A storm threatens the kingdom.--The Duke of York is touched in
his conscience.--His interview with Father Simons.--The king
declares his mind.--The Duchess of York becomes a catholic.--The
circumstances of her death.--The Test Act introduced.--Agitation
of the nation.--The Duke of York marries again.--Lord
Shaftesbury's schemes.--The Duke of Monmouth.--William of Orange
and the Princess Mary.--Their marriage and departure from
England.
Whilst the surface life of the merry monarch sped onward in its
careless course, watchful eyes took heed of potent signs boding
storms and strife. The storm which shook the kingdom to its
centre came anon; the strife which dethroned a monarch was
reserved for the succeeding reign. These were not effected by
the king's profligacy, indolence, or extravagance, but because of
a change in the religious belief of the heir-apparent to the
crown.
The cloud, no bigger than a man's hand, which presently spread
and overcast the political horizon, was first observed towards
the beginning of the year 1669. The Rev. J. S. Clarke,
historiographer to George III., chaplain to the royal household,
and librarian to the Prince Regent, in his "Life of James II.,
collected out of Memoirs writ of his own hand," tells us that
about this time the Duke of York "was sensibly touched in his
conscience, and began to think seriously of his salvation."
Accordingly, the historian states, "he sent for one Father
Simons, a Jesuit, who had the reputation of a very learned man,
to discourse with him upon that subject; and when he came, he
told him the good intentions he had of being a catholic, and
treated with him concerning his being reconciled to the church.
After much discourse about the matter, the Jesuit very sincerely
told him, that unless he would quit the communion of the Church
of England, he could not be received into the Catholic Church.
The duke then said he thought it might be done by a dispensation
from the pope, alleging the singularity of his case, and the
advantage it might bring to the catholic religion in general, and
in particular to those of it in England, if he might have such
dispensation for outwardly appearing a protestant, at least till
he could own himself publicly to be a catholic, with more
security to his own person and advantage to them. But the father
insisted that even the pope himself had not the power to grant
it, for it was an unalterable doctrine of the Catholic Church,
not to do ill that good might follow. What this Jesuit thus said
was afterwards confirmed to the duke by the pope himself, to whom
he wrote upon the same subject. Till this time his royal
highness believed (as it is commonly believed, or at least said
by the Church of England doctors) that dispensations in any such
cases are by the pope easily granted; but Father Simons's words,
and the letter of his holiness, made the duke think it high time
to use all the endeavours he could, to be at liberty to declare
himself, and not to live in so unsafe and so uneasy a condition.
Inasmuch as what immediately followed touches a point of great
delicacy and vast importance, the words of the historian, mainly
taken from the "Stuart Papers," are best given here, "His royal
highness well-knowing that the king was of the same mind, and
that his majesty had opened himself upon it to Lord Arundel of
Wardour, Lord Arlington, and Sir Thomas Clifford, took an
occasion to discourse with him upon that subject about the same
time, and found him resolved as to his being a catholic, and that
he intended to have a private meeting with those persons above
named at the duke's closet, to advise with them about the ways
and methods fit to he taken for advancing the catholic religion
in his dominions, being resolved not to live any longer in the
constraint he was under. The meeting was on the 25th of January.
When they were met according to the king's appointment, he
declared his mind to them on the matter of religion, and said how
uneasy it was to him not to profess the faith he believed; and
that he had called them together to have their advice about the
ways and methods fittest to be taken for the settling of the
catholic religion in his kingdoms, and to consider of the time
most proper to declare himself, telling them withal that no time
ought to be lost; that he was to expect to meet with many and
great difficulties in bringing it about, and that he chose rather
to undertake it now, when he and his brother were in their full
strength and able to undergo any fatigue, than to delay it till
they were grown older and less fit to go through with so great a
design. This he spoke with great earnestness, and even with
tears in his eyes; and added, that they were to go about it as
wise men and good catholics ought to do. The consultation lasted
long, and the result was, that there was no better way for doing
this work than to do it in conjunction with France, and with the
assistance of his Most Christian majesty." Accordingly the
secret treaty with France was entered into, as already mentioned.
No further movement towards professing the catholic religion was
made by the king or his brother for some time. The tendencies of
the latter becoming suspected, his actions were observed with
vigilance, when it was noted, that although he attended service
as usual with the king, he no longer received the sacrament. It
was also remarked the Duchess of York, whose custom it had been
to communicate once a month, soon followed his example. Her
neglect of this duty was considered the more conspicuous as she
had been bred a staunch protestant, and ever appeared zealous in
her support of that religion. Moreover, it was noted that, from
the beginning of the year 1670, she was wont to defend the
catholic faith from such errors as it had been charged withal.
