The world has surely made some progress since that
day.
There was but very little that was loveable in the character of Charles,
and he seems to have had but very few friends. So intense and earnest
was he in the prosecution of the plans of grandeur which engrossed his
soul, that he was seldom known to smile. He had many of the attributes
of greatness, indomitable energy and perseverance, untiring industry,
comprehensive grasp of thought and capability of superintending the
minutest details. He had, also, a certain fanatic conscientiousness
about him, like that which actuated Saul of Tarsus, when, holding the
garments of those who stoned the martyr, he "verily thought that he was
doing God service."
Many anecdotes are told illustrative of certain estimable traits in his
character. When a boy, like other boys, he was not fond of study, and
being very self-willed, he would not yield to the entreaties of his
tutors. He consequently had but an imperfect education, which may in
part account for his excessive illiberality, and for many of his
stupendous follies. The mind, enlarged by liberal culture, is ever
tolerant. He afterwards regretted exceedingly this neglect of his early
studies.
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