THE TERCENTENARY OF MILTON.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.']
SIR,—December 9th next will be the three-hundredth anniver- sary of the birth of Milton. The Council of the British Academy, feeling that the day should not be allowed to pass without due observance, have decided to organise a commemoration of the tercentenary. They believe that they will be acting in accord- ance with common sentiment, and they are confirmed in this view by a letter which was recently addressed to them by the Lord Mayor, the Chairman of the London County Council, the Vice- Chancellors of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London, the Master of Christ's College, Cambridge (Milton's College), the High Master of St. Paul's School (Milton's school), and Mr. H. A. Harben, on behalf of the trustees of Milton's cottage at Chalfont St. Giles. In this letter the signatories remark that "it might be felt that London, Milton's birthplace, so intimately associated with his life and work, should take the lead in promoting such a movement. But the event is one of national importance rather than of local interest, and its celebration should be entrusted to a representa- tive body competent to ensure that it shall be carried out in a fitting and dignified manner." The details of the programme of the celebration will be duly announced ; but the special reason for addressing this letter to you at this early date is in order to commend the due observance of the tercentenary to the attention of the educational authorities of English-speaking countries. Those who are directly concerned in education will be best able to decide on the various ways in which this suggestion can ho
British Museum. President of the British Academy.
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