John Milton

John Milton (1608–1674) was arguably one of the best-read persons of his epoch. Milton’s commonplace book reveals that in addition to the thoroughly humanistic education that he received at Christ's College Cambridge (1625–1632), he also conducted an extensively broad reading program of his own immediately after concluding his university studies, a program that included forays into nearly every branch of learning in a period that he affectionately referred to as his “studious retirement” (1632–1638).