 He was first educated by a Mrs. Gedge, an elderly woman, “much occupied in the concerns of religion”, with whom he read the Old and New Testaments. After her death in 1764, he and his brother went to Mr. Akers’ school in Hilderston (now Hindolverston). Godwin remained a religious enthusiast and dissenter—preaching to his fellow schoolchildren, identifying some as “children of the devil”, and refusing to answer questions on the Collect of the week, taken from the Book of Common Prayer (CNM I, 24). His success at Akers’ reinforced his commitment to intellectual activity and his aversion to physical toil, and compounded his pride, for which he was frequently admonished by his father. Despite his father’s opposition, his resolution to become a minister never wavered, and in 1767 he went to board with a Mr. Samuel Newton, the minister of an independent congregation in Norwich.