...Six days after, all was in the dust." Rochester, in his epigram, described Charles the Second as one Who never said a foolish thing, and never did a wise one. But it is much easier to discover the foolish things that he did, than the wise things that he said....

...his own request, by his witty favorite, the Earl of Rochester, is not more severe than just : — " Here lies our Sovereign Lord the King, Whose word...said a foolish thing, A.nd never did a wise one." After this sketch of the King's character, we must return to Scotland, from which we have been absent...

...bearing, and to pardon his attempt. "Well might the Earl of Rochester write of Charles — "Here lies my sovereign lord the king, Whose word no man relies...never said a foolish thing, And never did a wise one." entertained. " The man," says Evelyn, " had not only a daring, but a villainous unmerciful look, a...

...if they wished to emulate their " Merry Monarch," (as characterised by the F-arl of Rochester), - " Whose word no man relies on, Who never said a foolish thing, and never did a wise one." They were as careless of their health, wealth, time, and intellect as though there were no Beyond to...

...written upon Charles II., as is said, at his own request, by his favourite the Earl of Rochester : — " Here lies our sovereign Lord the King, Whose word...never said a foolish thing, And never did a wise one." "The matter," Charles wittily replied, "was easily accounted for — his discourse was his own, his...

...him the following epitaph, which, with the exception of the third line, is scarcely overdrawn : — Here lies our Sovereign Lord the King, Whose word...never said a foolish thing. And never did a wise one. The influence of his example, combined with the reactionary tendencies which always follow a period...

...travels again." His character was summed up in a mock epitaph by his boon companion Rochester : — " Here lies our sovereign lord the king, Whose word...never said a foolish thing, And never did a wise one." " Quite true ! " rejoined the king, "for my words are my own, and my acts are my ministers'." The convention...

...platitude. His inscription for the chamber of Charles II. is still remembered: " Here lies our mutton-eating king, Whose word no man relies on; Who never said a foolish thing, And never did a wise one." Sedley was a poet of the same kind. So was the great Dryden ; but his " dexterous sagacity" knew how...

...is James the Sixth of Scotland and the First of England — the king, according to the old waggery, "who never said a foolish thing and never did a wise one." But see Green. The "wanton laird of young Logic" is John Wemyss who plotted against him with the Earl...

...taste for luxury and ease, so that one of the wittiest of his courtiers suggested as his epitaph : Here lies our sovereign Lord the King, Whose word...never said a foolish thing, And never did a wise one. * I am indebted to The Autobiography of Sir Robert Sibbald, Edinburgh, 1833, for the facts regarding...