STATUE OF CHARLES II. 133 



both. But why need I say so ? To you, or to any other 

 Scotsman acquainted with the history of his country, 

 and proud (as most of us are) of the fame of her ancient 

 grandeur, it must appear the same. Under the piazza 

 which runs round the inner court, I walked for a con- 

 siderable time, and was not a little struck with the 

 deathlike stillness, a stillness interrupted by nothing 

 except the measured footfall of the sentry.'. 



He is much disappointed with the High-street, hav- 

 ing been led by something he had read in the works 

 of Smollett to fancy that it was ' one of the finest in 

 Europe/ He looks with great contempt upon the eques- 

 trian statue of Charles II. in Parliament House Square. 

 ' This lascivious and dissipated monarch/ he says, ' is 

 attired in the garb of an ancient Roman ; and, by his 

 appearance, a person unacquainted with the history of 

 his reign might suppose him to have been a sapient and 

 warlike prince, dauntless in the field and wise in the 



council When I first saw the statue, I could not 



help quoting a few lines from Thomson's Libert?/, which 

 will appear to you, as it did to me, the character of 

 Charles the Second faithfully drawn, maugre the inscrip- 

 tion and the Roman dress : 



" By dangerous softness long he mined his way, 

 By subtle arts, dissimulation deep, 

 By sharing what corruption shower'd profuse, 

 By breathing wide the gay lascivious plague, 

 And pleasing manners suited to deceive, 



A pension'd King, 

 Against his country bribed by Gallic gold." ' 



The natural and unaffected manner in which Miller 

 alludes to Smollett and Thomson is not without signifi- 

 cance. How completely this young mason is already a 

 literary character ! 



After describing his impressions on the effigy of 



