Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/302

 ill and the cure not clear; 'to all which,' he goes on, his irrepressible spirits again getting the upperhand, 'I say —

'I heartily join in your prayer,' he concluded, 'and you know that my studyes are how his present Majesty may even by and with his religion, do glorious things for God himself and his subjects; and trust his affairs in no worse hands than the maligned persons you mention, who will serve him upon demonstrable motives, not base assentation; and who saith, with our friend Horace,

Southwell, from London, again warned him of the serious character of the position, and against indulging in a foolish optimism based on the mere fact of Lord Clarendon being still nominally kept in office, while the real power was fast passing into the hands of Tyrconnel. 'I have known you formerly,' he said, 'to mind the cylinders, while your acres were tearing from you; and you would not desist from Philosophy as long as it was not in the power of a decree to forbid rubarb and Cena from purging.'

Sir William's natural inclination to make the best of what he could not avoid, and his evident disposition at the moment to put a favourable construction on conduct deserving the worst, was strengthened by the encouraging manner in which he was received by the King, who at this juncture accorded him an interview. His experiments in ship-building in the previous reign, it has been seen, had brought him into frequent relations with James during the time that the latter was Lord High Admiral. It would appear that James had learnt to place confidence in him, and the optimistic temperament of Sir William led him to desire to take the most lenient view that was possible under the circumstances of the intentions of the new ruler. On general grounds Sir William probably sympathised with the abortive attempts made in the