John Milton

Portrait medallion of the poet John Milton (1608-1674). The poet was a scrivener's son, brought up on Bread Street and educated privately by tutors before becoming a pupil at St Paul's School. Between 1639 and 1645 he lived in 'a pretty garden-house' in Aldersgate Street. John Milton was deeply involved in the theological and political controversies of the time. He wrote tracts in support of a Republican form of government and was employed as a writer by the Commonwealth administration for a salary of fifteen shillings and ten pence halfpenny a day, with accomodation in Whitehall. In 1649 he published ‘Eikonoklastes’ (‘Image Breaker’) in response to the ‘Eikon Basilike’ (‘Royal Image’), a best-selling book of Royalist propaganda.