The King himself, who had very good natural Parts, and a Disposition to banter and ridicule every Body, and especially the _Presbyterians_, whose Discipline he had felt for his Lewdness and Irreligion in _Scotland_, had in his _Exile_ an Education, and liv'd, among some of the greatest _Droles_ and _Wits_ that any Age ever produc'd; who could not but form him in that way, who was so well fitted by Temper for it. The Duke of _Buckingham_ was his constant Companion. And he had a [90] _great Liveliness of Wit, and a peculiar Faculty of turning all things into ridicule_. He was Author of the _Rehearsal_; which, as a most noble Author says, is [91] _a justly admir'd Piece of comick Wit_, and _has furnish'd our best Wits in all their Controversies, even in Religion and Politicks, as well as in the Affairs of Wit and Learning, with the most effectual and entertaining Method of exposing Folly, Pedantry, false Reason, and ill Writing_. The Duke of _Buckingham_ [92] brought _Hobbes_ to him to be his _Tutor_, who was a _Philosophical Drole_, and had a great deal of _Wit_ of the _drolling_ kind. _Sheldon_, who was afterwards Archbishop of _Canterbury_, and attended the King constantly in his Exile as his _Chaplain_, was an eminent _Drole_, as appears from Bishop _Burnet_, who says[93], that _he had a great Pleasantness of Conversation, perhaps too great_. And _Hide_, afterwards Earl of _Clarendon_, who attended the King in his Exile, seems also to have been a great Drole, by Bishop _Burnet_'s representing him, as one, that _had too much Levity in his Wit, and that did not observe the Decorum of his Post_[94]. In a _Speech_ to the Lords and Commons, _Hide_ attack'd the Gravity of the Puritans, saying[95], "Very merry Men have been very godly Men; and if a good Conscience be a continued Feast, there is no reason but Men may be very merry at it." And upon Mr. _Baxter_ and other Presbyterian Ministers waiting on him in relation to the _Savoy Conference_, he said to Mr. _Baxter_ on the first Salute[96], that if "he were but as fat as Dr. _Manton_, we should all do well." No wonder therefore, that _Ridicule_, and _Raillery_, and _Satire_, should prevail at Court after the _Restoration_; and that King _Charles_ the Second, who was a Wit himself, and early taught to laugh at his _Father's Stiffness_[97], should be so great a Master of them, and bring them into play among his Subjects; and that he who had the most sovereign Contempt for all Mankind, and in particular for the People and Church of _England_, should use his Talent against them; and that his People in return should give him like for like.