DA 
 447 
 
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 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 
 DA 447.P85G76 
 
 Louise Renee de Keroualle 
 
 3 1924 028 008 617 
 
 olin 
 
 
 DATE 
 
 DUE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 GAYLORO 
 
 
 
 PRINTED IN USA 
 
i^ 
 
 'liBi h 
 
 Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028008617 
 
Louise Renee de Keroualle 
 

Louise Renee de Keroualle 
 
 (Duchess of Portsmouth) 
 
 By 
 
 Mrs. Colquhoun Grant 
 
 Author of " French Noblesse of the Eighteenth Century," " Mother of 
 Czars," "Queen and Cardinal," "Quaker and Courtier" 
 
 With Photogravure Portrait and other Illustrations 
 
 [ M/liii^3e?P?^ I 
 
 New York 
 
 D. Appleton and Company 
 
 1909 
 
First published in igoq 
 
 
 y 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter I. — Chateau de K^roualle — Family de K^roualle — War 
 Services of Comte— Children of De K^roualle— Property at 
 Guiler — Description of Chateau — Breton Home— And its 
 Influence jgage 17 
 
 Chapteb II. — Brittany — Beligion of Ancient Brittany — Bale des 
 Tr6pass6s — Finisterre — Gothic Art in France — Breton Virtues 
 and Vices— Life of the Nobles — Habits of the Nobles — 
 Decadence of the Nobles page 25 
 
 Chapter III. — Ancestry — Du Guesclin — The Nobles of L6on — Anne 
 of Brittany — Love of Country jpage 35 
 
 Chapter IV. — First Introduction at Court — Louise's Girlhood — 
 Comte de K^roualle — Due de Beaufort — Sebastien de K^roualle 
 —" Madame "—Charles 11.—** La Belle Bretonne "—Court 
 Intrigue — De Sault's Attentions page 40 
 
 Chapter V. — Schemes of Louis XIV. — Louis' Brilliant Idea — 
 Diplomatic Methods — Charles' Character — London after the 
 Commonv^ealth — Masquerades and River Parties — St.Evremond 
 — " La Belle Hamilton " — French Colony in London — • 
 Louis' Visit to Flanders — "Grand Monarque " — "Louis the 
 Magnificent " page 50 
 
 Chapter VI. — Royal Visit to Dunkirque — Royal Schemes — Arrival 
 at Dover — Negotiations — The Breton Beauty — Charles' Infatua- 
 tion — Madame's return — Her Tragic Death — Poison Suspected 
 — Monsieur's Heartlessness pcig^ 62 
 
 Chapter VII. — Desperate Situation — Charles' Grief — Charles' ofier 
 to Louise — Duko of Buckingham — King's Yacht sent for Louise 
 — Charles' kindly Greeting — New Maid-of-Honour — Established 
 at Whitehall— Lady Castlemaine's Wrath— The '♦ Baby-Faced " 
 Beauty — Lord Arlington's Opinion- — Discretion of Louise — 
 *' Probl^me " — Visit to Euston — Court at Nev^market — Mock 
 Marriage — The New Mistress — Louise's deep Affection yage 72 
 
vi CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter VIII.— Whitehall— Newmarket— Sir Christopher Wren- 
 Duck Island— King Charles' Spaniels— The Royal Brothers 
 —The Crown Jewels— " P^le-mele "—Catherine's Disappoint- 
 ment ^pag^ 90 
 
 Chapter IX.— Birth of Her Son— Three Points of Importance- 
 Duke of York's Religion — Rumour of Queen's Ill-health — Nell 
 Gwynn — Louise's Important Position — Demoiselles d'Elboeuf — 
 Louise's Love for Her Child — Created Duchess of Portsmouth — 
 Duchesse d'Aubigny — Colbert's Machinations . . page 99 
 
 Chapter X. — The Duchess of Portsmouth — Louise's Morning Lev6e 
 — Her wonderful Hair— New CoiSure— " En la Rose je 
 fleuris " — System of the Stuarts— Immoral Courts — " Madam 
 Carwell" — Louise's Talents — Europe against France — Hatred 
 of Papists page 110 
 
 Chapter XI. — Henriette de K^roualle — Henriette's Arrival — King's 
 Generosity — Marriage to Lord Pembroke — Birth of Lady 
 Charlotte Herbert — Enormous Perquisites — The Worthless 
 Reprobate — Chevalier De Rohan — Louise's Parents — The 
 Neglected Queen — The Greatest Rival of All . . page 121 
 
 Chapter XII. — Covert Insults — Tunbridge Wells — English Fashions 
 — Marchioness of Worcester — Duchess of Ormond — Sir John 
 Reresby — Art Treasures — Too much Prosperity — Le Tabouret 
 — Duchess' Diplomacy — Her Desire Obtained . . page 132 
 
 Chapter XIII. — Duchess Mazarin — Hortense Mancini — Due 
 Mazarin — Duchess Mazarin's Beauty — Mancini Sisters — Abb6 
 de Saint-Real — Hortense's Habits — Nell Gwynn's Ridicule — 
 Louise's Illness — Charles' Secret Gift — Rivalry of the Ladies — 
 Hortense's Successes — St. Evremond's Love — Louise's State 
 Banquet — Charles Enthralled Again .... page 143 
 
 Chapter XIV. — The Duchess' Influence — Lord Danby in Power — 
 His Efiorts Foiled — False Reports — Lord Danby Impeached — 
 The Cabal — Semi-royal Prerogatives .... page 158 
 
