The King, however, cared more for his pleasures than for literature or
the welfare of the nation. His chief aim was to beg, borrow, or
extort money to waste in dissipation. The loans which he forced his
subjects to grant, and which were seldom, if ever, repaid, went under
the name of "benevolences." But it is safe to say that those who
furnished them were in no very benevolent frame of mind at the time.
Exception may perhaps be made of the rich and elderly widow, who was
so pleased with the King's handsome face that she willingly handed him
a 20 pounds (a large sum in those days); and when the jovial monarch
gallantly kissed her out of gratitude for her generosity, she at once,
like a true and loyal subject, doubled the donation. Edward's course
of life was not conducive to length of days, even if the times had
favored a long reign. He died early, leaving a son, Prince Edward, to
succeed him.