daggers of assassins, as will later be shown.

High-spirited and daring, Charles was also hardy. In Italy he
practised walking without stockings, to inure his feet to long
marches: he was devoted to boar-hunting, shooting, and golf. {21a}
He had no touch of Italian effeminacy, otherwise he could never have
survived his Highland distresses. In travelling he was swift, and
incapable of fatigue. 'He has,' said early observer, 'THE HABIT OF
KEEPING A SECRET.' Many secrets, indeed, he kept so well that
history is still baffled by them, as diplomatists were perplexed
between 1749 and 1766. {21b}

We may discount Murray of Broughton's eulogies Charles's Greek,
Latin, and Hebrew, and his knowledge of history and philosophy,
though backed by the Jesuit Cordara. {21c} Charles's education had
been interrupted by quarrels between his parents about Catholic or
Protestant tutors. His cousin and governor, Sir Thomas Sheridan (a
descendant of James II.), certainly did not teach him to spell; his
style in French and English is often obscure, and, when it is clear,
we know not whether he was not inspired by some more literary
adviser. In matters of taste he was fond of music and archaeology,
and greatly addicted to books. De Brosses, however, considered him
'less cultivated than Princes should be at his age,' and d'Argenson
says that his knowledge was scanty and that he had little
conversation. A few of his books, the morocco tooled with the Prince
of Wales's feathers, remain, but not enough to tell us much about his
literary tastes. On these, however, we shall give ample information.
In Paris, after Culloden, he bought Macchiavelli's works, probably in
search of practical hints on state-craft. In spite of a proclamation
by Charles, which Montesquieu applauded, he certainly had no claim to