[62] Barbara, a Princess of Portugal.—E.
[63] His name was Serras. He urged, “That the Prince was not an incurable changeling; and that age, strengthening his constitution, might strengthen his intellects.”
[64] The rejected Prince lived several years after at Naples, but never attained any degree of understanding. He was allowed to take the air in his coach constantly and publicly, and every body could perceive his insensibility. The next Prince, become Prince of Asturias,[65] was violent and brutal. The third, King of Naples, was not void of symptoms of the malady of his family, though it was doubtful whether his intellects were weak or deranged. Like his father, he was indefatigable in hunting, and passed many more hours of every day with his dogs than with his Ministers—such a sinecure is royalty! Had the eldest Prince been capable of passing his whole time in hunting, he might have been King.
[65] And afterwards Charles IV. of Spain. He never renounced his right to the kingdom of Naples; and though he acquiesced in his brother’s possession of it, always disputed his title, which, as it was in violation of the law of primogeniture, was never distinctly admitted by any government of Spain till the revolution of 1820.—E.
[66] Our author treats Charles III. with undue severity. He was no hero or statesman, but yet not devoid of good qualities. Probity, justice, consistency, and humanity, were among his virtues. On his accession to the Crown of Spain he submitted to great inconvenience, from a principle of honesty—he deemed it wrong to divert any portion of the treasure of Naples from the service of that kingdom; and he adhered so religiously to his scruple, that he not only left the public funds untouched, but divested himself of all private wealth, even to pictures, gems, and rings, considering them as the property of the people whose resources had enabled him to purchase them. He engaged, indeed, in two wars—one manifestly unjust, and both perhaps unnecessary; but he protected literature and the arts of peace. Though a bigoted Catholic, he suppressed the Jesuits, abolished, or at least discountenanced, torture, and mitigated religious persecution by his neglect and dislike of the Inquisition. In short, few absolute Kings, and none of his race and country, have been more free from the reproach of extravagance, injustice, or inhumanity. His reign was less oppressive and less inglorious than any under which Spain languished during the long suspension or evasion of her ancient free institutions.—E.
[67] Edward Boscawen was second son of Hugh, the first Viscount Falmouth.
[68] Jeffery Amherst, afterwards Knight of the Bath, and made a Peer and Commander-in-Chief in the next reign.
[69] The affair of Lord Ravensworth and Fawcet.