=Source.=--Clarendon, _History of the Rebellion._ Book XI., §§
239-243.
To speak first of his private qualifications as a man, before the
mention of his princely and royal virtues: he was, if ever any,
the most worthy of the title of an honest man; so great a love of
justice, that no temptation could dispose him to a wrongful action,
except it was so disguised to him that he believed it to be just.
He had a tenderness and compassion of nature, which restrained him
from ever doing a hard-hearted thing; and therefore he was so apt to
grant pardons to malefactors, that the judges of the land represented
the damage and insecurity to the public, that flowed from such his
indulgence. And then he restrained himself from pardoning either
murders or highway robberies, and quickly discerned the fruits of his
severity by a wonderful reformation of those enormities. He was very
punctual and regular in his devotions; he was never known to enter
upon his recreations or sports, though never so early in the morning,
before he had been at public prayers, so that on hunting days his
chaplains were bound to a very early attendance. He was likewise
very strict in observing the hours of his private cabinet devotions,
and was so severe an exactor of gravity and reverence in all mention
of religion, that he could never endure any light or profane word
in religion, with what sharpness of wit soever it was covered; and
though he was well pleased and delighted with reading verses made
upon any occasion, no man durst bring before him anything that was
profane or unclean. That kind of wit had never any countenance then.
He was so great an example of conjugal affection, that they that did
not imitate him in that particular did not brag of their liberty: and
he did not only permit, but direct his bishops to prosecute those
scandalous vices, in the ecclesiastical courts, against persons of
eminence and near relation to his service.
His kingly virtues had some mixture and alloy, that hindered them
from shining in full lustre, and from producing those fruits they
should have been attended with. He was not in his nature very
bountiful, though he gave very much. This appeared more after the
Duke of Buckingham's death, after which those showers fell very
rarely: and he paused too long in giving, which made those to whom
he gave less sensible of the benefit. He kept State to the full,
which made his Court very orderly; no man presuming to be seen in a
place where he had no pretence to be. He saw and observed men long
before he received any about his person; and did not love strangers,
nor very confident men. He was a patient hearer of causes, which he
frequently accustomed himself to at the council board, and judged
very well, and was dextrous in the mediating part: so that he often
put an end to causes by persuasion, which the stubbornness of men's
humours made dilatory in courts of justice.
He was very fearless in his person, but not very enterprising. He
had an excellent understanding, but was not confident enough of it;
which made him oftentimes change his opinion for a worse, and follow
the advice of men that did not judge so well as himself. This made
him more irresolute than the conjuncture of his affairs would admit:
if he had been of a rougher and more imperious nature he would have
found more respect and duty. And his not applying some severe cures
to approaching evils proceeded from the lenity of his nature, and
the tenderness of his conscience, which, in all cases of blood, made
him choose the softer way, and not hearken to severe counsels how
reasonably soever urged. This only restrained him from pursuing his
advantage in the first Scots expedition, when, humanly speaking, he
might have reduced that nation to the most slavish obedience that
could have been wished. But no man can say he had then many who
advised him to it, but the contrary, by a wonderful indisposition
all his council had to fighting, or any other fatigue. He was always
an immoderate lover of the Scottish nation, having not only been
born there, but educated by that people and besieged by them always,
having few English about him till he was king; and the major number
of his servants being still of that nation, who he thought could
never fail him. And among these, no man had such an ascendant over
him, as Duke Hamilton had.
As he excelled in all other virtues, so in temperance he was so
strict, that he abhorred all debauchery to that degree, that, at a
great festival solemnity, where he once was, when very many of the
nobility of the English and Scots were entertained, being told by one
who withdrew from thence, what vast draughts of wine they drank, and
"that there was one earl who had drunk most of the rest down, and was
not himself moved or altered," the King said, "that he deserved to
be hanged," and that earl coming shortly after into the room where
his majesty was, in some gaiety, to show how unhurt he was from that
battle, the king sent one to bid him withdraw from his Majesty's
presence; nor did he in some days after appear before him.
So many miraculous circumstances contributed to his ruin that men
might well think that heaven and earth and the stars designed it.
Though he was, from the first declension of his power, so much
betrayed by his own servants, that there were very few who remained
faithful to him, yet that treachery preceded not from any treasonable
purpose to do him any harm, but from particular animosities against
other men. And afterwards the terror all men were under of the
Parliament, and the guilt they were conscious of themselves, made
them watch all opportunities to make themselves gracious to those who
could do them good; and so they became spies upon their master, and
from one piece of knavery were hardened and confirmed to undertake
another; till at last they had no hope of preservation but by the
destruction of their master. And after all this, when a man might
reasonably believe that less than a universal defection of three
nations could not have reduced a great king to so ugly a fate, it
is most certain that, in that very hour when he was thus wickedly
murdered in the sight of the sun, he had as great a share in the
hearts and affections of his subjects in general, was as much
beloved, esteemed, and longed for by the people in general of the
three nations, as any of his predecessors had ever been. To conclude,
he was the worthiest gentleman, the best friend, the best husband,
the best father, and the best Christian, that the age in which he
lived had produced. And if he were not the best king, if he were
without some parts and qualities which have made some kings great and
happy, no other prince was ever so unhappy who was possessed of half
his virtues and endowments, and so much without any kind of vice.