DILLON. 97 His father (who died at Limerick, in 1619), having been converted by Archbishop Usher from the communion of the church of Rome, he was educated in the Protestant faith, and passed the years of his infancy in Ireland. He was brought over to England by his uncle, on his return from the government of Ireland, and placed at that noble man's seat in Yorkshire, under the tuition of Dr. Hall; “a person,” says Fenton, “of eminent learning and piety,” erroneously stated to have been afterwards Bishop of Norwich; as the celebrated Hall was at this period a bishop, and f a r advanced i n years. By Doctor Hall h e was instructed i n Latin, and without acquiring the com mon rules o f grammar, which his memory could never retain, h e not only attained the art o f writing that lan guage with classical elegance and propriety, but made choice o f i t t o correspond with such o f his friends who were learned enough t o support the correspondence. When the cloud began t o gather over England, and the prose cution commenced against the Earl o f Strafford, that nobleman's house was n o longer considered a s a proper resi dence for his nephew, and h e was, b y the advice o f Arch bishop Usher, sent t o Caen, i n Normandy, where the Protestants had then a n university, and studied under the directions o f the learned Bochart, where h e i s said t o have made great proficiency i n literature; but a t this time h e could not have been more than nine years old. His father i s said t o have died during his stay a t Caen, and a strange and improbable tale i s related o f his having had some preternatural intelligence o f that event. How long h e remained a t Caen i s uncertain; but i t appears that after having finished his studies a t that place, h e travelled into Italy, and visited Rome, where h e grew familiar with the most valuable remains o f antiquity, applying himself particularly t o the knowledge o f medals, i n which h e arrived t o perfection, and spoke the Italian language with s o much grace and fluency, that h e was frequently mistaken there for a native. - Shortly after the Restoration, h e returned t o England, H
