9 2 
TRAVELS 
regency the young king kept himfelf in a Rate of total infignifi- 
cance. He never of his own accord appeared before the people, 
nor did any thing without afking leave of the duke : it feemed as 
if he confidered himfelf as nobody during his minority, for the 
foie purpofe of making the regent feel the whole weight of his 
authority, when the period fhould arrive of exercifmg it in its 
full extent. The leading features in this young prince’s character, 
as I conceive, are an ambition of governing without minifters, or 
any interference that might fet bounds to his abfolute fway, and 
a fincere wifh at the fame time to do as much good as lies within 
the narrow fphere of his powers and knowledge. Under the in¬ 
fluence of two priefts, and ftrongly imprefled with an abhorrence 
of what is called the new philofophy, he has become a deter¬ 
mined bigot, and hence is influenced by a fuperftition that throws 
every poffible obftacle in the way of progreflive improvement. 
Thofe two priefts are Bifliop Fleddin and Bifhop M***. The 
firft was the king’s preceptor in religious inftrudlion : he is a man 
of no learning, but of an afpiring temper, and ready to make any 
facrifice to his private intereft. The religion of Luther, under 
his aufpices, degenerates into the rites and ceremonies of popery. 
It is by his advice that the foldiers have received orders on Good- 
Friday to turn the muzzles of their fire-arms downwards, and to 
have their drums flackened and deadened, as at Rome and in 
other catholic countries. Bifhop M***, in his earlier years was 
a friend to democracy : he was firft brought into notice by a 
treatife 
