment and renovation of his genius in Italy:--

"And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore
Flames in the forehead of the morning sky."




CHAPTER III.


Four times has a great English poet taken up his abode in "the paradise
of exiles," and remained there until deeply imbued with the spirit of
the land. The Italian residence of Byron and Shelley, of Landor and
Browning, has infused into English literature a new element which has
mingled with its inmost essence. Milton's brief visit could not be of
equal moment. Italian letters had already done their utmost for him; and
he did not stay long enough to master the secret of Italian life. A real
enthusiasm for Italy's classical associations is indicated by his
original purpose of extending his travels to Greece, an enterprise at
that period requiring no little disdain of hardship and peril. But it
would have been an anachronism if he could have contemplated the
comprehensive and scientific scheme of self-culture by Italian
influences of every kind which, a hundred and fifty years later, was
conceived and executed by Goethe. At the time of Milton's visit Italian
letters and arts sloped midway in their descent from the Renaissance to
the hideous but humorous rococo so graphically described by Vernon Lee.