At the age of sixteen he was taken from a celebrated school in England at which he had been placed, and sent to a small French university, in order that he might form an intimate and accurate acquaintance with the grand language of the continent.

There he continued three years, at the end of which he went under the care of a French abbe to Germany and Italy.

It was in this latter country that he first began to cause his guardians serious uneasiness.

He was in the heyday of youth when he visited Italy, and he entered wildly into the various delights of that fascinating region, and, what was worse, falling into the hands of certain sharpers, not Italian, but English, he was fleeced of considerable sums of money.
The abbe, who, it seems, was an excellent individual of the old French school, remonstrated with his pupil on his dissipation and extravagance; but, finding his remonstrances vain, very properly informed the guardians of the manner of life of his charge.

They were not slow in commanding Francis Ardry home; and, as he was entirely in their power, he was forced to comply.