established; yet, it is highly probable,

he

' matter loft the queen, was heart-broken; and after a long fickness, which all men believed would have killed him, as foon as he was able to endure the air, 'left Hampton Court, and retired to his own houfe in the city. In all this time the king purfued his point; the lady came to the court, was lodged there, was every day in the queen's prefence, and the king in con'tinual conference with her*; whilst the queen fat untaken notice of: and if her majefty rofe at the indignity, and retired into her chamber, it may be one or two attended her; but all the company remained in the room she left, and too often said those things aloud which nobody ought to have whifpered. The king (who had, in the beginning of this conflict, appeared • ftill with a countenance of trouble and fadness, which had been manifeft to every body, and no doubt was really afflicted, and fometimes wished that he had not proceeded fo far, until he was again new chafed with the reproach of being governed, which he received 'with the moft fenfible indignation, and was commonly • provoked with it moft by thofe who intended most to govern him) had now vanquished, or fuppreffed,

* How expenfive the lady was to his majefty, we may learn from Marvel. 'They have figned and fealed,' fays he, ten thoufand C pounds a year more to the Duchefs of Cleveland; who has likewife near ten thousand pounds a year out of the new faim of the country excife of beer and ale; five thousand pounds a year out of the post-office; and, they " fay, the reverfion of all the kings leafes, the reverfion of all places in the cuftom-houfe, the green-wax, and, indeed, what not? All promotions, fpiritual and temporal, pafs under her cognizance (r).'

E 2

(r) Works, vol. ii. P.

• all

75

he lived for a great number of years,

as

all those tendernesses and reluctances, and appeared < every day more gay and pleafant, without any clouds in his face, and full of good-humour; faving, that ⚫ the close obfervers thought it more feigned and affected, than of a natural growth. However, to the queen it appeared very real; and made her the more fenfible, that she, alone, was left out of all jollities, and not fuffered to have any part of those pleasant applications and careffes, which she saw made to almost every body else; an universal mirth in all company but in hers, and in all places but in her chamber; her own fervants fhewing more respect and more diligence to the perfon of the lady, than towards their own miftrefs, who they found could do them lefs good. The nightly meeting continued with the fame or more license; and the difcourfes which paffed there, of what argu'ment foever, were the difcourfe of the whole court and of the town the day following: whilft the queen 'had the king's company thofe few hours which remained of the preceding night, and which were too little for fleep. All these mortifications were too heavy to be borne: fo that, at last, when it was least ' expected or fufpected, the queen, on a fudden, let herfelf fall first to converfation and then to familiarity, ' and, even in the fame inftant, to a confidence with the lady: was merry with her in publick, talked kindly of her, and in private nobody used more friendly. This excess of condefcenfion, without any provoca‚tion or invitation, except by multiplication of inju

❝ries

ries and neglect, and after all friendships were renewed, and indulgence yielded to new liberty, did the C queen lefs good than her former refolutenefs had done. • Very many looked upon her with much compaffion; 6 commended the greatnefs of her fpirit, detefted the barbarity of the affronts fhe underwent, and cenfured them as loudly as they durft; not without affuming the liberty, fometimes, of infinuating to the king him* felf, how much his own honour suffered in the neglect and difrefpect of her own fervants, who ought, at least in publick, to manifest some duty and reverence towards her majefty; and how much he loft in the ge'neral affections of his fubjects: and that, befides the displeasure of God Almighty, he could not reasonably hope for children by the queen, which was the great if not the only bleffing of which he ftood in need, whilft her heart was fo full of grief, and whilst she was 'continually exercised with fuch infupportable afflicti< ons. And many, who were not wholly unconverfant with the king, nor ftrangers to his temper and conftiftution, did believe that he grew weary of the ftruggle, and even ready to avoid the scandal that was fo notorious, by the lady's withdrawing from the verge of the court, and being no longer feen there, how firmly fo• ever the friendship might be established. But this fudden downfall, and total abandoning her own greatnefs; this low demeanour, and even application to 'perfon she had juftly abhorred and worthily contemned, made all men conclude, that it was a hard matter to know her, and, confequently, to serve her. And the king himself was fo far from being reconciled by < it, that the esteem, which he could not hitherto but • retain in his heart for her, grew now much lefs. He • concluded,

E 3

concluded, that all her former averfion, expressed in thofe lively paffions, which feemed not capable of dif'fimulation, was all fiction, and purely acted to the life, by a nature crafty, perverse, and inconftant. He congratulated his own ill-natured perfeverance; by which ' he had discovered how he was to behave himself hereafter, and what remedies he was to apply to all future indifpofitions: nor had he, ever after, the fame value of her wit, judgment, and understanding, which he had formerly; and was well enough pleased to ob'ferve, that the reverence others had for all three was (s) Conti fomewhat diminished (s).' No remarks need be made on this narrative. Every humane man muft feel an indignation arife in his breaft against the actor of fuch barbarities. What were the feeding of ducks, the humming of a fong at a public entertainment, or mixing in the humours of the company, to counterbalance fuch vile behaviour? We may, therefore,

nuation, vol.

ii. p. 339343.

() Vol. i. 2. 609.

very easily believe Burnet, when he tells us, that the king, on his death-bed, faid nothing of the queen ;

nor any one word of his people, or of his fervants (t).' His mind was incapable of fentiments of humanity. A felfift he was; whofe thoughts terminated in himself, and who regarded none who were not fubfervient to his pleafures. Such characters are not uncommon in life; in the higher parts of it

tom, they must be called:

as, in conformity to cufbut they are characters

which will be defpifed, and execrated, as long as there

is fenfe, or virtue, remaining in the world.

(EEE) He

as he certainly died, a papist (EEE). This,

as

(EEE) He probably lived, as it is certain he died, a papist.] There had been fufpicions of the king's being a papist, even before his restoration: and thefe had been increased by the favour fhewn to many of the catholic perfwafion, after his return. But his majesty always professed himself a zealous protestant, and a foe to the Romish church. In his letter to the Convention parliament, from Breda, he talks much of his zeal and concern for the proteftant faith. If you defire,' fays he, the advancement and propagation of the pro* teftant religion; we have, by our conftant profeffion, and practice of it, given fufficient teftimony to the world, that neither the unkindness of thofe of the • fame faith towards us, nor the civilities and obligations from those of a contrary profeffion (of both which we have had abundant evidence), could in the least degree ftartle us, or make us fwerve from it; and nothing can be proposed to manifeft our zeal and affec❝tion for it, to which we will not readily confent: and

we hope, in due time, ourself to propose somewhat to "you for the propagation of it, that will fatisfy the world, that we have always made it both our care, and our ftudy, and have enough obferved what is 'moft like to bring difadvantage to it.' Thus alfo, in a meffage, fent by him to the house of lords, to be imparted to the house of commons, Ap. 2, 1663, his majeftydeclares, and affures both his houses of parliament, and all his loving fubjects of all his dominions, that as his affection and zeal for the proteftant religion hath not been concealed or untaken notice of