John Milton was born in London, England (1608), to Sarah Jeffrey and her father, also named John. His mother was the daughter of a merchant seaman. His father was a writer in his own right and also composed music. He inherited his love of art and music from his father. At the age of twelve he entered Christ's College, Cambridge, where he wrote many religious poems in Latin, Italian and English. Milton was often picked on at university and was expelled after starting a fistfight with his tutor. He subsequently spent six years at his father's house, spending his days writing. During those six years he wrote: L'ALLEGRO, IL PENSEROSO (1632), COMUS (1634) and LYCIDAS (1637). In 1635, John Milton and his family moved to Horton, Buckinghamshire, where he continued his studies in Greek, Latin and Italian. He traveled to France and Italy in the late 1630s, meeting the theologian Hugo Grotius in Paris, France, and the astronomer Galileo in Florence, Italy. Milton returned to London in 1639, where he established a school for his nephews. He did not write much, because he was silenced by the civil war for twenty long years. Milton was concerned with the Puritan cause, so during the Civil War he wrote a series of pamphlets against episcopacy (1642), on divorce (1643), in defense of the freedom of the press (1644), and in support of regicides (1649) . After the death of King Charles, Milton published THE TENURE OF KINGS AND MAGISTRATES (1649) arguing that citizens had the right to overthrow and punish tyrants. In 1951 he had to face several unpleasant events. He lost his sight, but even afterward he was put on trial for his controversial writings and political views. After the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, Milton was arrested as a well-known defender of the Commonwealth, but was soon released. Milton paid a huge fine for his opposition. In addition to publicly setting fire to his works EIKONKLASTES (1649) and the first DEFENSIO (1651) in Paris and Toulouse, Milton escaped further sanctions after the Restoration, but lost much of his money and became a reasonably poor man, although Paradise Lost has sold over 1,800 copies.