Editing Gilbert Burnet (section)

==London: 1674–1685==
In view of the unsettled political times, he left the university in 1674 and moved to London. In London, his political and religious sentiments prompted him to support the [[Whig (British political party)|Whigs]]. His energetic and bustling character led him to take an active part in the controversies of the time, and he endeavoured to bring about a reconciliation between Episcopacy and [[Presbyterianism|Presbytery]].

At Court, where his brother [[Thomas Burnet (physician)|Thomas]] was a royal physician, he gained the favour of [[Charles II of England|Charles II]], from whom he received various preferments.<ref name="DNB2" /> He described Charles shrewdly as a man who, despite his affable manner and famed  courtesy, was at heart the archetypal [[Cynicism (contemporary)|cynic]]: "he has a very ill opinion of men and women, and so is infinitely distrustful... he thinks the world is governed wholly by (self) interest".<ref>Kenyon, J.P. ''The Stuarts'' Fontana Edition 1966 p. 117</ref> Burnet noted fairly that this attitude was  quite understandable, given the King's experiences in the [[English Civil War]] and the [[Interregnum (1649-1660)|Interregnum]], which had shown him when he was still very young the "baseness of human nature". Like many other observers he noted Charles's remarkable self-control: "he has a strange command of himself: he can pass from business to pleasure, and from pleasure to business, in so easy a manner that all things seem alike to him."<ref>Kenyon p.116</ref> He also recorded some of the King's most memorable sayings, such as "Appetites are free, and Almighty God will never damn a man for allowing himself a little pleasure".<ref>Kenyon p.138</ref>

===The Popish Plot===

During the [[Popish Plot]], when [[Catherine of Braganza|Queen Catherine]] was accused of [[treason]], (it was alleged that she had conspired to murder her husband), the King confided to Burnet his feelings of guilt about his ill-treatment of the Queen, "who is incapable of doing a wicked thing", his resolve not to abandon her ("it would be a horrible thing, considering my faultiness to her"), and his wish to live a more moral life in future.<ref>Kenyon, J.P. ''The Popish Plot'' Phoenix Press reissue 2000 pp.127–8</ref> Burnet, for his part, told the King frankly that he was wrong to believe that [[Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury|the Earl of Shaftesbury]] had any part in the charges of treason made against the Queen: Shaftesbury, who was well aware of the Queen's great popularity with the English ruling class, was simply too shrewd a statesman to make such a serious political misjudgment.<ref>Kenyon 2000 p.125</ref>

As regards the reality of the Plot itself, while the King quickly became a total sceptic on the subject, Burnet probably captures Charles's first reaction to the accusations neatly enough: "among so many particulars I do not know but there may be some truth."<ref>Kenyon 2000 p.61</ref> Burnet himself was neither a sceptic, nor a convinced believer in the Plot. Like most sensible Protestants he believed that there had probably been a Catholic conspiracy of some sort, but he had grave doubts about the veracity of the informers, especially [[Titus Oates]], while he regarded [[Israel Tonge]], the co-author of the Plot, as insane. He recognised the danger that innocent people might be falsely accused, and it is notable that he praised the Catholic [[martyr]] [[Oliver Plunkett]], [[Archbishop of Armagh]], who is nowadays probably the best-known victim of the Plot, as a good and innocent man who was destroyed by the malice of his personal enemies. He also argued strongly that the first victim of the Plot, the young Catholic banker [[William Staley]], was innocent, although his narrative of Staley's trial was undoubtedly coloured by his detestation of William Carstares, the Crown's chief witness at Staley's trial.<ref>Carstares is a somewhat mysterious individual, but he was clearly not the Scottish cleric [[William Carstares]], who was in prison himself at that time on suspicion of treason.</ref> Whether the Catholic nobleman [[William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford]], executed for treason in 1680, was innocent or guilty he regarded as a mystery whose solution must await "the great revelation of all secrets".<ref>Kenyon 2000 p.279</ref>