This boy so marvellously endowed was brought up in surroundings which were ideal for his development. His father, a man of erudition, a wit and orator, occupying one of the highest positions in the country, his mother a lady of great classical accomplishments, who had enjoyed the benefits of an education and training by her father, that eminent scholar, Sir Anthony Cooke, and, lastly, there was this man--his grandfather--living within riding distance from his home. It seems inevitable that the natural powers of young Francis must have excited a keen interest in the old tutor of Edward VI., who had devoted his evenings to imparting to his daughters what he had taught the Prince during the day, so that if he left behind him no heirs of his body, he might leave heirs of his mind. The boy Francis was, indeed, a worthy heir of his mind, and it is impossible to believe otherwise than that Sir Anthony Cooke would throw himself heart and soul into the education of his grandchild, but no statement or tradition has come down to this effect. It may be, however, that a sentence which has already been quoted from "The Lives of Statesmen and Favourites" is intended to imply that Francis was the pupil of Sir Anthony: "He said first and his Grandchilde my Lord Bacon after him, That the Joys of Parents are Secrets, and so their Griefs and Fears.... Very providently did he secure his Eternity, by leaving the image of his nature in his Children and of his mind in his Pupil." The pupil referred to was not Edward VI., for he died twenty-three years before Sir Anthony, and he could not, therefore, have left the image of his mind in the young King. Following directly after the sentence "He said first and his Grandchilde Lord Bacon after him" it is possible that the reference may be to the boy Francis. Certainly Sir Anthony "would secure his eternity" if he left the image of his mind in his "Grandchilde." In any case the prodigious natural powers of the boy were placed in an environment well suited for their full development.