MSS. Oxford:--Bodl. Laud. Misc. 176 (sec. xiv); Magd. Coll. 112 (sec. xv). =John=, Roger Bacon’s favourite pupil, was certainly not John of London[1362], or John Peckham[1363]. On the other hand it is impossible to identify him with any known scholastic doctor. It is not certain whether he was a friar or whether he was ever at Oxford. About 1260 Roger Bacon found him probably at Paris, as a poor boy of fifteen eager to learn, but forced to beg his bread and to serve those who gave him the necessaries of life[1364]. ‘I caused him,’ says Roger[1365], ‘to be taken care of and instructed for the love of God.’ The boy repaid his master’s care. Wishing to send a fit interpreter of his works to the Pope, Bacon writes[1366], ‘I chose a youth whom for five or six years I have had instructed in languages and mathematics and optics, in which is all the difficulty of what I send; and I instructed him gratis with my own mouth after I received your command, feeling that I could not at present have another messenger after my own heart.’ There was no one at Paris who knew so much of the roots of philosophy as did _juvenis Johannes_; he was ‘a virgin, not knowing mortal sin,’ and ‘an excellent keeper of secrets[1367].’ John was sent to Clement with the _Opus Majus_ and other treatises[1368] in 1267, the other works, _Opus Minus_ and _Opus Tertium_, being sent later and probably by other messengers. From this time we have no authentic information about him, and do not know whether he fulfilled Bacon’s expectations: ‘he has that which will enable him to surpass all the Latins, if he lives to old age and builds on the foundations which he has[1369].’ =Robert de Ware=, in Hertfordshire[1370], entered the Order at Oxford between 1265 and 1268. In the prologue of his only extant work, addressed to his younger brother John, he gives the following account of his conversion[1371]:-- I was the eldest son of my father; at a tender age, tenderly beloved, I was designed for a life of study. At length I came to Oxford, and then I entered the Order of Friars Minors. At this my father was exceedingly grieved, and did all in his power to force me to leave the Order, sending my mother and brother and relatives and other friends to me, with intreaties and promises; and, I am told, with the help of some powerful persons, he made every exertion to secure my liberation in the court of Ottobon, who was then acting as legate in England[1372]. At length finding himself thwarted because I would not give my consent, he became so embittered against me that he absolutely refused to see me or speak with me, nor could any of my friends pacify him. One day even, when I had come to his gates with my companion-friar, and wished to enter, he refused me admittance by his servants, drew his sword, and swore with a mighty oath that he would kill me if I presumed to enter.