Burnet's two characters of Charles II are in striking agreement with
the more elaborate study by Halifax.
Page 221, ll. 1 ff. Compare Halifax, p. 216, ll. 10 ff.
l. 14. _his Chancellor_, Clarendon.
Page 222, l. 16. _he became cruel_. This statement was attacked by
Roger North, _Lives of the Norths_, ed. 1890, vol. i, p. 330: 'whereas
some of our barbarous writers call this awaking of the king's genius
to a sedulity in his affairs, a growing cruel, because some suffered
for notorious treasons, I must interpret their meaning; which is a
distaste, because his majesty was not pleased to be undone as his
father was; and accordingly, since they failed to wound his person and
authority, they fell to wounding his honour.' Buckingham says, 'He was
an Illustrious Exception to all the Common Rules of _Phisiognomy_; for
with a most _Saturnine_ harsh sort of Countenance, he was both of a
_Merry_ and a _Merciful_ Disposition' (ed. 1705, p. 159); with which
compare Welwood, ed. 1700, p. 149. The judicial verdict had already
been pronounced by Halifax: see p. 216, ll. 23 ff.
ll. 21-3. See Burnet, ed. Osmund Airy, vol. i, p. 539, for the
particular reference. The scandal was widespread, but groundless.
Page 223, l. 9. _the war of Paris_, the Fronde. See Clarendon, vol. v,
pp. 243-5.
ll. 11 ff. Compare Buckingham, ed. 1705, p. 157: 'Witty in all
sorts of Conversation; and telling a Story so well, that, not out of
Flattery, but the Pleasure of hearing it, we seem'd Ignorant of what
he had repeated to us Ten Times before; as a good _Comedy_ will bear
the being often seen.' Also Halifax, p. 208, ll. 7-14.
l. 17. John Wilmot (1647-80), second Earl of Rochester, son of Henry
Wilmot, first Earl (No. 32). Burnet knew him well and wrote his life,
_Some Passages of the Life and Death Of the Right Honourable John Earl
of Rochester_, 1680; 'which', says Johnson, 'the critick ought to read
for its elegance, the philosopher for its arguments, and the saint for
its piety' (_Lives of the Poets_, ed. G.B. Hill, vol. i, p. 222).
ll. 25 ff. The resemblance to Tiberius was first pointed out in print
in Welwood's _Memoirs_, p. 152, which appeared twenty-four years
before Burnet's _History_. But Welwood was indebted to Burnet. He
writes as if they had talked about it; or he might have seen Burnet's
early manuscript.
65.