He had been liberally educated, and had, in the late reign, been a fellow of Magdalene College, Oxford.

Alone in that great society he had betrayed the common cause, had consented to be the tool of the High Commission, had publicly apostatized from the Church of England, and, while his college was a Popish seminary, had held the office of Vice President.

The Revolution came, and altered at once the whole course of his life.

Driven from the quiet cloister and the old grove of oaks on the bank of the Cherwell, he sought haunts of a very different kind.

During several years he led the perilous and agitated life of a conspirator, passed and repassed on secret errands between England and France, changed his lodgings in London often, and was known at different coffeehouses by different names.