Begins tutoring Thomas Ellwood, a young Quaker who would mention the circumstances of the publication of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regain'd in his own autobiography. Sonnet to Sir Henry Vane published. Vane executed June 14, after eloquently defending the sovereignty of parliament. 1663 February 24. Marries Elizabeth Minshull.
Problems arise in the family before and after the marriage.
1665 Thomas Ellwood acts as agent, securing a house for Milton in Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire, to avoid a visitation of the plague in London. The poet's father's house in Bread Street is among those destroyed in the Great Fire of London, which also burns most of the printing houses. Paradise Lost published, in ten books. Paradise Lost reissued with a new title page, the arguments, and other preliminary matter. Accidence Commenced Grammar published.