CHARLES II.

63

the king, amidst all these promising circum-stances , was not happy or satisfied. Whetherhe found himself exposed to difficulties for wantof monev, or dreaded a recoil of the popularhumor from the present arbitrary measures, isuncertain. Perhaps the violent, imprudent tem-per of the duke, by pushing Charles upon dan-gerous attempts, gave him apprehenlion anduneasiness, tie was overheard one day to fay,in opposing some of the duke’s hasty counsels,“ Brother, I am too old to go again to my“ travels: You may, if you chuse it.” Whateverwas the cause of the king’s dissatisfaction , itseems probable, that he was meditating somechange of measures, and had formed a new planof administration. He was determined, it isthought, to fend the duke to Scotland , to recalIVlonmouth, to summon a parliament, to dismissall his unpopular ministers, and to throw himselfentirely on the good will and affections of hissubjects ,J . Amidst these truly wise and virtuousdesigns, he was seized with a sudden fit, whichresembled an apoplexy ; and though he wasrecovered from it by bleeding , he languishedonly for a few days, and then expired, in thefifty-fifth year of his age, and twenty-fifth ofhis reign. He was so happy in a good constitu-tion of body, and had ever been so remarkablycareful of his health, that his death struck as

15 King James’s Memoirs confirm this rumor, as alsoD’Avaux's Negociatior.s, 14 Dec. 1624.

CHAP.

LXIX.

IS S.

King’s sick*ness,

and death,6th Feb.