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where his education was quite neglected; but having naturally a fine genius, and excellent understanding, the youth, soon surpassed the expectations of his masters. When he arrived at his sixteenth year, he was informed that the church was the only choice he had to make. A lively imagination, powerful passions, and his knowledge of the affluent circumstances of his family, all inspired him with an insurmountable aversion for that profession. Desirous of diverting his father from a resolution which was so fatal to his peace he requested leave to return home that he might open his mind to him. M de Vilmore, as he had no suspicion of these views, had no objections to grant him this favor, and consequently after a kind of exile, ever since he was five years old, he revisited his father and his family for the first time at the age of sixteen. He arrived at his fathers house on the very day when ⟨one⟩ of his sisters was married to the Marquis de C*****. In the scenes of opulence and grandeur which he now beheld, he saw his brothers and sisters; treat him as a stranger, and even his father behave to him with indifference
