and his guardians became Benjamin Stillingfleet, Dr. Dampier, David Garrick and a certain Mr. Price of Hereford. At the age of 16 Windham was removed from Eton for fighting. Windham attended the University of Glasgow in 1766 and studied under Dr. Anderson, Professor of Natural Philosophy, and Robert Simson the mathematician. Windham wrote three unpublished theses on mathematics. He then attended University College, Oxford, from 1767 to 1771 as a gentleman-commoner, where he was tutored by Robert Chambers. According to Edmund Malone, Windham "was highly distinguished for his application to various studies, for his love of enterprise, for that frank and graceful address, and that honourable deportment, which gave a lustre to his character though every period of his life". He took his BA degree in 1771, his MA on 7 October 1782, and was awarded a DCL at the Duke of Portland's installation as Chancellor. He made a tour of Norway in 1773 and visited Switzerland and Italy between 1778 and 1780. Windham was a Christian. Before he took a balloon ride, he wrote to George James Cholmondeley on 4 May 1785 a letter that was only to be delivered if he did not survive the trip. It contained Windham's confession of faith: The best, the greatest, the most solemn office I can render in a letter of this sort, is to extort you to a steady contemplation of divine truths, and a sincere endeavour to confirm in yourself that faith, which after various fluctuations I believe to be the true one, and which, independent of evidence, is supported by too great authorities ever to be rejected with confidence. Whatever may be the diversity of opinion as to the particular nature, I believe Christ to be a person divinely commissioned, and that faith in him affords the fairest hope of propitiating the great author of the world. Cultivate in your mind this persuasion and dwell upon it till it grows into a principle of action. May it avail both to the purposes of final salvation. Early political career: 1778–1789 In early 1778 Windham first took part in political matters. He felt strongly about the American War of Independence, writing to Richard Brinsley Sheridan on 5 January that "I never felt so much disposition to exert myself before". On 28 January Windham delivered in Norwich his first public speech, where he spoke against the war, and a few days later