These matters becoming subjects of conversation at court soon
reached the ears of Bishop Morley, who had acted as her confessor
since her twelfth year, confession being then much practised in
the English Church. Thereon he hastened to her, and spoke at
length of the inferences which were drawn from her neglect of
receiving the sacrament, in answer to which she pleaded business
and ill-health as sufficient excuses. But he, suspecting other
causes, gave her advice, and requested she would send for him in
case doubts arose in her mind concerning the faith she professed.
Being now free from all uncertainties, she readily promised
compliance with his desire, and added, "No priest had ever taken
the confidence to speak to her on those matters."
The fact that she no longer communicated becoming more noticed as
time passed, the king spoke to his brother concerning the
omission, when the duke told him she had become a catholic.
Hearing this, Charles requested him to keep her change of faith a
secret, which was accordingly done, none being aware of the act
but Father Hunt, a Franciscan friar, Lady Cranmer, one of her
women of the bedchamber, and Mr. Dupuy, servant to the duke. In
a paper she drew up relative to her adoption of the catholic
religion, preserved in the fifth volume of the "Harleian
Miscellany," she professes being one of the greatest enemies that
faith ever had. She likewise declares no man or woman had said
anything, or used the least persuasion to make her change her
religion. That had been effected, she adds, by a perusal of Dr.
Heylin's "History of the Reformation;" after which she spoke
severally to Dr. Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury and Dr.
Blandford, Bishop of Worcester, who told her "there were many
things in the Roman Church which it was very much to be wished
they had kept--as confession, which was no doubt commanded by
God; and praying for the dead, which was one of the ancient
things in Christianity--that for their parts they did it daily,
though they would not own to it."
The duchess pondered over what she had read and heard, and being
a woman accustomed to judge for herself, and act upon her
decisions, she, in the month of August, 1670 became a member of
the Catholic Church, in which communion she died seven months
later. For fifteen months previous to her demise she had been
suffering from a complication of diseases, with which the medical
skill of that day was unable to cope, and these accumulating, in
March, 1671, ended her days. The "Stuart Papers" furnish an
interesting account of her death. Seeing the hour was at hand
which would sever her from all earthly ties, she besought her
husband not to leave her whilst life remained. She likewise
requested that in case Dr. Blandford or any other of the bishops
should come to visit her, he would tell them she had become a
member of the Catholic Church; but if they insisted on seeing her
she was satisfied to admit them, providing they would not
distress her by arguments or controversy.
Soon after she had expressed these desires, Bishop Blandford
arrived, and begged permission to see her, hearing which the duke
went into the drawing-room, where his lordship waited, and
delivered the message with which the duchess had charged him.
Thereon the bishop said, "he made no doubt but that she would do
well since she was fully convinced, and had not changed out of
any worldly end." He then went into the room, and having made "a
short Christian exhortation suitable to the condition she was
in," took his departure. Presently the queen came and sat by the
dying woman, with whom she had borne many wrongs in common; and
later on, the Franciscan friar being admitted, the duchess
"received all the last sacraments of the Catholick Church, and
dyed with great devotion and resignation."
Though no mystery was now made concerning the faith in which she
died, the duke, from motives of prudence, continued to preserve
the secret of his having embraced the same religion. He still
publicly attended service on Sundays with the king, but continued
to absent himself from communion. At last, the Christmastide of
the year 1672 being at hand, his majesty besought Lord Arundel
and Sir Thomas (now Lord) Clifford to persuade the duke to take
the sacrament with him, "and make him sensible of the prejudice
it would do to both of them should he forbear so to do, by giving
the world so much reason to believe he was a catholick." To this
request these honest gentlemen replied it would be difficult to
move the duke to his majesty's desires; but even if they
succeeded, it would fail to convince the world his royal highness
was not a catholic. With these answers Charles seemed satisfied;
but again on Christmas Eve he urged Lord Clifford to advise the
duke to publicly communicate on the morrow. His royal highness,
not being so unscrupulous as the king, refused compliance with
his wishes.
The following Easter he likewise refrained from communicating.
