m them. He lived
among them, so that the smallest peculiarity of temper or manner could
not escape their notice. Yet he lived apart from them, and was to the
last a foreigner in speech, tastes, and habits.

One of the chief functions of our Sovereigns had long been to preside
over the society of the capital. That function Charles the Second had
performed with immense success. His easy bow, his good stories, his
style of dancing and playing tennis, the sound of his cordial laugh,
were familiar to all London. One day he was seen among the elms of Saint
James's Park chatting with Dryden about poetry. [51] Another day his arm
was on Tom Durfey's shoulder; and his Majesty was taking a second, while
his companion sang "Phillida, Phillida," or "To horse, brave boys,
to Newmarket, to horse." [52] James, with much less vivacity and good
nature, was accessible, and, to people who did not cross him, civil.
But of this sociableness William was entirely destitute. He seldom came
forth from his closet; and, when he appeared in the public rooms, he
stood among the crowd of courtiers and ladies, stern and abstracted,
making no jest and smiling at none. His freezing look, his silence, the
dry and concise answers which he uttered when he could keep silence no
longer, disgusted noblemen and gentlemen who had been accustomed to
be slapped on the back by their royal masters, called Jack or Harry,
congratulated about race cups or rallied about actresses. The women
missed the homage due to their sex. They observed that the King spoke in
a somewhat imperious tone even to the wife to whom he owed so much, and
whom he sincerely loved and esteemed. [53] They were amused and shocked
to see him, when the Princess Anne dined with him, and when the first
green peas of the year were put on the table, devour the whole dish
without offering a spoonful to her Royal Highness; and they pronounced
that this great soldier and politician was no better than a Low Dutch
bear. [54]

One misfortune, which was imputed to him as a crime, was his bad
English. He spoke our language, but not well. His accent was foreign:
his diction was inelegant; and his vocabulary seems to have been no
larger than was necessary for the transaction of business. To the
difficulty which he felt in expressing himself, and to his consciousness
that his pronunciation was bad, must be partly ascribed the taciturnity
and the short answers which gave so much offence. Our literature he was