He had a _Mechanical Head_, which appeared in his Inclination to Shipping
and Fortification, _&c._ This would make one conclude, that his Thoughts
would naturally have been more fixed to Business, if his Pleasures had not
drawn them away from it.
He had a very good _Memory_, though he would not always make equal good
Use of it. So that if he had accustomed himself to direct his Faculties
to his Business, I see no Reason why he might not have been a good deal
Master of it. His Chain of _Memory_ was longer than his Chain of
_Thought_; the first could bear any Burden, the other was tired by being
carried on too long; it was fit to ride a Heat, but it had not Wind enough
for a long Course.
A very great Memory often forgetteth how much Time is lost by repeating
things of no Use. It was one Reason of his talking so much; since a great
Memory will always have something to say, and will be discharging itself,
whether in or out of Season, if a good Judgment doth not go along with it,
to make it stop and turn. One might say of his Memory, that it was a
_Beaute Journaliere_: Sometimes he would make shrewd Applications, _&c._
at others he would bring things out of it, that never deferred to be laid
in it.
He grew by Age into a pretty exact _Distribution_ of his _Hours_, both for
his Business, Pleasures, and the Exercise for his Health, of which he took
as much care as could possibly consist with some Liberties he was resolved
to indulge in himself. He walked by his Watch, and when he pulled it out
to look upon it, skilful Men would make haste with what they had to say to
him.
He was often retained in his _personal_ against his _politick_ Capacity.
He would speak upon those Occasions most dexterously against himself;
_Charles Stuart_ would be bribed against the _King_; and in the
Distinction, he leaned more to his natural Self; than his Character would
allow. He would not suffer himself to be so much fettered by his Character
as was convenient; he was still starting out of it, the Power of Nature
was too strong for the Dignity of his Calling, which generally yielded as
often as there was a contest.
It was not the best use he made of his _Back-stairs_ to admit Men to bribe
him against himself, to procure a Defalcation, help a lame Accountant to
get off, or side with the Farmers against the Improvement of the Revenue.
The King was made the Instrument to defraud the Crown, which is somewhat
extraordinary.
That which might tempt him to it probably was, his finding that those
about him so often took Money upon those Occasions; so that he thought he
might do well at least to be a Partner. He did not take the Money to
_hoard_ it; there were those at Court who watched those Times, as the
_Spaniards_ do for the coming in of the _Plate Fleet_. The Beggars of both
Sexes helped to empty his Cabinet, and to leave room in them for a new
lading upon the next Occasion. These Negotiators played double with him
too, when it was for their purpose so to do. He _knew it_, and _went on_
still; so he gained his present end, at the time, he was less solicitous
to enquire into the Consequences.
He could not properly be said to be either _covetous_ or _liberal_; his
desire to get was not with an Intention to be rich; and his spending was
rather an Easiness in letting Money go, than any premeditated Thought for
the Distribution of it. He would do as much to throw off the burden of a
present Importunity, as he would to relieve a want.
When once the Aversion to bear Uneasiness taketh place in a Man's Mind, it
doth so check all the Passions, that they are dampt into a kind of
Indifference; they grow faint and languishing, and come to be subordinate
to that fundamental Maxim, of not purchasing any thing at the price of a
Difficulty. This made that he had as little Eagerness to oblige, as he had
to hurt Men; the Motive of his giving Bounties was rather to make Men less
uneasy to him, than more easy to themselves; and yet no ill-nature all
this while. He would slide from an asking Face, and could guess very well.
It was throwing a Man off from his Shoulders, that leaned upon them with
his whole weight; so that the Party was not glader to receive, than he to
give. It was a kind of implied bargain; though Men seldom kept it, being
so apt to forget the advantage they had received, that they would presume
the King would as little remember the good he had done them, so as to make
it an Argument against their next Request.
