attended him every afternoon except on Sundays. Milton, who, in his
letter to Hartlib, had declared, that "to read Latin with an English
mouth is as ill a hearing as Law French," required that Elwood
should learn and practise the Italian pronunciation, which, he said,
was necessary, if he would talk with foreigners. This seems to have
been a task troublesome without use. There is little reason for
preferring the Italian pronunciation to our own, except that it is
more general; and to teach it to an Englishman is only to make him a
foreigner at home. He who travels, if he speaks Latin, may so soon
learn the sounds which every native gives it, that he need make no
provision before his journey; and if strangers visit us, it is their
business to practise such conformity to our modes as they expect
from us in their own countries. Elwood complied with the
directions, and improved himself by his attendance; for he relates,
that Milton, having a curious ear, knew by his voice when he read
what he did not understand, and would stop him, and "open the most
difficult passages."

In a short time he took a house in the Artillery Walk, leading to
Bunhill Fields; the mention of which concludes the register of
Milton's removals and habitations. He lived longer in this place
than any other.

He was now busied by "Paradise Lost." Whence he drew the original
design has been variously conjectured by men who cannot bear to
think themselves ignorant of that which, at last, neither diligence
nor sagacity can discover. Some find the hint in an Italian
tragedy. Voltaire tells a wild and unauthorised story of a farce
seen by Milton in Italy which opened thus: "Let the Rainbow be the
Fiddlestick of the Fiddle of Heaven." It has been already shown,