40 JOHN MILTON 
There is no doubt that this consecration of himself 
to a lofty ideal of life was begun in early childhood. 
In this earnestness of mood, this clear recognition of 
the seriousness of life and its duties, Milton was a born 
Puritan. But along with this general temperament, the 
lines here quoted tell us of something more. The 
youthful Milton was conscious, dimly at first but more 
distinctly with advancing years, of a mission which he 
was sent into the world to fulfil, An acquaintance 
of his, John Aubrey, tells us that he had begun to 
write verses before his tenth year. It seems clear that 
he was still very young when the vocation of the poet 
came before his mind as the calling which he should 
like to adopt, to which he would fain consecrate his 
life. But the true poet is far more than a builder of 
rhymes; he is the man who sees the deepest truths 
that concern humanity, and knows how to proclaim 
them with power and authority such as no other kind 
of man save the poet can wield. So the boy Milton 
felt himself “born to promote all truth and righteous 
things,” and to this end he became eager to learn and 
know, in order to act for the public good. By his 
twelfth year the raging thirst for knowledge had so far 
possessed him that he commonly sat at his books until 
after midnight. 
It was in a refined and pleasant home that this boy 
grew up. His father was at once indulgent and wise, 
his mother gentle; there was an older sister and a 
younger brother; good company came to the house. 
The scrivener Milton was a musical composer of merit 
enough to be mentioned in contemporary books along- 
side of such masters as Tallis and Orlando Gibbons. 
The house in Bread Street had an organ, upon which 
