A Character differeth from a Picture only in this, every Part of it must
be like, but it is not necessary that every Feature should be comprehended
in it as in a Picture, only some of the most remarkable.
_This Prince_ at his first entrance into the World had Adversity for his
Introducer, which is generally thought to be no ill one, but in his case
it proved so, and laid the foundation of most of those Misfortunes or
Errors, that were the causes of the great Objections made to him.
The first Effect it had was in relation to his _Religion_.
The ill-bred familiarity of the _Scotch_ Divines had given him a distaste
of that part of the Protestant Religion. He was left then to the little
Remnant of the _Church of England_ in the _Fauxbourg St. Germain_; which
made such a kind of figure, as might easily be turn'd in such a manner as
to make him lose his veneration for it. In a refined Country where
Religion appeared in Pomp and Splendor, the outward appearance of such
unfashionable Men was made an Argument against their Religion; and a young
Prince not averse to rallery, was the more susceptible of a contempt for
it.
The Company he kept, the Men in his Pleasures, and the Arguments of State
that he should not appear too much a Protestant, whilst he expected
Assistance from a Popish Prince; all these, together with a habit
encouraged by an Application to his Pleasures, did so loosen and untie him
from his first Impressions, that I take it for granted, after the first
Year or two, he was no more a Protestant. If you ask me what he was, my
answer must be, that he was of the Religion of a young Prince in his warm
Blood, whose Enquiries were more applied to find Arguments against
believing, than to lay any settled Foundations for acknowledging
Providence, Mysteries, _&c._ A General Creed, and no very long one, may be
presumed to be the utmost Religion of one, whose Age and Inclination could
not well spare any Thoughts that did not tend to his Pleasures.
In this kind of Indifference or Unthinkingness, which is too natural in
the beginnings of Life to be heavily censured, I will suppose he might
pass some considerable part of his Youth. I must presume too that no
Occasions were lost, during that Time, to insinuate every thing to bend
him towards Popery. Great Art without intermission against Youth and
Easiness, which are seldom upon their guard, must have its Effect. A Man
is to be admired if he resisteth, and therefore cannot reasonably be
blamed if he yieldeth to them. _When_ the critical Minute was, I'll not
undertake to determine; but certainly the inward Conviction doth generally
precede the outward Declarations: At what distances, dependeth upon Mens
several Complexions and Circumstances; no stated Period can be fixed.
It will be said that he had not Religion enough to have _Conviction_; that
is a vulgar Error. Conviction indeed is not a proper word but where a Man
is convinced by Reason; but in the common acceptation, it is applied to
those who cannot tell why they are so: If Men can be at least as positive
in a Mistake as when they are in the right; they may be as clearly
convinced when they do not know why, as when they do.
I must presume that no Man of the King's Age, and his Methods of Life,
could possibly give a good reason for changing the Religion in which he
was born, let it be what it will. But our Passions are much oftener
convinced than our Reason. He had but little Reading, and that tending to
his Pleasures more than to his Instruction. In the Library of a young
Prince, the solemn Folios are not much rumpled, Books of a lighter
Digestion have the Dog's Ears.
Some pretend to be very precise in the time of his Reconciling; The
Cardinal _de Retz_, _&c._ I will not enter into it minutely, but whenever
it was, it is observable that the Government of _France_ did not think it
adviseable to discover it openly; upon which such obvious Reflections may
be made, that I will not mention them.
Such a Secret can never be put into a place which is so closely stopt,
that there shall be no Chinks. Whispers went about, particular Men had
Intimations: _Cromwell_ had his Advertisements in other things, and this
was as well worth his paying for. There was enough said of it to startle a
great many, though not universally diffused; So much, that if the
Government here, had not crumbled of itself, his Right alone, with that
and other clogs upon it, would hardly have thrown it down. I conclude that
when he came into _England_ he was as certainly a _Roman Catholick_, as
that he was a Man of Pleasure; both very consistent by visible Experience.
It is impertinent to give Reasons for Mens changing their Religion. None
can give them but themselves, as every Man has quite a different way of
arguing: A thing which may very well be accounted for. They are differing
kinds of Wit, to be quick to find a _Fault_, and to be capable to find out
a _Truth_: There must be industry in the last; the first requires only a
lively heat, that catcheth hold of the _weak_ side of any thing, but to
choose the _strong_ one is another Talent. The reason why Men of Wit are
often the laziest in their Enquiries is, that their heat carrieth their
Thoughts so fast, that they are apt to be tired, and they faint in the
drudgery of a continued Application. Have not Men of great Wit in all
times permitted their Understandings to give way to their first
Impressions? It taketh off from the Diminution when a Man doth not _mind_
a thing; and the King had then other Business: The inferior part of the
Man was then in Possession, and the Faculties of the Brain, as to serious
and painful Enquiries, were laid asleep at least, tho' not extinguished.
Careless Men are most subject to Superstition. Those who do not study
Reason enough to make it their Guide, have more Unevenness: As they have
Neglects, so they have Starts and Frights; Dreams will serve the turn;
Omens and Sicknesses have violent and sudden Effects upon them. Nor is
the strength of an Argument so effectual from its intrinsick Force, as by
its being well suited to the Temper of the Party.
The _genteel part_ of the _Catholick_ Religion might tempt a Prince that
had more of the fine Gentleman than his governing Capacity required: and
the exercise of _Indulgence_ to _Sinners_ being more frequent in it, than
of _inflicting Penance_, might be some recommendation. Mistresses of that
Faith are stronger Specificks in this case, than any that are in Physick.
The _Roman Catholicks_ complained of his Breach of Promise to them very
early.[1] There were broad peepings out, Glimpses so often repeated, that
to discerning Eyes it was flaring: In the very first Year there were such
Suspicions as produced melancholy shakings of the Head, which were very
significant. His unwillingness to _marry_ a _Protestant_ was remarkable,
though both the Catholick and the Christian Crown would have adopted her.
Very early in his Youth, when any _German_ Princess was proposed, he put
off the discourse with Rallery. A thousand little Circumstances were a
kind of accumulative Evidence, which in these Cases may be admitted.
Men that were earnest Protestants were under the sharpness of his
Displeasure, expressed by Rallery, as well as by other ways. Men near him
have made Discoveries from sudden breakings out in Discourse, _&c._ which
shewed there was a Root. It was not the least skilful part of his
concealing himself, to make the World think he leaned towards an
Indifference in Religion.
He had Sicknesses _before_ his Death, in which he did not trouble any
Protestant Divines; those who saw him _upon his Death-bed_, saw a great
deal.
As to his writing those Papers,[2] he might do it. Though neither his
Temper nor Education made him very fit to be an Author, yet in this case,
(a known Topick, so very often repeated) he might write it all himself,
and yet not one word of it his own. That Church's Argument doth so agree
with Men unwilling to take pains, the Temptation of putting an End to all
the trouble of enquiring is so great, that it must be very strong reason
that can resist: The King had only his meer natural Faculties, without any
Acquisitions to improve them; so that it is no wonder, if an Argument
which gave such _Ease_ and _Relief_ to his Mind, made such an Impression,
that with thinking often of it, (as Men are apt to do of every thing they
like) he might, by the Effect chiefly of his Memory, put together a few
Lines with his own Hand, without any help at the time; in which there was
nothing extraordinary, but that one so little inclined to write at all,
should prevail with himself to do it with the Solemnity of a Casuist.