Instead of imitating the young aristocrats he hated and scorned them.

There must have been great force of originality in the boy.

Of course I don't know whether any Etonians of his time preached Radicalism, but it seems unlikely.

I think it was sheer vigour of character, and the strange desire to oppose his father in everything.

From Eton he was of course to pass to Oxford, but at that stage came practical rebellion.