wonder that many of the individuals for whom his courtiers interested themselves were men not of the most reputable character. When Lord Keeper Guildford once interceded for a man whose reputation was somewhat indifferent: "It is strange," said Charles, "that every one of my friends keeps a tame knave."

CHAPTER XVII.

CHARLES II.

Instances of Charles's Right Feeling and Kindness of HeartHis Good-natured Support of Lord Keeper Guildford - His Kindness to Sir John Reresby- Liberality of Charles - His Excellent Natural Capacity - His Knowledge of the Arts and Sciences His Interest in Naval Affairs - His Taste for the Sea Becomes Fashionable at Court- His Love of Theatricals Anecdotes - Verses Believed to Be the Com

position of Charles Profligacy of the Court - Remarkable

Punishment of Sir Peckshall Brockas - Desecration at Court of the Sabbath Day- A Court Ball - Ancient Palace of Whitehall - The King's Mode of Living at Windsor - His Taste for Fishing - His Manner of Living at NewmarketPicture of a Royal Debauch Anecdotes Royal Mistresses

- Their Rapacity - The King's Nickname of "Old Rowley" - His Poverty-His Custom of Attending the Debates in the House of Lords.

THE enemies of Charles have denied to him. every sense of rectitude, and even the common merit of good nature. In their sweeping charges of profligacy, indolence, and ingratitude, they have divested him of the few better feelings and principles, of which his reputation cannot afford to be deprived. As regards one point of his character, Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, justly stands up

for his old master. "" Surely," he says, "he was inclined to justice; for nothing else would have retained him so fast to the succession of a brother, against a son he was so fond of, and the humour of a party he so much feared." When pressed to consent to the Bill of Exclusion against the Duke of York, "James," said he, "will not keep the crown; but let him forfeit it by his own ill conduct; I will not cut him off from the succession." We may add to this act of justice his kind and manly protection of the queen, during the fury of the Popish Plot. They think," said he, "I have a mind to a new wife, but for all that I will not see an innocent woman persecuted." Let any one read Lord Clarendon's account of his daughter's dishonour, and of Charles's interference to wipe away the stain; let him read the history of the lady's subsequent marriage with the Duke of York, brought about entirely by the interposition of Charles, in opposition to the disapproval of his mother, and to the advice even of Clarendon himself, with a woman, too, who was not only of an obscure, but of a mean family; and it will be impossible entirely to deny to Charles the merit of right feeling and of kindness of heart.

Of the king's good nature we have another instance. When Lord Keeper Guildford was under fear of impeachment, the king, observing the melancholy expression of his countenance, drew near to the woolsack. "Be of good comfort," he

whispered to him, "I will never forsake my friends, as my father did." He was never known to make an enemy in social life. Lord Dartmouth was told an anecdote of Charles by one who knew him well. "It was the king's maxim," he said, "to quarrel with no one, whatever might have been the provocation, as he was ignorant, he said, how shortly he might require the same person to become his friend." In the estimation of every Englishman, the existing establishments of Greenwich and Chelsea should of themselves be sufficient memorials to proclaim that he had at least some redeeming goodness of heart.

Of the ingratitude of Charles much has been said, and much is undoubtedly deserved. His forgetfulness, however, of former services was owing, not so much to the innate hardness of heart, of which he has been accused, as to the extraordinary difficulties in which he found himself placed. Half a nation were his petitioners, who, of course, exaggerating their services, deafened his ears with their complaints, and have since bequeathed very partial accounts of their injuries to posterity. On his first arrival in England, hundreds of suffering cavaliers had preferred their claims, and Charles, in the fullness of his gratitude, had, no doubt, most unfortunately promised more than he could perform. These people, naturally exasperated at their disappointment, became so vehement in their importunities that their

language at times amounted almost to insult. Lord Halifax even attributes the king's habit of fast walking to the number of "asking faces " and the dismal complaints by which he was constantly encountered. They used to persecute him, we are told, in all places, and even followed him with their importunities from room to room.

Charles naturally became disgusted, and, as it was impossible he could satisfy all, he too frequently turned a deaf ear on his tormentors. These circumstances, though they are not intended as a defence, may in some degree palliate the conduct of Charles. We must remember, moreover, the indolence of his nature; the excessive rapacity of his mistresses and friends; and the notorious fact that his income was but ill adapted to the exalted station which he occupied.

Sir John Reresby, in his Memoirs, pays a passing but agreeable tribute to the king's real kindness of heart and consideration for others. "On the first of March," he says, "the king went to Newmarket, and I followed him a few days afterward; when the weather being very unseasonable and dirty, and walking about the town with his Majesty, he observed that my shoes were but thin, and advised me to get a stronger pair, to prevent my catching cold; which, though a trivial remark in itself, may serve for an example of that prince's great goodness and care for those persons that were near to him, though ever so inconsid