50

mSTOltY OF ENGLAND.

CHAP,

XI.

only what was great could be discerned, and that smallblemishes were invisible. To the Dutch he was brought close:but he was himself a Dutchman. In his intercourse with themhe was seen to the best advantage: he was perfectly at his easewith them; and from among them he had chosen his earliestand dearest friends. But to the English he appeared in a mostunfortunate point of view. He was at once too near to themand too far from them. He lived among them, so that thesmallest peculiarity of temper or manner could not escape theirnotice. Yet he lived apart from them, and was to the last aforeigner in speech, tastes, and habits.

One of the chief functions of our Sovereigns had long beento preside over the society of the capital. That function Charlesthe Second had performed with immense success. His easyhow, his good stories, his style of dancing and playing tennis,the sound of his cordial laugh, were familiar to all London.One day he was seen among the elms of Saint James’s Parkchatting with Dryden about poetry.* Another day his arm wason Tom Durfey’s shoulder; and his Majesty was talcing asecond, while his companion sang “Phillida, Phillida,” or“To horse, brave boys, to Newmarket, to horse.”** James,with much less vivacity and good nature, was accessible, and,to people who did not cross him, civil. But of this sociablenessWilliam was entirely destitute. He seldom came forth from hiscloset; and, when he appeared in the public rooms, he stoodamong the crowd of courtiers and ladies, stern and abstracted,making no jest and smiling at none. His freezing look, hissilence, the dry and concise answers which he uttered when hecould keep silence no longer, disgusted noblemen and gentle-men who had been accustomed to be slapped on the back by

* See the account given in Spence’den's Modal.

** Guardian, No. 67.

Anecdotes of the Origin of Dry*