Stuarts

204 THE STUARTS
on his English subjects, he hastened to his seat in Guelders, where during
some months he might be free from the annoyance of seeing English faces
and hearing- English words."
Bishop Burnet's character of William is not a flattering one. He
says: "He had been much neglected in his education. . . . He spoke
little and very slowly, and most commonly with a disgusting dryness,
which was his character at all times except on the day of battle. . . . He
hated business of all sorts ; yet he hated talking and all sports, except
hunting, still more. . . . He was without passions. ... In his deportment
towards all about him he seemed to make but little distinction between
the good and the bad — those who served him well and those who served
him ill."
Here I may recall Coleridge's remark that William " was a greater
and much honester man than any of his ministers. I believe every one of
them, except Shrewsbury, has now been detected in correspondence with
James."
If it be disputed that William was great of soul, it is, at any rate
indisputable that he was diminutive in person. The curious in such matters
will find proof of this at Westminster. Not the least interesting of the
memorials of the dead in which the Abbey is so rich, are the effigies which
were formerly placed on the hearse when the body lay in state, and are
now in the dim and dusty recesses of the I slip Chapel. These wax figures
were doubtless modelled more or less truly to life, especially as regards
their stature, and as to their costumes, they are clad in the robes actually
worn by the originals. Amongst the best preserved of these wax figures
are William and Mary, although I am not prepared to say that these were
actually used on their respective hearses. So marked is the contrast
between the two figures that the King is actually placed standing upon a
cushion in order that the disparity in height may not appear too marked.
Moreover, when the coronation took place, a chair had to be provided for
each sovereign, and it will be found that the one in which Queen Mary
was seated is considerably lower than the earlier one containing the famous
coronation stone ; the object being, as in the case of the cushion before
mentioned, to minimise the difference in the stature of the Royal pair.
" But mentally also Mary was of a markedly different nature to William.
She had the winning ways and genial grace of her family, and won the
hearts of the wider common circle in an easy enthusiasm. She was herself