16 G

CHAP.

II.

mSTORY OF ENGLAND,

a great and good King. Charles came forth from that schoolwith social habits, with polite and engaging manners, andwith some talent for lively conversation, addicted beyondmeasure to sensual indulgence, fond of sauntering and offrivolous amusements, incapable of self-denial and of exertion,without faith in human virtue or in human attachment, with-out desire of renown, and without sensibility to reproach.According to him, every person was to be bought: but somepeople haggled more about their price than others; and whenthis haggling was very obstinate and very skilful it was calledby some fine name. The chief trick by which clever men keptup the price of their abilities was called integrity. The chieftrick by which handsome women kept up the price of theirbeauty was called modesty. The love of God, the love ofcountry, the love of family, the love of friends, were phrasesof the same sort, delicate and convenient synonymes for thelove of self. Thinking thus of mankind, Charles naturallycared very little what they thought of him. Honour andshame were scarcely more to him than light and darkness tothe blind. His contempt of flattery has been highly com-mended, but seems, when viewed in connection with the restof his character, to deserve no commendation. It is possibleto be below flattery as well as above it. One who trustsnobody will not trust sycophants. One who does not valuereal glory will not value its counterfeit.

It is creditable to Charles’s temper that, ill as he thoughtof his species, he never became a misanthrope. He saw littlein men but what was hateful. Yet he did not hate them.Nay, he was so far humane that it was highly disagreeable tohim to see their sufferings or to hear their complaints. Thishowever is a sort of humanity which, though amiable andlaudable in a private man whose power to help or hurt isbounded by a narrow circle, has in princes often been rather avice than a virtue. More than one well disposed ruler has