BOOKS OF THE MOMENT

THE SUPERMAN OF PLEASURE

[COPYRIGHT IN THE UNITED STATES OE AMERICA BY THE

New York Times.] Nell Gwynne. By Arthur Dasent. (Macmillan. 18s. net.) The Works of George Savile Marquess of Halifax. Edited by W. Raleigh. (Oxford : at the Clarendon Press. 1912.) Ire there is any excuse for making a detailed record of the Lives:of the Rakes..—and perhaps .there is. more excuse than appears on the surface—Charles IL, or " Old Rowley," as the courtiers called after a wicked old goat that frequented the privy garden at Whitehall, deserves special attention. He would have been a remarkable man even if he had not been a remarkable debauchee. In addition, he was a King, and a King who took the stage after a great revolution and many strange and exciting adventures. But Charles IL gives an even greater and more poignant excuse than that for biography. The psychology of the man presents some very curious grounds for study, and in his case the material is much more abundant and more noteworthy than is usual in historical characters of 300 years ago. By a happy accident the character of Charles II. was anaternatized by one of the acutest minds and greatest masters in the art of personal and

mental analysis that the world has ever known. Lord Halifax, in his Character of King Charles II., achieved a memorable triumph. In this incomparable study of some eleven thousand

words he gives us a portrait of a man's mind and natures which in the exact sense is exhaustive. Ile squeezes the sponge which he has passed over Charles absolutely dry. It

first of all absorbed all the liquid available and then it was wrung out to the last drop. As we read the concluding words in Halifax's Character, it is difficult not to say, " Even George Meredith or Henry James never did anything approaching this. It is not. likely to be equalled. It will certainly never

be bettered."

Mr. Beresford Chancellor, the writer of the book before me, does not rise to any such heights, and yet we are glad of his book. Read with Halifax as a guide the details he gives are noteworthy and interesting. Almost on every page the reader who knows his Halifax will say, " How absolutely this accords with the generalizations of the Great Trimmer !" Though his subject is unsavoury—indeed, disgusting in many respects—Mr. Chancellor has been discreet in the best sense. He has grown fond of his King, as I am bound to say everyone always did who knew him intimately or came to know him by a study of his period. And yet he hides nothing and makes no perpetual or wearisome apology. He gives us the facts, and, as a rule, lets them speak for them- selves for good or ill. All he does else, and rightly, is to emphasize how in many respects Charles II. was better than one might have expected him to be in an age so dissolute and in a Society in which the relaxation of all moral restraint had reached its zenith. Halifax closes his study with the words, " Let his Royal Ashes then lie soft upon him, and cover him from harsh and unkind Censures ; which though they should not be unjust, can never clear themselves from being indecent."

That might well have been taken as the motto for this Life. though Mr. Chancellor might add he has gone nearer clearing his criticism from indecency than, considering the subject, could have been expected.

The best thing that can be said about Charles II., and it ought to be said at once, is that the element of cruelty, so often the attendant of lust and self-indulgence grown putrid, seems to have been absent from his nature. He let his passions make a beast of him, but never a wild beast. As far as I know, there is no example of his having used force or fraud to obtain the gratification of his desires. No maidens

were carried off by him, and in no case did he play the part of David in any new tragedy of Uriah the Hittite. He did not even threaten, but trusted entirely in his amours to his own powers of seduction. He did not even persuade by threats. The only. example' that I can remember which is quoted of a serious threat by " Old Rowley " is much to his

credit. Charles saw the child of the Duchess of Cleveland crying because she had broken the window of the coach and feared her mother (" a very cruel and austere woman ") would beat her. He thereupon sent a message to the Duchess to say that if she touched the child she would lose his favour and protection. Ile added, for he knew his woman, explicit instructions that she was not to let anyone else chastise the child for her. Charles was no doubt a heartless man and would in the last resort have applied the old Border motto, " Thou shalt want ere I want," but, short of that, he generally liked to do kindnesses and hated to see people ill-used by Fortune or by others. He liked smiling faces and was in all essentials a genial man. He had none of that diabolism which delights in the sufferings mental or physical of others, such as stained Napoleon. The Emperor positively enjoyed making. other people miserable. For example, when on campaign he obtained great amusement from raking up any gossip sent to him from Paris which would make his Marshals and his Staff officers unhappy as to the conduct of their wives. Charles, on the other hand, instead of provoking sour faces and sour hearts, found friction of this kind, and especially " scenes," unbearable. Here indeed was the man's undoing. His virtues, as Halifax clearly saw, injured him far more than his vices. His kindliness and hatred of suffering made him, again as Halifax saw, the servant of people whose mast( r he theoretically was. It came about in this way. The King spent his life in avoiding rows and having a pleasant, nay, an uproariously good time. He liked the river of life not merely to flow smoothly, but with a winking ripple of laughter and good fellowship. Therefore he would do almost anything to avoid trouble and worry. Ile slid away, Halifax tells us, from " an asking face," and would buy off by gifts of money or power anyone who bored and pestered him by bringing up their grievances or trying to get a decision out of him on some great, or pretended great, affair. lie was a very fast walker, and tried to walk away from the bores who pursued him, and generally from all trouble.

