Why speak of the charms of Italy, in themselves sufficient allurement to a poet and scholar?
His father, trustful and unselfish as of old, found the considerable sum requisite for a prolonged foreign tour; and in April, 1638, Milton, provided with excellent introductions from Sir Henry Wootton and others, seeks the enrichment and renovation of his genius in Italy:-- "And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore Flames in the forehead of the morning sky.".