kindness, as against their power. At Conferences, his conjec∣tures
were as solid as others judgments; his strict observation of
what was past, furnishing him for an happy guess of what was to
come; yet his opinion was neither variably unconstant, nor obsti∣nately
immoveable, but framed to present occasions, wherein his
method was to begin a second advice from the failure of the first,
though he hated doubtful suspense when he might be resolute.
This one great defect was his good nature, that he could never
distrust, till it was dangerous to suspect; and he gave his Enemy so
much advantage, that he durst but own him for his Friend. One
thing he repented of, that he advised his Majesty to trust Duke
Hamilton his adversary, with the affairs of Scotland, in compliance
with the general opinion, rather than the Marquess Huntly his
friend, in compliance with his own real interest: An advice,
wherein his publick-spiritedness, superceded his particular con∣cerns;
and his good nature, his prudence: So true it is, that the
honest man's single uprightness, works in him that confidence,
which oft times wrongs him, and gives advantage to the subtile,
while he rather pities their faithlessness, than repents of his credu∣lity;
so great advantage have they, that look only what they may
do, over them that consider what they should do; and they that
observe only what is expedient, over them that judge only what is
lawful. Therefore when those that thought themselves wise, left
their sinking Soveraign, he stuck to his Person while he lived, to
his Body when dead, and to his Cause as long as he lived himself:
Attending the first resolutely, burying the second honorably, and
managing the third discreetly; undertaking without rashness, and
performing without fear; never seeking dangers, never avoiding
them. Although, when his friends were conquered by the Rebels,
he was conquered by himself; returning to that privacy where
he was guessed at, not known; where he saw the world unseen;
where he made yielding, conquest; where cheerful and unconcern∣ed
in expectation, he provided for the worst, and hoped for the
best, in the constant exercise of that Religion, which he and his
maintained more effectually with their examples, than with their
Sword; doing as much good in encouraging the Orthodox by his
presence, as in relieving them by his bounty. In a word, I may
say of him as Macarius doth of Iustine; there was no vice but he
thought below him, and no virtue which he esteemed not his
duty, or his ornament. Neither was his prudence narrower than
his virtue, nor his virtue streighter than his fortune. His main
service was his inspection into the Intrigues and Reserves of the
Parliamentiers at Vxbridge, and his Cajoling of the Independants and
Scots at London, where the issue of his observation was, That the
King should, as far as his conscience could allow, comply with the
unreasonable desires of an unlimited ambition, to make it sen∣sible
of the evils that would flow from its own counsels; being
confident, as events have assured us, that the people would see the
inconvenience of their own wishes; and that they would return
that power which they sought for, but could not manage to its