ch from the son of Henrietta Maria. It is related that one morning
when at Exeter, pressing her hand to her head she said to her physician,
"Mayerne, I am afraid I shall go mad some day." "Nay," he replied, "your
Majesty need not fear _going_ mad; you have been so some time."

But Charles owed much to his gay and easy manner. Notwithstanding his
faults "he was so pleasant a man that no one could be sorrowful under
his government." He sometimes dined at the annual civic banquet, and one
of the company present on the occasion when Sir Robert Viner was Lord
Mayor, refers to it as follows. "Sir Robert was a very loyal man, and if
you will allow the expression, very fond of his sovereign, but what with
the joy he felt at heart for the honour done him by his prince and
through the warmth he was in with continual toasting healths of the
royal family, his lordship grew a little fond of His Majesty, and
entered into a familiarity not altogether so graceful in so public a
place. The king understood very well how to extricate himself in all
kinds of difficulties, and with a hint to the company to avoid ceremony,
stole off and made towards his coach which stood ready for him in
Guildhall yard. But the Mayor liked his company so well, and was grown
so intimate, that he pursued him hastily and catching him fast by the
hand, cried out with a vehement oath and accent, 'Sir, you shall stay
and take t'other bottle.' The airy monarch looked kindly at him over his
shoulder, and with a smile and graceful air (for I saw him at the time
and do now) repeated this line of the old song 'He that's drunk is as
great as a King,' and immediately turned back and complied with his
request."

Tom Killegrew was the last of his cloth; forced and constant jesting
becoming less and less appreciated. As the jesters approached their end,
they had more of the moralist and politician in them than of the
mountebank. We may judge of Killegrew's wit, when we read that one day
on his appearance Charles said to his gay companions, "Now we shall hear
our faults." "No," replied the jester, "I don't care to trouble my head
with that which all the town talks of."[57] Killegrew must have had fine
scope for his sarcasm. In these times the character of the monarch gave
the tone to society, and was reflected in the dramatists. Thus we find
the earnestness of Elizabeth in Shakespeare, the whimsicality of James
in Jonson, and the licentiousness of Charles II. in the poets of