His father was his first tutor until he began his studies at the University of Aberdeen, where he earned a Master of Arts in Philosophy at the age of thirteen.

At first he declined, since his congregation unanimously asked him to remain at East Saltoun; but, when the Bishop of Edinburgh, Leighton, urged him, he accepted the post.

Burnet's motives for marriage were certainly not mercenary, as he entered into what has been described as an early form of "pre-nuptial agreement" by which he renounced any claim to his wife's money.

His energetic and bustling character led him to take an active part in the controversies of the time, and he endeavoured to bring about a reconciliation between Episcopacy and Presbytery.

[1] He described Charles shrewdly as a man who, despite his affable manner and famed courtesy, was at heart the archetypal cynic: "he has a very ill opinion of men and women, and so is infinitely distrustful... he thinks the world is governed wholly by (self) interest".

[3] Burnet noted fairly that this attitude was quite understandable, given the King's experiences in the English Civil War and the Interregnum, which had shown him when he was still very young the "baseness of human nature".

[5] During the Popish Plot, when Queen Catherine was accused of treason, (it was alleged that she had conspired to murder her husband), the King confided to Burnet his feelings of guilt about his ill-treatment of the Queen, "who is incapable of doing a wicked thing", his resolve not to abandon her ("it would be a horrible thing, considering my faultiness to her"), and his wish to live a more moral life in future.

[7] As regards the reality of the Plot itself, while the King quickly became a total sceptic on the subject, Burnet probably captures Charles's first reaction to the accusations neatly enough: "among so many particulars I do not know but there may be some truth.

Like most sensible Protestants he believed that there had probably been a Catholic conspiracy of some sort, but he had grave doubts about the veracity of the informers, especially Titus Oates, while he regarded Israel Tonge, the co-author of the Plot, as insane.

[9] Whether the Catholic nobleman William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford, executed for treason in 1680, was innocent or guilty he regarded as a mystery whose solution must await "the great revelation of all secrets".

[10] In the mid-1670s, a French translation of Nicholas Sanders' De origine et progressu schismatis Anglicani libri tres (1585) appeared.

He then travelled through Switzerland to Italy, where Pope Innocent XI offered him an audience, which Burnet declined on account of his poor knowledge of the Italian language.

We cannot know whether a personal meeting with the Pope would have altered Burnet's low opinion of him (in his History he describes Innocent as "jealous, fearful and extremely ignorant," a view not shared by most later historians).

He was sent letters from the court of William, Prince of Orange, and his wife Princess Mary inviting him to take up residence at The Hague.

[1] It was Burnet who pointed out that William's marriage to Mary did not in itself entitle him to reign jointly with her if she became Queen, and that further steps would be necessary to ensure his right to the throne.

[1] Burnet also upset James by becoming engaged to the wealthy heiress Mary (Maria) Scott (his first wife Lady Margaret had died in 1685).

Burnet, who had long been resigned to being childless since as his first wife Lady Margaret Kennedy had been nearly twenty years his senior, quickly found himself the father of a growing family.

He translated an open letter written by Gaspar Fagel, William's grand pensionary, setting out a policy of lifting disabilities on non-conformists while retaining them on Catholics, which provided an alternative to the dissenters of an alliance with James's court.

William regarded the interference in military matters by non-military personnel with disgust, but he was in good humour at this moment, and responded with a delicate reproof: "Well, Doctor, what do you think of predestination now?

He attempted to refuse the appointment, knowing that Anne, who instinctively disliked anyone whom William favored, was strongly opposed to it, but the King was adamant, despite Burnet's plea that he was still in mourning for his second wife Mary Scott, who had recently died of smallpox while on a visit to Rotterdam.

On one occasion, when the floods were out, he exposed his life to imminent risk rather than disappoint a rural congregation which was in expectation of a discourse from the Bishop.

Ten promising young men, to each of whom he allowed thirty pounds a year, studied divinity under his own eye in the close of Salisbury.

[16] He was present at King William's deathbed, and with that knack for appearing absurd which sometimes detracted from his genuine gifts, he rushed in haste to be the first to break the news to the new Queen, and went on his knees in front of her, only to find himself "generally laughed at".

In 1713 he warned her of an impending Jacobite invasion: the Queen, unimpressed, noted drily that while Burnet apparently considered himself to be all-knowing, she could not help recalling that he had made a similar prophecy the previous year, which had proved to be entirely groundless.

[18] In 1714, as Queen Anne approached death, Burnet became briefly, and in the opinion of his critics, somewhat hysterically concerned about the dire consequences for Protestants if her Catholic half-brother, the Old Pretender, succeeded to the throne.

His predictions of doom were received with general scepticism: "Be easy my Lord, and disturb not the peace of your old age with vain imaginings of a second Revolution and a flight to Holland...

Thomas Babington Macaulay describes Burnet in relation to the king he served, William of Orange: When the doctor took liberties, which was not seldom the case, his patron became more than usually cold and sullen, and sometimes uttered a short dry sarcasm which would have struck dumb any person of ordinary assurance.