His father, also John Milton, was a scrivener or lawyer, and was well known as a musical composer. He had received a good education and took great pains with his son, employing private tutors for him, and afterwards sending him to St. Paul’s school, where he was for some time a day scholar. The boy was as desirous of an education as his father could wish, and became so interested in his books that he would read and study until after midnight. His compositions and verses attracted attention during his early boyhood. Before he was sixteen years old he had written two of the Psalms in verse. While at St. Paul’s he formed a close friendship with Charles Diodati, the son of an exiled Italian physician. This friendship aroused Milton’s interest in Italian literature. Milton entered Christ’s College, Cambridge, when he was seventeen years old, remaining there seven years. The handsome, graceful young man, with his scorn of all that lacked refinement, was not popular during the first years of his college course, and the students called him “The Lady.” They soon learned to honor his high character and brilliant scholarship. He was regarded as the best student of the university. He had at first intended to become a clergyman, but gave up this plan and was uncertain as to what he should do. His father had taken a house at Horton, about twenty miles from London, and, after leaving Cambridge, Milton spent five years at home, studying Greek and Latin, taking solitary walks, and writing wonderful verses. He also continued the study of music under his father’s teaching, and took great delight in it. Some of his most famous poems were written during those years at Horton. Milton had long desired to travel, and after the death of his mother he found his home so lonely that he persuaded his father to allow him to visit France, Italy, and Switzerland. This journey occupied nearly sixteen months, and was a season of delight to the young poet, who, by reading, had become familiar with these old cities and the famous men who had walked their streets. He also became acquainted with many learned men and persons of rank, and was received everywhere with courteous attention. During his stay at Florence he met the astronomer, Galileo, then old and blind, and recently released from prison, where he had been confined on account of his theories and discoveries. The house at Horton was occupied but a short time after Milton’s return. His father went to live with his son Christopher, and the poet went to London. He hired a pretty “garden-house,” large enough for himself and his books, and lived there with his two nephews, of whose education he took charge. He was fond of teaching, and gradually several other boys joined the class, and his house became a small private school.