John Milton (1608–1674)

The English poet John Milton (1608–1674) published his most famous literary work, Paradise Lost, in 1667. In addition to other political treatises, he published the Areopagitica in 1644, in which he called on the English parliament to grant freedom of the press (to no avail). He subsequently served as a censor himself, working as an official for the Republican government of the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658). After Cromwell's death, Milton – who had by this stage gone blind – withdrew from public life.

John Milton (1608–1674), copperplate engraving, no date, unknown artist, in: Hubbard, Elbert: Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, vol. 5: Little Journeys to the Homes of English Authors, New York 1916; source: Project Gutenberg, http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/6/1/13619/13619-h/13619-h.htm.