At the age of fourteen, Robert was sent, at his uncle's expense (his uncle was Rev. Herbert Hill who was the Chaplain to the "British Factory" at Lisbon, Portugal) to Westminster School. During his last year at school, Southey entered a period of acute adolescent rebellion, finally being expelled for a school-magazine essay condemning flogging. As a result of this expulsion Southey was refused entrance at Christ Church, Oxford; however, he was accepted at Balliol where he matriculated in November 1792. Southey's stay at Oxford was not so profitable for him, as he was later to declare, "All I learnt was a little swimming ... and a little boating."2