Louis XI. was also addicted to this jesting which is not convenient.  We read that he told Edward IV. in a jocose way that he was right glad to see him at Paris, and that if he would come and divert himself with the gay ladies there, he would assign for his confessor, the Cardinal of Bourbon, who, he knew, would grant him easy absolution for peccadilloes of love and gallantry.  Edward was much pleased with this raillery, for he knew the Cardinal was a gay man.  Louis was afterwards in great alarm upon Edward’s acceptance of his invitation.

The humour of Charles II. and his court consisted more of jollity than wit.  The king was always ready to laugh outright, even in church at the sermon.  He encouraged and led the way in an indelicate kind of jesting, which he seems to have learned during his travels in France.  On his telling Lord Shaftesbury, “I believe Shaftesbury, that thou art the wickedest dog in England,” the statesman humbly replied, “May it please your Majesty, of a subject, I believe I am.”  We should not expect too much from the son of Henrietta Maria.  It is related that one morning when at Exeter, pressing her hand to her head she said to her physician, “Mayerne, I am afraid I shall go mad some day.”  “Nay,” he replied, “your Majesty need not fear going mad; you have been so some time.”

But Charles owed much to his gay and easy manner.  Notwithstanding his faults “he was so pleasant a man that no one could be sorrowful under his government.”  He sometimes dined at the annual civic banquet, and one of the company present on the occasion when Sir Robert Viner was Lord Mayor, refers to it as follows.  “Sir Robert was a very loyal man, and if you will allow the expression, very fond of his sovereign, but what with the joy he felt at heart for the honour done him by his prince and through the warmth he was in with continual toasting healths of the royal family, his lordship grew a little fond of His Majesty, and entered into a familiarity not altogether so graceful in so public a place.  The king understood very well how to extricate himself in all kinds of difficulties, and with a hint to the company to avoid ceremony, stole off and made towards his coach which stood ready for him in Guildhall yard.  But the Mayor liked his company so well, and was grown so intimate, that he pursued him hastily and catching him fast by the hand, cried out with a vehement oath and accent, ’Sir, you shall stay and take t’other bottle.’  The airy monarch looked kindly at him over his shoulder, and with a smile and graceful air (for I saw him at the time and do now) repeated this line of the old song ’He that’s drunk is as great as a King,’ and immediately turned back and complied with his request.”