Ainsworth—Milton as a Writer on Education. 43 
that day. This was Samuel Hartlib, who was well known and 
highly esteemed as a philanthropist and reformer. Of Prussian 
birth and Polish-English descent, Hartlib had important friends 
and correspondents on the Continent as well as in England. His 
interests ranged all the way from the promotion of mechanical 
inventions to a scheme of uniting the Protestant churches through¬ 
out Europe. Among them was the reform of schools. At the 
time of Milton’s return to England in 1639, Hartlib was espe¬ 
cially active in spreading abroad the ideas of Comenius, the great 
Moravian teacher. Milton expresses the highest regard for Hart¬ 
lib’s character and service; and it is significant of the esteem in 
which Milton was beginning to be held, that such a man as Hart¬ 
lib should so earnestly desire his opinion on education. 
Nevertheless, there are two points in the Tractate Of Education 
that may scarcely have been pleasing to Hartlib. In the first 
place, Milton expresses but little regard for Comenius. Milton’s 
practical sense would naturally lead him to take the more skeptical 
view of the schemes of Pansophia or Universal Wisdom which at 
this time were bound up in Comenius’ mind with the plan of edu¬ 
cational reform. And it is likely that, after his years of appli¬ 
cation to study, and his experience as a teacher, Milton not un¬ 
justly believed himself quite as competent to theorize on the sub¬ 
ject of education as the most of his contemporaries. At all events 
he expresses entire indifference to Comenius’ writings. 
Furthermore, one of the most prominent features of Milton’s 
plan would be looked upon by Hartlib, and also by most modern 
educators, as a serious limitation. Milton’s scheme, unlike that 
of Comenius, is not intended for the children of all classes; and 
nothing whatever is said about the education of girls. And yet, 
from Milton’s words in The Commonwealth (quoted above) and 
from Sonnets 10 and 11 and the eulogy on Queen Christina of 
Sweden,® we know that Milton was by no means indifferent to these 
wider interests. In the Tractate he was particularly concerned 
with the training of leaders in Church and State, and he naturally 
looked for them among the young men of the best families. 
Now, another of Hartlib’s interests was the founding of an 
agricultural school; consequently, a glance at the reading-list in 
Milton’s curriculum may have pleased him better. It includes 
many of the authoritative works of the day on natural science and 
its applications. That these books, as natural-scientific treatises. 
^Ibid., 1:249-250. 
