Under the guidance, then, of this admirable relative, who was so exceptionally well fitted by character, position, and situation to give his nephew the best possible start in life, and who tenderly loved him, young Francis came to Paris in 1666, at the age of fifteen. It was not, of course, the Paris of the present day; but even then it was a great city, reaching back for its beginning to the Roman times, and recognized as the seat of government for at least a thousand years. Under Henry of Navarre (1589-1610) great improvements had been made, and by the accession of Louis XIV—who began to reign nominally in 1643, at the age of five, but really took charge of the kingdom in 1661—through the completion of several bridges, roads, and quays, and the erection of various public and private palaces, a new face had been put on the old city. It was already the focus of European civilization, learning, and eloquence, as well as the center of all that was most attractive and distinguished in France. The best institutions were there, the best opportunities for advancement, the highest privileges and advantages of every sort; so that to it naturally gravitated all who wished to make the most of themselves under the eye of that Grand Monarch whose favor was life. Francis, therefore, no doubt counted himself greatly blessed at this change, and entered upon his Parisian life—which was to last thirty-one years—with very high, ambitious hopes. His guardian sent him for two years to the Collége du Plessis, then under the rule of M. Gobinet, a first-rate principal. There he speedily distinguished himself as a scholar, and he also gave such tokens of possessing the gift of eloquence that before he was sixteen he was put forward to preach to an admiring audience. It is, perhaps, worth noting that Bossuet—who was so soon to be closely associated with Fénelon, at first in friendship, then in fierce hostility—also preached at the same age, with similar applause, before a brilliant assemblage in Paris. What was the next step? A noble under Louis XIV had two possible careers open to him, and only two; they were the army and the Church. It is not probable that the matter was long debated, if at all, in Francis’ case. Everything about him, his gifts of speech, his high scholarship, his deep piety, his rather delicate health, pointed to the clerical vocation, and there can be no question but this was with him a divine calling, to which doubtless his heart gave full assent. So he was placed, in 1688, at the seminary of St. Sulpice to be trained for the priesthood.