CCXL. WHO ADOPT UNSUITABLE AMUSEMENTS. A heavy gewgaw, call'd a crown, that spread About his temples, drown'd his narrow head.' LOUIS XII. was so extremely solicitous in respect to propriety of amusement, that, one day, seeing the judges of the parliament playing at tennis, he assured them publicly, that if he caught them at that game again, he would not only deprive them of their dignities, but give them places in his regiment of guards. Princes are not always observant of such propriety; especially in their own persons. Thus Commodus,—if, indeed, it is lawful, in this age, to allude to such a person, was an excellent marksman. He was even more expert than Parthian archers, or Numidian spearmen He encountered gladiators, also, seven hundred and thirty-five times; three hundred and sixty-five of which were in the lifetime of his father, Marcus Antoninus † ; and yet that father-though an accomplished philosopher-left him the empire! Renatus, king of Sicily, was painting the picture of a partridge, when news arrived that Naples was taken by the enemy: yet he never left off. Historians relate, however, that his subjects loved him, and that they were happy under his care. Constantine Porphyrogenitus, after writing on the best method of administering an empire §, to amuse his leisure, or to gratify his love * Herodian, lib. i. c. 15. † Lampridius, c. 11, 12. Matthieu, &c. § De Administratio Imperio. for splendid expeditions, wrote a large folio volume * on the ceremonials observed in the Constantinopolitan court. Charles IX. wrote a treatise on the art of hunting; including, also, that of curing the diseases of dogs. Louis XIII. occupied himself in making hawks catch small birds, and in inducing those birds, in turn, to catch butterflies †. Louis XV. composed a work on the course of European rivers. 'No man living,' wrote Mr. Stanley to Lord Chatham ‡, but Mons. de Choiseul has the talent of entertaining him. The Duke is 6 a person of the most lively and cheerful conversation. 'He contrives to carry on all his affairs with the least personal trouble or fatigue imaginable to his Majesty; ' and he has so decided a resolution in every thing, which ' relates to his own power or influence, that he braves ' and subdues all those, who would oppose another.' Louis XVI. translated Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' into French. This is said; but the circumstance may, perhaps, be doubted. Soulavie asserts of this prince, that he had only one passion: viz. that of hunting. On the staircase of Versailles his Majesty had six large frames, detailing the number, species, and quality of the game he had killed when Dauphin, and since he was king, by the year, the month, and the day. But hunting was not the only amusement his Majesty was devoted to. He was equally partial to masonry and locksmithery. 'These,' says Madame Campan, so delighted him, *De Ceremoniis Aulæ Byzantinæ. ' Walton, 88. The kings of Persia, too, often hawked butterwith sparrows and starlings.-Burton. Anat. Mel. p. 268. fol. patch, Paris. Aug. 20, 1761. 'that he admitted into his private apartment a common 'blacksmith, with whom he made keys and locks; and 'his hands, blackened by that sort of work, were often, 6 in my presence, the subject of remonstrance, and even reproaches, from the queen, who would have chosen ' other amusements for the king.' His Majesty, also, understood the art of making watches; and that so well, that Janvier was indebted to him for the first idea of his celebrated timepiece. Maximilian I., also, loved silver-smithery; and the Emperor Leopold was a good carver and gilder. These monarchs acted, as if they were stimulated by the spirit of Mahomet, who directed that all kings should learn a mechanical trade as well as their subjects. The Prince of Orange, during the time Lord Cherbury knew him, occupied the intervals of military leisure in playing at chess, making love, and riding to Ryswick to see his horses. And this recalls to my recollection what Sir William Temple says of the same prince. I am engaged to spend this evening,' says he, in a letter to a friend*, ' at Mons. de Witt's, with the 'Prince of Orange, where we are all to play the young men, and be as merry as cards and dancing and eating can make us: for I do not think drinking will have any great share. The next day M. de Witt is at leisure, we have a match at tennis.' The Prince of Orange was an illustrious character; and, like a powerful bow, required unbending. Pope Clement required the same. 'I have been pope and ' prince all day,' he was accustomed to say; ' that I *Hague, Feb. 3, N.S. 1668. may not be quite suffocated, let me be father Ganga'nelli again." The chateau of the Prince de Condé contained a tennis court, a billiard-room, a swing, and a merry-goround. Nobles once entertained minstrels; they now, but too often, entertain sycophants. Few can live without. And this reminds me of Dante, who, in reply to a Prince of Verona, that it was very extraordinary that noblemen should keep fools, answered, 'Not in the 'least; for similarity of mind has been, in all ages, the 'basis of friendship.' Many men's amusements, as Balzac would say, are neither honest occupations, nor agreeable exercises.' Their occupations are destructive, and their exercises pall. If Locke is correct in saying †, that the happiness of men consists in pleasure whether of body or of mind, according to the wish, men of superior rank should imitate Scipio in passing from honest business to innocent recreation, and resemble Priestley in being able to pass from study to amusement, and from amusement to study, without occasioning any retrograde move'ment in the train and connexion of thought.' Bolingbroke has asserted §, and with great truth, that * A pleasant anecdote of the present Bishop of London (Dr. Blomfield) has been related to me by a friend. Whenever he goes down to Bury St. Edmunds, where he has a multitude of friends who knew him in his boyhood, he uniformly sends his wig out of the room after dinner, and gives himself up to the charms and delights of friendly companionship. + Lord King's Life of Locke, p. 115. 4to. Brande. § Patriot King; Works, iv. 121. 4to. 6 a prince should choose his companions with as much care as his ministers. For the real character of a man, as Sir Joshua Reynolds said to Dr. Johnson*, ' is laid open by his amusements.' 'It is, sir,' returned Johnson: for no man is a hypocrite in his pleasures.' And this may serve to remind us also of what Prior wrote to his patron, in allusion to Louis XIV. and the Elector of Bavaria: The old monarch, at seventy-five, eats and sleeps at Versailles, as if he were at your age; ' and seems less concerned about the empire continuing • the war, than you can be about the Scots threatening 6 to break the union: and the Elector of Bavaria is at Turenne's, playing at lansquena, and giving balls, with C as much satisfaction as if the Ilmersheim were made good, and he in possession of his own palace at Mu' nich.' All this, however, may be, in no small degree, necessary. For were a monarch compelled to be always on the watch, his responsibilities are so great, that he would soon die, if not of inanition, at least of want of sleep. It is well, therefore, for them sometimes to resemble boys, - who whip their tops for sport, On the smooth pavement of an empty court.' Dryden; Hind and Panther. CCXLI. MIRABEAU. To give a wound is within the capacity of all; but can they heal the wound they have made, when con * Boswell. |