King Charles II asked Stillingfleet, 'How it came about that he always read his sermons before him, when, he was informed, he always preached without book elsewhere? ' He told the King that 'the awe of so noble an audience, where he saw nothing that was not greatly superior to him, but chiefly the seeing before him so great and wise a prince, made him afraid to trust himself'. With which answer the King was very well contented. 'But pray,' says Stillingfleet, 'will your majesty give me leave to ask a question too? Why do you read your speeches, when you can have none of the same reason?' 'Why truly, doctor,' says the King, 'your question is a very pertinent one, and so will be my answer. I have asked them [the House of Commons] so often, and for so much money, that I am ashamed to look them in the face.'
From Jonathan Richardson, Richardsoniana (1776), pp. 89-90.