Page "John Evelyn" Paragraph 4

Born into a family whose wealth was largely founded on gunpowder production, John Evelyn was born in Wotton, Surrey, and grew up in the Sussex town of Lewes.

He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford and at the Middle Temple.

While in London, he witnessed important events such as the execution of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford.

Having briefly joined the Royalist army, he went abroad to avoid further involvement in the English Civil War.

He travelled in Italy, attending anatomy lectures in Padua in 1646 and sending the Evelyn Tables back to London.

In 1644, Evelyn visited the English College at Rome, where Catholic priests were trained for service in England.

In the Veneto he renewed his acquaintance with the Collector Earl of Arundel and toured the art collections of Venice with Arundel's son and heir.

He acquired an ancient Egyptian stela and sent a sketch back to Rome which was published by Athanasius Kircher in his Oedipus Aegyptiacus ( 1650 ), though to Evelyn's annoyance, without acknowledgement to him