CHAP. 1662. 66 "her spirit, detested the barbarity of the affronts "she underwent, and censured them as loudly as they durst." * "But," said Clarendon, "this "sudden downfall and total abandoning her own greatness, this low demeanour, and even appli"cation, to a person she had justly abhorred and "worthily contemned, made all men conclude "that it was a hard matter to know her, and, con"sequently, to serve her. And the King himself was so far from being reconciled by it, that the "esteem, which he could not hitherto but retain "in his heart for her, grew now much less. He "concluded that all her former aversion, expressed "in those lively passions which seemed not ca"pable of dissimulation, was all fiction, and purely "acted to the life by a nature crafty, perverse, "and inconstant. He congratulated his own ill"natured perseverance, by which he had dis"covered how he was to behave himself hereafter, " and what remedies he was to apply to all future "indispositions; nor had he ever after the same "value of her wit, judgment, and understanding, "which he had formerly; and was well enough pleased to observe that the reverence others "had for all three was somewhat diminished." + 66 A dangerous illness of the Queen, in October, 1663, from which her physicians almost ceased to expect recovery, touched Charles, for a time, and produced demonstrations of grief, which we are loth to regard as mere hypocrisy. She re *Life of Clarendon, ii 195. + Ibid. ii, 195. VI. 1663. ceived extreme unction; and affectingly made two CHAP. requests, which she then believed would be her last-that her body might be sent to the land of her fathers, and that the King would never be unmindful of his promised friendship with her brother, the King of Portugal. The King seemed much afflicted, fell on his knees, and burst into tears; but he repaired from this scene to Lady Castlemaine, with whom he supped that night, and every other during the dangerous illness of the Queen; and sought amusement in the society of "la belle Stuart," to whom he had partly transferred his fickle love, and whose presence Lady Castlemaine was ordered always to secure.* The Queen recovered: and the King returned, unaltered, to his former course of faithlessness and neglect; lavishing her portion upon the objects of his infidelity; and so unblushingly and systematically devoting himself to others, that the Queen learnt not only the hard lesson of submission, but even the most discreet avoidance † of any interference with the privileges of the mistress. * Pepys, ii. 105-109. v. 456. Appendix. + Feb. 8. 1664. “Mr. Pierce,” says Pepys, "told me how the King still do doat upon his women, even beyond all shame; and that "the good Queen will of herself stop before she goes sometimes into "her dressing-room, till she knows whether the King be there, for fear "he should be, as she has sometimes taken him with Mrs. Stewart; "and that some of the best parts of the Queen's jointure are, contrary "to faith, and against the opinion of my Lord Treasurer and his "council, bestowed or rented, I know not how, to my Lord Fitz"harding and Mrs. Stewart, and others of that crew." (Pepys, ii. 105.) CHAP. VII. CLARENDON'S PACIFIC POLICY. SUBJECTS OF DISPUTE BE- 1661-1662. VII. 1662. CHAP. CLARENDON's acceptance of secret pecuniary aid for Charles, although that aid was of small amount, created some difficulty in attempting to maintain towards the French court an attitude of dignity and independence; and this difficulty was augmented by the internal condition of England. The acute and vigilant D'Estrades, who, in July, 1661, had come as ambassador to London from the King of France, had not been deceived by the ambitious and warlike language which Charles had chosen to hold before him, with a view to inspire respect. He had noticed the prevalence of discontent; he had balanced the income and expenditure of the state; had ascertained the deficiency of the former; and had come to the conclusion that, if Charles really wished for war, VII. 1662. 1664. he must rely on some resource inscrutable to the CHAP. ambassador.* Clarendon, at this time, was keenly sensible of our inability to sustain the dignity of the state by arms. "I pray," he wrote to Down- Aug. 30. ing, "remember the straights and necessities we "are in for money, the emptiness of all our stores "and magazines." "And therefore," he adds, "till these are replenished, I think we should anger as few as is possible."+ Yet, under circumstances of such difficulty, he urged to D'Estrades the claims of England, in a tone not only far removed from that subserviency to French interests with which he has been unfairly charged, but which even piqued the pride of Louis, and caused him to complain, in a letter to D'Estrades, of the "hauteur" with which the English Lord Chancellor had spoken." + of dis Sundry causes of disagreement between the Subjects two countries had occurred. The nets of certain pute fishermen of Dieppe had been seized under the authority of the Lord High Admiral, the Duke of York; and though the nets were restored, it was done simply as a matter of favour. Reparation thus offered was not acceptable to Louis§; and in retaliation for this affront, and in defiance of a treaty with Cromwell, he caused some English ships, bound for Bordeaux, to be stopped at Blaye, near the mouth of the Garonne, and required to put on shore their ordnance. Remonstrances * D'Estrades, i. 133. D'Estrades, i. 191, 192. Letter lxxxi., Vol. III. p. 168. CHAP. 1662. were made, to which the French King replied, through Bastide, to Clarendon, that he had never granted this favour to the Protector except when the latter professed willingness to forbear all claim to France; "but," pursued Bastide, "if the King of England is willing to prefer other ad 66 vantages, and those solid ones, before so un"useful a title or claim, and so to leave it, that "itself will be a title or ground to the King of "France, not only to grant that of Blaye, but also "to do some extraordinary effort on behalf of the King of England;" and he added, in a postscript, "if your Excellency is willing to bring it "to effect, besides the solid advantages the King "of England will get by it, your Excellency will 66 get such ones for yourself, that your Excellency "will have ground to be pleased with it." No answer to this latter intimation is extant. To the former Clarendon replied, that the consideration which induced such concession to Cromwell might be debated whenever a future treaty should come under discussion; but, in the mean time, he protested against it being allowed to appear "that the English shall not enjoy the same privileges "which they had under Cromwell;" "that the question of the title is one which can never give "the King of France a moment's trouble, and that "the present mention of it would give the King "of England much unquiet, and that, if an order "is sent to compel the English ships to leave their 66 66 Clarendon State Papers, iii. Supp. xii., xiii. |