Page:Catherine of Bragança, infanta of Portugal, & queen-consort of England.djvu/62

36 enough to care. This, however, is not borne out by incidents in the stories of Frances Stuart and of the Duchess of Portsmouth.

"His wit," says Halifax, " consisted chiefly in the quickness of his apprehension. He had contracted abroad the habit of too familiar talking. His wit was never ill-natured. It was natural, and not acquired by reading. He was very affable, which at first was an art, and then became nature. He was quick to see others' weaknesses, and to use them. He had a mechanical head, and a very good memory. He walked by his watch, and when he pulled it out to look at it skilful men made haste to say what they had to say to him. He was neither covetous nor very liberal. Money simply flowed from him. He hated trouble and loved ease. He had more gifts than virtues. He studied to preserve his health, as he thought he could in this way continue his indulgence in pleasures." He was also fond of chemistry and physic, and doctored himself constantly.

Madame de Motteville, the friend of Charles's mother, Henrietta Maria, who has left us a faithful picture of the Queen and her children, gives this just account of Charles—perhaps the truest handed down to us: ** The greatest heroes and sages of antiquity did not guide their lives by grander principles of action than this young King felt and expressed at his outset in life, but unfortunately, finding all his struggles in vain, he at last sunk into indifference, bearing all evils which pertained to his exile and poverty with careless nonchalance, and snatching at all the pleasures that were attainable, without considering the degradation annexed to them. At last it came to pass that we saw the Prince give himself up to the seductions of lawless passion, and pass many years in France and elsewhere in the utmost sloth."