1660. read a great deal of divinity, and almost all the historians ancient and modern: so that he had great materials. He had with these an extraordinary memory, and a copious but unpolished expression. He was a man, as the duke of Buckingham called him to me, of a blundering understanding. He was haughty beyond expression, abject to those he saw he must stoop to, but imperious to all others. He had a violence of passion that carried him often to fits like madness, in which he had no temper. If he took a thing wrong, it was a vain thing to study to convince him: that would rather provoke him to swear, he would never be of another mind: he was to be let alone: and perhaps he would have forgot what he had said, and come about of his own accord. He was the coldest friend and the violentest enemy I ever knew: I felt it too much not to know 102 it. He at first seemed to despise wealth: but he delivered himself up afterwards to luxury and sensuality and by that means he ran into a vast expense, and stuck at nothing that was necessary to support it. In his long imprisonment he had great impressions of religion on his mind: but he wore these out so entirely, that scarce any trace of them was left. His great experience in affairs, his ready compliance with every thing that he thought would please the king, and his bold offering at the most desperate counsels, gained him such an interest in the king, that no attempt against him, nor complaint of him, could ever shake it, till a decay of strength and understanding forced him to let go his hold. He was in his principles much against popery and arbitrary government: and yet, by a fatal train of passions and interests, he made way for the for mer, and had almost established the latter. And, 1660. whereas some by a smooth deportment made the first beginnings of tyranny less discernible and unacceptable, he, by the fury of his behaviour, heightened the severity of his ministry, which was liker the cruelty of an inquisition than the legality of justice. With all this he was a presbyterian, and retained his aversion to king Charles I. and his party to his death. character. character. The earl of Crawford had been his fellow prisoner Crawford's for ten years. And that was a good title for maintaining him in the post he had before, of being lord treasurer. He was a sincere but weak man, passionate and indiscreet, and continued still a zealous presbyterian. The earl, afterwards duke of Rothes, Rothes's had married his daughter, and had the merit of a long imprisonment likewise to recommend him he had a ready dexterity in the management of affairs, with a soft and insinuating address: he had a quick apprehension with a clear judgment: he had no advantage of education, no sort of literature: nor had he travelled abroad: all in him was mere nature. [But it was nature very much depraved; for he seemed to have freed himself from all impressions of virtue or religion, of honour or good nature. He delivered himself, without either restraint or decency, to all the pleasures of wine and women. He had but one maxim, to which he adhered firmly, that he was to do every thing, and deny himself in nothing, that might maintain his greatness, or gratify his appetites. He was unhappily made for drunkenness. For as he drank all his friends dead, and was able to subdue two or three sets of drunkards one after another; so it scarce ever appeared, 1660. that he was disordered; and after the greatest excesses, an hour or two of sleep carried them all off so entirely, that no sign of them remained. He would go about business without any uneasiness, or discovering any heat either in body or mind. This t had a terrible conclusion; for after he had killed all his friends, he fell at last under such a weakness of stomach, that he had perpetual cholics, when he was not hot within, and full of strong liquor, of which he was presently seized; so that he was always either sick or drunk.] Tweedale's character. The earl of Tweedale was another of lord Lauderdale's friends. He was early He was early engaged in business, and continued in it to a great age. He understood all the interests and concerns of Scotland well: he had a great stock of knowledge, with a mild and obliging temper. He was of a blameless, or rather an exemplary life in all respects. He had loose thoughts both of civil and ecclesiastical government; and seemed to think, that what form soever was uppermost was to be complied with. He had been in Cromwell's parliament, and had abjured the royal family, which lay heavy on him. But the disputes about the guardianship of the duchess of Monmouth and her elder sister, to which he pretended in the 103 right of his wife, who was their father's sister, against her mother, who was lord Rothes's sister, drew him into that compliance which brought a great cloud upon him though he was in all other respects the ablest and worthiest man of the nobility: only he was too cautious and fearful. D. Hamilton's character. A son of the marquis of Douglas, made earl of Selkirk, had married the heiress of the family of Hamilton, who by her father's patent was duchess of Hamilton: and when the heiress of a title in 1660. Scotland marries one not equal to her in rank, it is ordinary, at her desire, to give her husband the title for life so he was made duke of Hamilton. He then passed for a soft man, who minded nothing but the recovery of that family from the great debts under which it was sinking, till it was raised up again by his great management. After he had compassed that, he became a more considerable man. He wanted all sort of polishing: he was rough and sullen, but candid and sincere. His temper was boisterous, neither fit to submit nor to govern. He was mutinous when out of power, and imperious in it. He wrote well, but spoke ill: for his judgment, when calm, was better than his imagination. made himself a great master in the knowledge of the laws, of the history, and of the families of Scotland; and seemed always to have a regard to justice, and the good of his country: but a narrow and selfish temper brought such an habitual meanness on him, that he was not capable of designing or undertaking great things. He din's cha Another man of that side, that made a good fi- Kincairgure at that time, was Bruce, afterwards earl of racter. Kincairdin, who had married a daughter of Mr. Somelsdych in Holland: and by that means he had got acquaintance with our princes beyond sea, and had supplied them liberally in their necessities. He was both the wisest and the worthiest man that belonged to his country, and fit for governing any affairs but his own; which he by a wrong turn, and by his love for the public, neglected to his ruin; for they consisting much in works, coals, salt, and mines, required much care; and he was very capa 1660. ble of it, having gone far in mathematics, and being a great master of mechanics. His thoughts went slow, and his words came much slower: but a deep judgment appeared in every thing he said or did. He had a noble zeal for justice, in which even friendship could never bias him. He had solid principles of religion and virtue, which shewed themselves with great lustre on all occasions. He was a faithful friend, and a merciful enemy. I may be perhaps inclined to carry his character too far; for he was the first man that entered into friendship with me. We continued for seventeen years in so 104 entire a friendship, that there was never either reserve or mistake between us all the while till his death. And it was from him that I understood the whole secret of affairs; for he was trusted with every thing. He had a wonderful love to the king; and would never believe me, when I warned him what he might look for, if he did not go along with an abject compliance in every thing. He found it true in conclusion. And the love he bore the king made his disgrace sink deeper in him, than became such a philosopher or so good a Christian as he was. character of the old cavaliers. I now turn to another set of men, of whom the earls of Midletoun and Glencairn were the chief. The general They were followed by the herd of the cavalier party, who were now very fierce, and full of courage over their cups, though they had been very discreet managers of it in the field, and in time of action. But now every one of them boasted that he had killed his thousands. And all were full of merit, and as full of high pretensions; far beyond what all the wealth and revenues of Scotland could answer. Primerose's The subtilest of all lord Midletoun's friends was sir character. |