This vain and
frivolous humour might seem unworthy and unbecoming in so great a
prince, whose profundity of wisdom had well entitled him to the
appellation of "our English Solomon," did we not call to remembrance
that the greatest of men have not disdained to be children in their
sports; the deepest dispositions of the mind seeming to require the
lightest and most frivolous recreations.
These worthy purveyors to the king's pleasure were of a temper and
capacity widely different. Sir George Goring was caustic and severe; Sir
John Finett pleasant and social, delighting in nothing so much as in the
happiness and gratification of his friends. But the natural disposition
of his thoughts was wild and melancholic, taking its hue from some early
impression, that was now fading in doubt and disappointment.
The full burst of his hilarity floated joyously on the surface, and his
loud mirth, blunting the keen edge of his own feelings, became the more
exhilarating in proportion to their acuteness. He had the warm blood of
the Italian in his veins, being descended from an ancient family of
Sienna; and his rich brown cheek and darkly-speaking eye belied not the
land of his origin.
Pages:
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531