THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 65 



acted upon this sound precept in depicting the exalted 

 virtues of the Stuarts. He had heard that this history 

 of England was the only one his sacred Majesty 

 George III. could be induced to read, and he didn't 

 wonder at it. He had often thought of writing his- 

 tory himself, and now that he had got his cue from 

 Mr. Hume, he should go on and devote his energies 

 to the much-needed task of rescuing from unmerited 

 odium those grossly slandered saints, the emperor 

 Claudius and his successor Nero. 



But it was seldom that Lee's sarcasm was so gentle 

 as this. Usually he lost his temper and hurled about 

 such epithets as scoundrels, idiots, numskulls, diaboli- 

 cal tyrants, damned conspirators, sceptred robbers, 

 impious cutthroats. Was it a public man of whom 

 he disapproved, he would say " everything he touches 

 becomes putrid ; " was it some opinion from which 

 he dissented, he would say " it was the most cun- 

 ning fiend in hell who first broached this doctrine." 1 

 Speech less peppery than this seemed tasteless to 

 Charles Lee. The accumulation of oaths and super- 

 latives often makes the reading of his letters and 

 pamphlets rather dreary work. When they were first 

 published, or quoted in conversation, they served to 

 offend powerful people and ruin the writer's hopes of 

 advancement. Had he been a man of real ability, or 

 had he been favoured by some queer freak of fortune 

 that would have made him, like Wilkes, a bone of 

 contention, he might have risen to eminence in the 

 opposition party. But his talents were too slender for 

 this; something more than growling and swearing 

 was needed. Accordingly he soon made up his mind 



1 New York Historical Society Collections, Lee Papers, I. 74. 