Evelyn tells us that "a most crowded auditorie" had assembled in
the Chapel Royal on this Sunday; possibly it had been drawn there
to hear the eloquence of Dr. Sparrow, Bishop of Exeter--probably
to observe the movements of the king's brother. "I staied to
see," writes Evelyn, "whether, according to costome, the Duke of
York received the communion with the king; but he did not, to the
amazement of everybody. This being the second year he had
forborn and put it off, and within a day of the parliament
sitting, who had lately made so severe an act against ye increase
of poperie, gave exceeding griefe and scandal to the whole
nation, that the heyre of it, and ye sonn of a martyr for ye
Protestant religion, should apostatize. What the consequence of
this will be God only knows, and wise men dread."
That the nation might no longer remain in uncertainty concerning
the change the duke was suspected to have made, a bill, commonly
called the "Test Act," was, at the instigation of Lord
Shaftesbury, introduced into the House of Commons, on its
reassembling. In substance this set forth, that all persons
holding office, or place of trust, or profit, should take the
oaths of supremacy and allegiance in a public court; receive the
sacrament according to the Church of England in some parish
church on the Lord's Day; and deliver a certificate of having so
received communion, signed by the respective ministers and
church-wardens, and proved by two credible witnesses on oath.
After prolonged debates upon this singular bill, it was passed
through both houses of parliament, and received a reluctant
consent from the king. [This act continued in force until the
reign of George IV.]
A great commotion followed the passing of this Act. Immediately
the Duke of York resigned his post of lord high admiral of
England. Suspicion now became certainty; he was truly a papist.
His enemies were elated with triumph, his friends dejected by
regret. Before public feeling had time to subside, it was
thoroughly startled by the news that Lord Clifford, who was
supposed to be a staunch protestant, had delivered up his staff
of office as lord treasurer; and Lord Bellasis and Sir Thomas
Strickland, papists both, "though otherwise men of quality and
ability," had relinquished their places at court. The king was
perplexed, the parliament divided into factions, the nation
disturbed. No man knew who might next proclaim himself a papist.
As days passed, excitement increased; for hundreds who held
positions in the army, or under the crown--many of whom had
fought for the king and his father--by tendering their
resignations, now proved themselves slaves of what a vigorous
writer calls the "Romish yoke: such a thing," he adds, "as
cannot, but for want of a name to express it, be called a
religion."
Public agitation steadily rose. Evelyn tells us, "he dare not
write all the strange talk of the town." Distrust of the king,
fear of his brother, hatred of popery and papists, filled men's
minds and blinded their reason with prejudice. That the city had
seven years ago been destroyed by fire, in accordance with a
scheme of the wicked Jesuits, was a belief which once more
revived: the story of the gunpowder plot was again detailed.
Fearful suspicions sprang up and held possession of the vulgar
mind, that the prosecutions suffered by protestants under Queen
Mary might be repeated in the reign of the present monarch, or of
his brother. That heaven might defend the country from being
overrun by popery, the House of Commons besought his majesty to
order a day of fasting and humiliation. And by way of adding
fury to the gathering tempest, the bishops, Burnet states,
"charged the clergy to preach against popery, which alarmed the
court as well as the city, and the whole nation."
The king therefore complained to Dr. Sheldon, Archbishop of
Canterbury, that the discourse heard in every pulpit throughout
the capital and the kingdom was "calculated to inflame the
people, and alienate them from him and his government. "Upon
which Dr. Sheldon called the bishops together, that he might
consult with them as to what answer he had best make. Whereon
these wise men declared "since the king himself professed the
protestant religion, it would be a thing without a precedent that
he should forbid his clergy to preach in defence of a religion,
while he himself said he was of it." The next action which
served to inflame public prejudice against catholicism, was the
marriage of the Duke of York to a princess professing that faith.
Soon after the death of his wife, it was considered wise and well
his royal highness should marry again. Of the four sons and four
daughters the duchess had borne him, three sons and one daughter
had died before their mother, and the surviving son and another
daughter quickly followed her to the tomb; therefore, out of
eight children but two survived, Mary and Anne, at this time
respectively aged nine and seven. It being desirable there
should be a male heir-presumptive to the crown, the king was
anxious his brother should take unto himself a second wife. And
that a lady might be found worthy of the exalted station to which
such a union would raise her, the Earl of Peterborough was sent
incognito to report on the manners and appearance of the
princesses of the courts of Neuburg and of Modena. Not being
impressed by the merits of those belonging to the former, he
betook himself to the latter, where, seeing the young Princess
d'Este, then in her fifteenth year, he came to the conclusion no
better choice could be made on behalf of the duke than this fair
lady. On communicating this opinion to his royal highness and to
his majesty, the king commissioned him to demand the hand of the
princess in marriage for his brother.
