My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire:I was the third of five sons. He sent me to Emanuel College in Cambridge at fourteen years old,where I resided three years,and applied myself close to my studies;but the charge of maintaining me,although I had a very scanty allowance,being too great for a narrow fortune,I was bound apprentice to Mr. James Bates,an eminent surgeon in London,with whom I continued four years.

My father now and then sending me small sums of money,I laid them out in learning navigation,and other parts of the mathematics,useful to those who intend to travel,as I always believed it would be,some time or other,my fortune to do.

When I left Mr. Bates,I went down to my father:where,by the assistance of him and my uncle John,and some other relations,I got forty pounds,and a promise of thirty pounds a year to maintain me at Leyden:there I studied physic two years and seven months,knowing it would be useful in long voyages.