All these advantages he had so improved that, before he was of age, he was allowed to be one of the finest gentlemen and finest scholars of his time.

His learning is proved by notes which are still extant in his handwriting on books in almost every department of literature.

He spoke French like a gentleman of Lewis's bedchamber, and Italian like a citizen of Florence.

It was impossible that a youth of such parts should not be anxious to understand the grounds on which his family had refused to conform to the religion of the state.

He studied the disputed points closely, submitted his doubts to priests of his own faith, laid their answers before Tillotson, weighed the arguments on both sides long and attentively, and, after an investigation which occupied two years, declared himself a Protestant.