Difficulties regarding this desired union now arose. The young
lady, having been bred in great simplicity and ignorance, had
never heard of such a country as England, or such a person as the
Duke of York; and therefore had no mind to adventure herself in a
distant land, or wed a man of whom she knew nought. Moreover,
she had betrayed an inclination to spend her days in the
seclusion of a convent, and had no thought of marriage. Her
mother, the Duchess of Modena, then regent, by reason of her
husband's death and her son's minority, was anxious for so
advantageous an alliance. And being unable to gain her
daughter's consent, she sought the interference of the pope, who
wrote to the young princess, that compliance with her mother's
request would "most conduce to the service of God and the public
good." On this, Mary Beatrice Eleonora, Princess d'Este,
daughter of the fourth Duke of Modena, consented to become
Duchess of York. Whereon the Earl of Peterborough made a public
entry into Modena, as ambassador extraordinary of Charles II.;
and having agreed to all the articles of marriage, wedded her by
proxy for the royal duke.
Meanwhile, news that the heir to the crown was about to wed a
papist spread with rapidity throughout the kingdom, carrying
alarm in its course. If sons were born of the union, they would,
it was believed, undoubtedly be reared in the religion of their
parents, and England in time became subject to a catholic king.
The possibility of such a fate was to the public mind fraught
with horror; and the House of Commons, after some angry debates
on the subject, presented an address to the king, requesting he
would abandon this proposed marriage. To this he was not
inclined to listen, his honour being so far involved in the
business; but notwithstanding his unwillingness, his councillors
urged him to this step, and prayed he would stop the princess,
then journeying through France on her way to England. This so
incensed him that he immediately prorogued parliament, and freed
himself from further interference on the subject.
On the 21st of November, 1673, the future duchess landed at
Dover, where the duke awaited her, attended by a scant retinue.
For the recent protestations, made in the House of Commons
against the marriage, having the effect of scaring the courtiers,
few of the nobility, and but one of the bishops, Dr. Crew of
Oxford, ventured to accompany him, or greet his bride. On the
day of her arrival the marriage was celebrated, "according to the
usual form in cases of the like nature." The "Stuart Papers"
give a brief account of the ceremony. "The Duke and Duchess of
York, with the Duchess of Modena her mother, being together in a
room where all the company was present, as also my Lord
Peterborough, the bishop asked the Duchess of Modena and the Earl
of Peterborough whether the said earl had married the Duchess of
York as proxy of the duke? which they both affirming, the bishop
then declared it was a lawful marriage."
This unpopular union served to strengthen the gathering storm;
Protests against popery were universally heard; an article in the
marriage settlement, which guaranteed the duchess a public
chapel, was broken; and the duke was advised by Lord Berkshire to
retire into the country, "where he might hunt and pray without
offence to any or disquiet to himself." This counsel he refused
to heed. Until his majesty should command him to the contrary,
he said, he would always attend upon him, and do such service as
he thought his duty and the king's security required of him. His
enemies became more wrathful at this reply, more suspicious of
popery, and more fearful of his influence with the king, They
therefore sought to have him removed from his majesty's councils
and presence by act of parliament.
Consequently, when both Houses assembled on the 7th of January,
1674, the lords presented an address to the monarch, praying he
would graciously issue a proclamation, requiring all papists, or
reputed papists, within five miles of London, Westminster, or
Southwark, to depart ten miles from these respective cities, and
not return during this session of Parliament. A few days
afterwards an act was introduced into the House of Commons
proposing a second test, impossible for catholics to accept, the
refusal of which would not only render them incapable of holding
any office, civil or military, or of sitting in either House of
Parliament, but "of coming within five miles of the court." This
unjust bill, to which, if it passed both houses, Charles dared
not refuse assent, threw the court and country into a state of
renewed excitement. Knowing it was a blow levelled at the duke,
his friends gathered round him, determined to oppose it by might
and main; and after great exertions caused a clause to be
inserted excepting his royal highness from the test. This was
ultimately carried by a majority of two votes, which, says
Clarke, "put the little Earl of Shaftesbury so out of humour,
that he said he did not care what became of the bill, having that
proviso in it."
This noble earl, who was chief among the royal duke's enemies,
was a prominent figure in the political history of the time. Mr.