This Principle of making the _love_ of _Ease_ exercise an entire
Sovereignty in his thoughts, would have been less censured in a private
Man, than might be in a Prince. The Consequence of it to the Publick
changeth the Nature of that Quality, or else a Philosopher in his private
Capacity might say a great deal to justify it. The truth is, a King is to
be such a distinct Creature from a Man, that their Thoughts are to be put
in quite a differing Shape, and it is such a disquieting task to reconcile
them, that Princes might rather expect to be lamented than to be envied,
for being in a Station that exposeth them, if they do not do more to
answer Mens Expectations than human Nature will allow.
That Men have the less Ease for their loving it so much, is so far from a
wonder, that it is a natural Consequence, especially in the case of a
Prince. Ease is seldom got without some pains, but it is yet seldomer kept
without them. He thought giving would make Men more easy to him, whereas
he might have known it would certainly make them more troublesome.
When Men receive Benefits from Princes, they attribute less to his
Generosity than to their own Deserts; so that in their own Opinion, their
Merit cannot be bounded; by that mistaken Rule, it can as little be
satisfied. They would take it for a diminution to have it circumscribed.
Merit hath a Thirst upon it that can never be quenched by golden Showers.
It is not only still ready, but greedy to receive more. This King
_Charles_ found in as many Instances as any Prince that ever reigned,
because the Easiness of Access introducing the good Success of their first
Request, they were the more encouraged to repeat those Importunities,
which had been more effectually stopt in the Beginning by a short and
resolute Denial. But his Nature did not dispose him to that Method, it
directed him rather to put off the troublesome Minute for the time, and
that being his Inclination, he did not care to struggle with it.
I am of an Opinion, in which I am every Day more confirmed by
Observation, that Gratitude is one of those things that cannot be bought.
It must be born with Men, or else all the Obligations in the World will
not create it. An outward Shew may be made to satisfy Decency, and to
prevent Reproach; but a real Sense of a kind thing is a Gift of Nature,
and never was, nor can be acquired.
The Love of Ease is an Opiate, it is pleasing for the time, quieteth the
Spirits, but it hath its Effects that seldom fail to be most fatal. The
immoderate Love of Ease maketh a Man's Mind pay a passive Obedience to any
thing that happeneth: It reduceth the Thoughts from having _Desire_ to be
_content_.
It must be allowed he had a little Over-balance on the well-natured Side,
not Vigour enough to be earnest to do a kind Thing, much less to do a
harsh one; but if a hard thing was done to another Man, he did not eat his
Supper the worse for it. It was rather a Deadness than Severity of Nature,
whether it proceeded from a Dissipation of Spirits, or by the Habit of
Living in which he was engaged.
If a King should be born with more Tenderness than might suit with his
Office, he would in time be hardned. The Faults of his Subjects make
Severity so necessary, that by the frequent Occasions given to use it, it
comes to be habitual, and by degrees the Resistance that Nature made at
first groweth fainter, till at last it is in a manner quite extinguished.
In short, this Prince might more properly be said to have _Gifts_ than
_Virtues_, as Affability, Easiness of Living, Inclinations to give, and
to forgive: Qualities that flowed from his Nature rather than from his
Virtue.
He had not more Application to any thing than the Preservation of his
_Health_; it had an intire Preference to any thing else in his Thoughts,
and he might be said without Aggravation to study that, with as little
Intermission as any Man in the World. He understood it very well, only in
this he failed, that he thought it was more reconcilable with his
_Pleasures_, than it really was. It is natural to have such a Mind to
reconcile these, that 'tis the easier for any Man that goeth about it, to
be guilty of that Mistake.
This made him overdo in point of Nourishment, the better to furnish to
those Entertainments; and then he thought by great _Exercise_ to make
Amends, and to prevent the ill Effects of his Blood being too much raised.
The Success he had in this Method, whilst he had Youth and Vigour to
support him in it, encouraged him to continue it longer than Nature
allowed. Age stealeth so insensibly upon us, that we do not think of
suiting our way of Reasoning to the several Stages of Life; so insensibly
that not being able to pitch upon any _precise Time_, when we cease to be
young, we either flatter ourselves that we always continue to be so, or at
least forget how much we are mistaken in it.