o all the profound mysteries of government, on which
he set so high a value. And as this kind of creation was more perfectly
his own work than any other, he seems to have indulged an unlimited
fondness for his minion, beyond even that which he bore to his own
children. He soon knighted him, created him Viscount Rochester, gave
him the garter, brought him into the privy council, and, though at first
without assigning him any particular office, bestowed on him the supreme
direction of all his business and political concerns. Agreeable to this
rapid advancement in confidence and honor, were the riches heaped upon
the needy favorite; and while Salisbury and all the wisest ministers
could scarcely find expedients sufficient to keep in motion the
overburdened machine of government, James, with unsparing hand, loaded
with treasures this insignificant and useless pageant.[*]

* Kennet, p. 685, 686, etc.

It is said, that the king found his pupil so ill educated as to be
ignorant even of the lowest rudiments of the Latin tongue; and that the
monarch, laying aside the sceptre, took the birch into his royal hand,
and instructed him in the principles of grammar. During the intervals
of this noble occupation, affairs of state, would be introduced; and the
stripling, by the ascendant which he had acquired, was now enabled to
repay on political, what he had received in grammatical instruction.
Such scenes, and such incidents, are the more ridiculous, though the
less odious, as the passion of James seems not to have contained in it
any thing criminal or flagitious. History charges herself willingly with
a relation of the great crimes, and still more with that of the great
virtues, of mankind; but she appears to fall from her dignity, when
necessitated to dwell on such frivolous events and ignoble personages.

The favorite was not, at first, so intoxicated with advancement, as not
to be sensible of his own ignorance and inexperience. He had recourse to
the assistance and advice of a friend; and he was more fortunate in his
choice than is usual with such pampered minions. In Sir Thomas Overbury
he met with a judicious and sincere counsellor; who, building all hopes
of his own preferment on that of the young favorite, endeavored to
instil into him the principles of prudence and discretion. By zealously
serving every body, Carre was taught to abate the envy which might
attend his sudden elevation: by showing a preference for the Engl