Note 452 — Chapter III

It is remarkable that every one thought he understood Charles and that most who opposed him paid in the end the penalty of their mistake by failure. Only the most acute indeed were able to realise the strength of the character which they began by thinking weak. Thus Courtin believed that Charles could do nothing but what his subjects wanted. Jusserand, A French Ambassador 150. Barillon, with the possible exception of Gremonville, the ablest of Louis XIV’s diplomatists, whom Ranke compares to the Spanish ambassador Mendoza of the time of the League, thought when he first came to England that he could in every instance measure Charles’ weight in the balance. Before the Popish Plot had ceased its course, he perceived that he could not. He writes on January 15/25, 1680: Il est fort difficile de pénétrer quel est dans le fonds son véritable dessein. Again on September 9/19 of the same year; Le Roi de la Grande Bretagne a une conduite si cachée et si difficile à pénétrer que les plus habiles y sont trompés. And again on January 13/23, 1681: Je ne puis encore expliquer aver certitude à V.M. l’état des affaires de ce pays-ci. Ceux qui approchent de plus près du Roi d’Angleterre ne pénètrent point le fonds de ses intentions. See too Burnet II 409 n. 3, 467 n.