During his stay at the Northamptonshire village of Holdenby or Holmby - where Sir Thomas Herbert complains the green was not well kept - Charles frequently rode over to Lord Vaux's place at Harrowden, or to Lord Spencer's at Althorp, for a game, and, according to one account, was actually playing on the latter green when Cornet Joyce came to Holmby to remove him to other quarters.
He complains especially of his tutors, and in one case with abundant reason; but, by his own confession, they might have recriminated with justice, for he indulged in gay society, and kept late hours.
He complains of the busy idleness in which his time was spent; but, considering the circumstances, so adverse to study, one is rather surprised that the military student should have done so much, than that he did so little; and never probably before were so many hours of literary study spent in a tent.
Several of the deficiencies which the writer complains of in English agriculture must be placed to the account of climate, and never have been or can be supplied.
This word, he complains, should denote the heavenly food, the reasonable feast alone, and the Lord never used it of mere junketings.
