It was understood-and this, anyhow, on Mark's own authority-that his father had been a country clergyman.
It was said that, as a boy, Mark had attracted the notice, and patronage, of some rich old spinster of the neighbourhood, who had paid for his education, both at school and university.
At about the time when he was coming down from Cambridge, his father had died; leaving behind him a few debts, as a warning to his family, and a reputation for short sermons, as an example to his successor.
Neither warning nor example seems to have been effective.
Mark went to London, with an allowance from his patron, and (it is generally agreed) made acquaintance with the money-lenders.
He was supposed, by his patron and any others who inquired, to be "writing"; but what he wrote, other than letters asking for more time to pay, has never been discovered.
However, he attended the theatres and music halls very regularly-no doubt with a view to some serious articles in the "Spectator" on the decadence of the English stage.
Fortunately (from Mark's point of view) his patron died during his third year in London, and left him all the money he wanted.
From that moment his life loses its legendary character, and becomes more a matter of history.
He settled accounts with the money-lenders, abandoned his crop of wild oats to the harvesting of others, and became in his turn a patron.