The chief pride of the old king was to be master of the tallest regiment in Europe.  He, therefore, brought together, from all parts, men above the common military standard.  To exceed the height of six feet, was a certain recommendation to notice, and to approach that of seven, a claim to distinction.  Men will readily go where they are sure to be caressed; and he had, therefore, such a collection of giants, as, perhaps, was never seen in the world before.

To review this towering regiment was his daily pleasure, and to perpetuate it was so much his care, that when he met a tall woman, he immediately commanded one of his Titanian retinue to marry her, that they might propagate procerity, and produce heirs to the father’s habiliments.

In all this there was apparent folly, but there was no crime.  The tall regiment made a fine show at an expense not much greater, when once it was collected, than would have been bestowed upon common men.  But the king’s military pastimes were sometimes more pernicious.  He maintained a numerous army, of which he made no other use than to review and to talk of it; and when he, or perhaps his emissaries, saw a boy, whose form and sprightliness promised a future soldier, he ordered a kind of badge to be put about his neck, by which he was marked out for the service, like the sons of Christian captives in Turkey; and his parents were forbidden to destine him to any other mode of life.

This was sufficiently oppressive, but this was not the utmost of his tyranny.  He had learned, though otherwise perhaps no very great politician, that to be rich was to be powerful; but that the riches of a king ought to be seen in the opulence of his subjects, he wanted either ability or benevolence to understand.  He, therefore, raised exorbitant taxes from every kind of commodity and possession, and piled up the money in his treasury, from which it issued no more.  How the land which had paid taxes once, was to pay them a second time, how imposts could be levied without commerce, or commerce continued without money, it was not his custom to inquire.  Eager to snatch at money, and delighted to count it, he felt new joy at every receipt, and thought himself enriched by the impoverishment of his dominions.

By which of these freaks of royalty the prince was offended, or whether, as perhaps more frequently happens, the offences of which he complains were of a domestick and personal kind, it is not easy to discover.  But his resentment, whatever was its cause, rose so high, that he resolved not only to leave his father’s court, but his territories, and to seek a refuge among the neighbouring or kindred princes.  It is generally believed that his intention was to come to England, and live under the protection of his uncle, till his father’s death, or change of conduct, should give him liberty to return.