The clever but ignoble race of courtiers soon found out the King's weakness and played upon it. They dug up every sort of moribund trouble and difficulty and actually manufactured new grievances in order that they might use the said troubles and grievances to blackmail the King and get bought off- by him. The fact that he hated to say no to any proposition, or to be harsh, or anything but at his full ease was played upon for all it was worth. This anti-refusal complex went so far that at last Charles had almost no choice at all. Everything was settled for him, and often against him, by negative barricades. He could only move on prescribed tram-lines. As Halifax notes, he did not even do what most monarchs insist upon—choose his own mistresses. They were selected for him by others because it was less trouble to him to leave it at that than to fight against the coteries who were supporting this or that inisDass in being, or trying to force a new one upon him. He generally yielded, not on a comparison

of the respective attractions of the two ladies, but on an estimate of the strength of the factions that were at the moment supporting the respective courtesans. The people whom it would be hardest work to resist or overcome carried the day.

The only woman for whom he for her own sake felt any- thing approaching love or tenderness, and to whom he was constant, was Nell Gwynne. She was a sort of female Charles II.

in temperament, though probably of more steadfastness of character than the King.

As is shown in Mr. Dasent's sketch of her " Poor Nellie " was genuinely fond of the King, and used her influence over him as little for evil as it is possible to imagine, considering all the circumstances. She did not want to make trouble or mischief. In a kind of muddled way she probably regarded the King as a licensed polygamist, and so was not jealous. She neither tyrannized over him nor bled him ; though she herself was sacrificed again and again to Charles's desire not to have a row, or in order to get rid of " the asking face " of some persistent rival or rival's friend !

But to return to the main point, Charles, like all inveterate pleasure-seekers, failed in his object—an easy time. Pope, greatest of analysts in verse, though he applied his words to a woman, exactly summed up the situation when he described how Atossa only purchased pain by too intense a pursuit of the things that should have given joy. She died of nothing but the rage to live." With Charles ease and happiness were killed by his over-lust to obtain them !

And yet, when all is said and done, there must have been something better in the man than this intensive desire to avoid friction in the conduct of life. This is proved by the fact that on one or two great oceosions he threw up his slavish- ness to ease and showed a more liberal spirit. Again, it is proved by the way in which certain people—very few, but still, somewere genuinely attached to him. Halifax, though hel got little or nothing out of the King, was a sincere admirer, and an admirer who knew and understood at first hand all the King's failings and corruptions. Nell Gwynne, as I have said, loved him sincerely. Indeed, it may be said that the people whose opinion was most worth having, and who knew him most intimately, condemned him least. Those who

knew him at first hand and yet hated him were very much worse men than he was. Again, the mass of the English

people undoubtedly liked him. He indeed is the capita example of the kind of person about whom Englishmen are still fond of saying with sapient waggings of the head He's got no enemies except himself."

I wish I had space to quote Halifax's exquisite chapter on Charles's Dissimulation. It was a specially delightful theme for the Great Trimmer. ' The opening passage runs as follows :-

" One great Objection made to him was the concealing himself, and disguising his Thoughts. In this there ought a Latitude to be given ; it is a Defect not to have it-at all, and a Fault to have it too much. Human Nature will not allow the Mean ; like all other things, as soon as ever Men get to do them well, they cannot easily hold from doing them too much. 'Tis the case even in the least things, as singing, &c. . . . Dissimulation is like most other Qualities, it hath two Sides ; it is necessary, and vet it is dangerous too. To have none at all layeth a Man open to Contempt, to have too much exposeth him to Suspicion, which is only the less dis- honourable Inconvenience. If a Man doth not take very great Precautions, he is never so much shewed as when he endeavoureth to hide himself. One Man cannot take more pains to hide himself, than another will do to see into him, especially in the Case of Kings. ; . . Princes dissemble with too many not to have it dis- covered ; no wonder then that He carried it so far that it was discovered. Men compared Notes, • and got Evidence ; so that those whose Morality would give them leave, took it for an Excuse for serving him ill. Those who knew his Face, fixed their Eyes there ; and thought it of more Importance to see than to hear what he said. His Face was as little Blab as most Men's, yet though it could not be called a prattling Face, it would sometimes tell Tales to a good Observer. When he thought fit to be angry, he had a very peevish Memory ; there was hardly a Blot that escaped him. At the same time that this shewed the Strength of his Dissimulation, it gave warning too ' • it fitted his present Purpose, but it made a Discovery that put Men more upon their Guard against him."

When we come to the question of the mistresses, Halifax is precise to brutality. " It was resolved generally by others whom he should have in his arms, as well as whom he should have in his Councils. Of a Man who was so capable of choosing, he chose as seldom as any Man that ever lived." Here, indeed, was a limited monarchy.

