 As evidence that Gregory was very young in 1528, there are two letters written by John Chekyng, his tutor, to Thomas Cromwell, describing a "little" boy who "plays" and who is learning to read and write.The first letter, written in July 1528, states that his son Gregory "is not now at Cambridge, but in the country, where he works and "plays" alternately ...He is now studying the things most conducive to the reading of authors, and spends the rest of the day in forming letters."