Burnet tells us his lordship's strength lay in the knowledge of
England, and of all considerable men. "He understood," says the
bishop, "the size of their understandings and their tempers; and
he knew how to apply himself to them so dexterously, that though
by his changing sides so often it was very visible how little he
was to be depended on, yet he was to the last much trusted by all
the discontented party. He had no regard to truth or justice."
As rich in resources as he was poor in honour, he renewed a plan
for depriving the Duke of York from succession to the crown;
which, though it had failed when formerly attempted, he trusted
might now succeed. This was to declare the Duke of Monmouth the
king's legitimate son and heir to the throne of England, a scheme
which the ambitious son of Lucy Walters was eager to forward.
His majesty's affection for him had strengthened with time, and
his favours had been multiplied by years. On the death of the
Duke of Albemarle, Captain General of the Forces, Monmouth had
been appointed to that high office; and some time later had been
made General of the Kingdom of Scotland, posts of greatest
importance. Relying on the monarch's love and the people's
admiration for this illegitimate scion of royalty, Lord
Shaftesbury hoped to place him on the throne. As the first step
necessary in this direction was to gain his majesty's avowal of a
union with Lucy Walters, he ventured on broaching the subject to
the king; at which Charles was so enraged that he declared, "much
as he loved the Duke of Monmouth, he had rather see him hanged at
Tyburn than own him as his legitimate son." There was, however,
another man engaged in a like design to the noble earl, who, if
not less scrupulous, was more daring.
This was one Ross, a Scotsman, who had been made governor of the
young duke on his first coming into England, and who had since
acted as his friend and confidant. Now Ross, who had not failed
to whisper ambitious thoughts into his pupil's head, at this time
sought Dr. Cosin, Bishop of Durham, and according to the "Stuart
Papers," told him "he might do a great piece of service to the
Church of England in keeping out popery, if he would but sign a
certificate of the king's marriage to the Duke of Monmouth's
mother, with whom that bishop was acquainted in Paris. Ross also
told the bishop, to make the thing more easy to him, that during
his life the certificate should not be produced or made use of."
The same papers state that, as a bishop's certificate is a legal
proof of marriage, Dr. Cosin's compliance would have been
invaluable to the duke and his friends. His lordship, however,
rejected the proposition, and laid the matter before the king,
who expelled Ross from court.
Horror of popery and fear of a papist sovereign increased with
time, care having been taken by my Lord Shaftesbury and his party
that the public mind, once inflamed, should be kept ignited. For
this purpose he spread reports abroad that the Irish were about
to rise in rebellion, backed by the French; and that the papists
in London had entered into a vile conspiracy to put their fellow
citizens to the sword on the first favourable opportunity. To
give this latter statement a flavour of reality he, assuming an
air of fright, betook himself one night to the city, and sought
refuge in the house of a fanatic, in order, he said, that he
might escape the catholics, who had planned to cut his throat.
A tempest, dark and dangerous, was gathering fast, which the
court felt powerless to subdue. The king's assurance to
parliament that "he would endeavour to satisfy the world of his
steadfastness for the security of the protestant religion," had
little avail in soothing the people. Many of them suspected him
to be a catholic at heart; others knew he had accepted the bounty
of a country feared and detested by the nation. Deeds, not
words, could alone dispel the clouds of prejudice which came
between him and his subjects; and accordingly he set about the
performance of such acts as might bring reconciliation in their
train.
The first of these was the confirmation, according to the
Protestant Church, of the Lady Mary, eldest daughter of the Duke
of York, and after him heir presumptive to the crown; the second
and more important was the marriage of that princess to William
of Orange. This prince was son of the king's eldest sister, and
therefore grandson of Charles I. As a hero who, by virtue of his
statesmanship and indomitable courage, had rescued Holland from
the hateful power of France, he was regarded not only as the
saviour of his country, but as the protector of protestantism.
Already a large section of the English nation turned their eyes
towards him as one whom they might elect some day to weald the
sceptre of Great Britain. Subtle, ambitious, and determined, a
silent student of humanity, a grave observer of politics, a
sagacious leader in warfare, he had likewise begun to look
forward towards the chances of succeeding his uncle in the
government of England--in hopes of which he had been strengthened
by the private overtures made him by Shaftesbury, and sustained
by the public prejudices exhibited against the Duke of York.