And now must come Halifax's apologia for the King's process of taking sanctuary from trouble :—

" The thing called Sauntering, is a stronger Temptation to Princes than it is to others. The being galled with Importunities, pursued from one Room to another with asking Faces ; the dismal Sound of unreasonable Complaints, and ill-grounded Pretences ; the Deformity of Fraud ill-disguised ; all these would make any Man run away from them ; and I used to think it was the Motive for making him walk so fast. So it was more properly taking Sanctuary. To get into a Room, where all Business was to stay at the Door, excepting such as he was disposed to admit, might be very acceptable to a younger Man than he was, and less given. to his Ease."

The desire to get men's gratitude as a foundation for ease was marked in Charles. Halifax gives us a mournful, nay, cruel, anatomy here :- " I am of an Opinion, in which I am every Day more confirmed by Observation, that Gratitude is one of those things that cannot be bought. It must be born with Men, or else all the Obligations in the World will not create it. An outward Shew may be made to satisfy Decency, and to prevent Reproach ; but a real Sense of a kind thing is a Gift of Nature, and never was, nor can be acquired. The Love of Ease is an Opiate, it is pleasing for the time, quieteth the Spirits, but it hath its Effects that seldom fail to be most fatal. The immoderate Love of Ease maketh a Man's Mind pay a passive Obedience to any thing that happeneth : It reduceth the Thoughts from having Desire to be content. It must be allowed he had a little Over-balance on the well-natured Side, not Vigour enough to be earnest to do a kind Thing, much less to do a harsh one • but if a hard thing was done to another Man, he did not eat his Supper the worse for it. It was rather a Deadness than Severity of Nature, whether it proceeded from a Dissipation of Spirits, or by the Habit of Living in which he was engaged. If a King should be born with more Tenderness than might suit with his Office, would in time be hardened. The Faults of his Subjects make Severity so necessary, that by the frequent Occasions given to use it, it comes to be habitual, and by degrees the Resist- ance that Nature made at first groweth fainter, till at last, it is in a manner quite extinguished. In short, this Prince might more properly be said to have Gifts than Virtues, as Affability, Easiness of Living, Inclinations to give and to forgive : Qualities that flowed from his Nature rather than from his Virtue."

I have quoted greatly from Halifax, but I must quote his general conclusions ; they are so sound that they must be considered by all those who want to judge of " Old Rowley" :-

" If there might be matter for Objections, there is not less reason for Excuses ; The Defects laid to his aharge are such as may claim Indulgence from Mankind. Should no Charge, throw a Stone at his Faults but those who are free from them, there-would be but a slender Shower. What private Man will throw Stones at him because he loved ? Or what Prince, because he dissembled ? . . . The truth is, the Calling of a King, with all its glittering, hath such an unreasonable weight upon it, that they may rather expect to be lamented, than to be envied for being set upon a Pinacle, where they are exposed -to Censure, if they- do not do more to answer Men's Expectations, than corrupted Nature will allow. It is but Justice therefore to this Prince, to give all due Softenings to the less shining Parts of his Life ; to offer Flowers and Leaves

. to 'hide, instead of using Aggravations to expose them."

Remember that all this was 'written after Charles II.'s death and when Halifax had nothing to gain by softening his censures. Again, Halifax was a true Whig and was not in the least intoxicated, as was said of Chatham, by a peep into the royal chamber. As he showed in the case of James II., he could be cold and just even to the point of brutality with a cruel and stupid tyrant.

Once more, let me advise those who want to study. " Old Rowley" first to read the character in their Halifax—an easy task since the Oxford Press in 1912 produced in one volume the complete works of the Trimmer—and then follow the matter up in the more abundant material provided by The Lives of the Rakes. To me the last-chapter is the most enter- taining, for in it Mr. Chancellor has collected a considerable number of the King's mots. Indeed, this chapter suggests that it might be well worth Mr. Chancellor's while to do what Mr. Chamberlain did so well in the matter of the sayings of Queen Elizabeth. Why not a collection of " The Sayings of the Royal Libertine " I shall only quote one of those given by Mr. Chancellor, not because it is the best, but because it has a certain curious ironic character about it :— " It was apropos of Wooley, afterwards Bishop of Clonfert, that Charles once observed, He was a very honest man but a very great blockhead... He had given him a living in Suffolk swarming with Nonconforinista ...Wooley had gone fi-Orn hOuie to house and brought them all to church, and the King made him a bishop for his diligence. But, added Charles, 'What -

he could have said to the Nonconformists he could not imagine, except that his nonsense suited their nonsense.' "

That is a delightful comment—worthy of Sydney Smith. The fact is, Charles was essentially a modern man in his way of talking. He was the first man who conversed allusively and with the touch and go manner such as we use or try to use now. Before him men orated or expounded or only asked to supply wants. He set a dialectical fashion.

And here I-may note in conclusion a curious little circum-

• tance, which I am bound to say I had not known before— that Charles II. was remarkable among men of his time by not swearing, except for his well-known expression " Od's fish ! " and he not only did not swear, but disliked it in other people, men and women. Yet his talk and his anecdotes, too many and too long, as Halifax thought, exceeded all limits in the matter of decorum.

J. ST. Lou STRACHEY.