The proposed union between him and the heiress presumptive to the
crown was regarded by the nation with satisfaction, and by the
prince as an act strongly favouring the realization of his
desires for sovereignty. Cold and grave in temperament, sickly
and repulsive in appearance, blunt and graceless in manner, he
was by no means an ideal bridegroom for a fair princess; but
neither she nor her father had any choice given them in a concern
so important to the pacification of the nation. She, it was
whispered at court, had previously given her heart to a brave
young Scottish laird; and her father, it was known, had already
taken an instinctive dislike to the man destined to usurp his
throne. In October, 1677, the Prince of Orange came to England,
ostensibly to consult with King Charles regarding the
establishment of peace between France and the Confederates; but
the chief motive of his visit was to promote his marriage, which
had some time before been proposed, and owing to political causes
had been coolly received by him. Now, however, his anxiety for
the union was made plain to the king, who quickly agreed to his
desires. "Nephew," said he to the sturdy Dutchman, "it is not
good for man to be alone, and I will give you a help meet for
you; and so," continues Burnet, "he told him he would bestow his
niece on him."
The same afternoon the monarch informed his council that "the
Prince of Orange, desiring a more strict alliance with England by
marriage with the Lady Mary, he had consented to it, as a thing
he looked on as very proper to unite the family, and which he
believed would be agreeable to his people, and show them the care
he had of religion, for which reason he thought it the best
alliance he could make." When his majesty had concluded this
speech, the Duke of York stepped forward, and declared his
consent to the marriage. He hoped "he had now given a sufficient
testimony of his right intentions for the public good, and that
people would no more say he designed altering the government in
church or state; for whatever his opinion on religion might be,
all that he desired was, that men might not be molested merely
for conscience' sake."
The duke then dined at Whitehall with, the king, the Prince of
Orange, and a noble company; after which he returned to St.
James's, where he then resided. Dr. Edward Luke, at this time
tutor to the Lady Mary, and subsequently Archdeacon of Exeter, in
his interesting manuscript diary, informs us that on reaching the
palace, the duke, with great tenderness and fatherly affection,
took his daughter aside, "and told her of the marriage designed
between her and the Prince of Orange; whereupon her highness wept
all that afternoon and the following day." Her tears had not
ceased to flow when, two days after the announcement of her
marriage, Lord Chancellor Finch, on behalf of the council, came
to congratulate her; and Lord Chief Justice Rainsford, on the
part of the judges, complimented her in extravagant terms.
This union, which the bride regarded with so much repugnance, was
appointed to take place on the 4th of November, that date being
the bridegroom's birthday, as likewise the anniversary of his
mother's nativity. Dr. Luke gives a quaint account of the
ceremony. "At nine o'clock at night," he writes, "the marriage
was solemnized in her highness's bedchamber. The king; who gave
her away, was very pleasant all the while; for he desired that
the Bishop of London would make haste lest his sister [the
Duchess of York] should be delivered of a son, and so the
marriage be disappointed. And when the prince endowed her with
all his worldly goods [laying gold and silver on the book], he
willed to put all up in her pockett, for 'twas clear gains. At
eleven o'clock they went to bed, when his majesty came and drew
the curtains, saying, 'Hey! St. George for England!'"
For a time both court and town seemed to forget the trouble and
strife which beset them. Bonfires blazed in the streets, bells
rang from church towers, the populace cheered lustily; whilst at
Whitehall there were many brilliant entertainments. These
terminated with a magnificent ball, held on the 15th instant, the
queen's birthday; at the conclusion of this festivity the bride
and bridegroom were to embark in their yacht, which was to set
sail next morning for Holland. For this ball the princess had
"attired herself very richly with all her jewels;" but her whole
appearance betrayed a sadness she could not suppress in the
present, and which the future did not promise to dispel. For
already the bridegroom, whom the maids of honour had dubbed the
"Dutch monster" and "Caliban," had commenced to reveal glimpses
of his unhandsome character; "and the court began to whisper of
his sullennesse or clownishnesse, that he took no notice of his
princess at the playe and balle, nor came to see her at St.
James', the day preceding that designed for their departure."
The wind being easterly, they were detained in England until the
19th, when, accompanied by the king, the Duke of York, and
several persons of quality, they went in barges from Whitehall to
Greenwich. The princess was sorely grieved, and wept
unceasingly. When her tutor "kneeled down and kissed her gown"
at parting, she could not find words to speak, but turned her
back that she might hide her tears; and, later on, when the queen
"would have comforted her with the consideration of her own
condition when she came into England, and had never till then
seen the king, her highness replied, 'But, madam, you came into
England; but I am going out of England.'"