 Chapter XV. — Paul Barrillon — Prince of Orange — Audley End — 
 Charles' Alarm — Barrillon's Letters — The Clever Duchess — 
 Order of the Garter — Charles' Illness — King's Recovery 
 
 page 165 
 
 Chapter XVI. — Parliament Prorogued — Countess of Sunderland — 
 Monmouth in Favour — Shaftesbury, Head of Malcontents — 
 Louise's Desire — She and Charles Separate — Henriette's Bills 
 — F^tes at St. Cloud — Sisters return to Guiler — Recouverance 
 — Return to London — Dutch Ambassador — Queen appreciates 
 Louise page 174 
 
CONTENTS vii 
 
 Chapter XVII.— Grand Prior of France— Charles' Jealousy— Grand 
 Prior Ordered Away — King's Tenderness to Louise — Marriage 
 of Princess Anne — Embassy from Morocco — Barrillon sent for 
 — Louise Seriously 111— Hint to Louis— Death of Earl of 
 Pembroke — Lady Pembroke's Valuables, Furniture and Jewels 
 — Leaves England for Ever page 187 
 
 Chapter XVIII.— Judge JeSreys- Called to the Bar— Jeffreys' 
 Marriage — Louise his Patron — Entertained Boyalty — His re- 
 marriage — The Historian Leti — The Poet Dryden— Poem by 
 King Charles page 200 
 
 Chapter XIX. — The Exclusion Bill— Monmouth's Mother— The 
 King Opposes Bill — Supports James' Interest — King's Devotion 
 Increases — Honours to Duke of Bichmond — Reresby's Diary 
 — Louise's Civility to Him— Art of Story Telling — Witty 
 Bemark page 209 
 
 Chapter XX. — Charles' Last Illness— Seized with a Fit — Palace in 
 a Tumult — Louise sends for Barrillon — Bishops in Attendance 
 — Bomish Priest — Charles' Death — His Faults and Qualities — 
 His Beligious Beliefs — His Illegitimate Children — The New 
 King — Louise in Desperate Straits — Income granted to Her 
 — Judge Jeffreys — Cruelty of Jeffreys — Never Forgotten 
 
 page 219 
 
 Chapter XXL — Louise returns to France — Henriette's Second 
 Marriage — Bichmond Described — Louise returns to England — 
 Lady Charlotte's Marriage — Flight of Jeffreys — His Death — 
 Daughter of Second Lord Jeffreys .... page 235 
 
 Chapter XXII. — Birth of Pretender — Flight of Mary of Modena 
 — Exiled King — William of Orange — Marriage of Richmond 
 — Henriette, Lady Pomfret — The Ladies Permor — Horace 
 Walpole — Lady Mary Wortley Montagu — Epigram — Death 
 of Lady Pomfret page 243 
 
 Chapter XXIII. — Court of George I. — Louise's Last Visit to 
 England — Louise's Creditors — Her Appeal for Money — Her 
 Letters — Succeeds to Family Estate — Chateau Bestored — 
 Considerable Possessions— More Letters — D'Aubigny much 
 Neglected page 254 
 
 Chapter XXIV. — Closing Years — Louise as a Madonna — Beautiful 
 Portraits — Gascar and Mignard — Duke of Bichmond's Death — 
 Henriette's Death — Louise's Death — Her Tomb . page 270 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Genealogical Table xii 
 
 The Duchess of Portsmouth. By Sir Peter Lely. 
 By kind permission of the Duke of Richmond 
 and Gordon ------ Frontispiece 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 Chest belonging to Louise de Keroualle. Now in 
 the possession of the Earl of Ranf urly at Northland 
 House, Dungannon, Ireland ----- xiii 
 
 The Chateau de Keroualle, Gutler, Finisterre, 
 
 France - 22 
 
 Portrait of Louise de KiSroualle. By Sir Peter Lely 81 
 
 Whitehall in 1680 90 
 
 Portrait of the Duchess of Portsmouth as an 
 
 Arcadian Berg ere. By Sir Peter Lely - - - 112 
 
 Portrait of Louis XIV. 140 
 
 Portrait of Baron Jeffreys. By Godfrey Kneller - 201 
 
 Portrait of King Charles II. By Greenhill - - 227 
 
 Facsimile of Letter 259 
 
 viu 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This story of Louise Ren6e de Penancoet, 
 Dame de Keroualle, who became so notorious 
 in England under the title of Duchess of 
 Portsmouth, has been gathered ft^om many- 
 sources in Brittany, her natal land. Although 
 a stigma has been for ever attached to her 
 name on account of her intimate relations 
 with Charles II. of England, her Kfe was not 
 a depraved or evil one. Her conduct was 
 but in accordance with some of the strange 
 morals of those times. She was a woman of 
 immense capacity while of a tender and affec- 
 tionate heart, and by her diplomatic relations 
 with Louis XIV. she altered the whole face 
 of Europe and its then existing conditions. 
 
 ix 
 
X PREFACE 
 
 She belonged to one of the oldest families in 
 Brittany, and both she and her sister founded 
 noble families in England, but during her stay- 
 in that country she earned great unpopularity. 
 
 Her name was execrated by the people 
 during the reign of Charles II. as they attri- 
 buted every wrong act on the part of their 
 sovereign to the evil influence of his French 
 mistress. In her own country she was loaded 
 with wealth and honours, rewards for what 
 were considered good and weU-merited deeds. 
 
 The books I consulted were some of the old 
 French memoirs, those of Saint-Simon, St. 
 Evremond ; the CEuil-de-Boeuf, by Touchard- 
 Lafosse ; Sir John Reresby's Memoirs ; For- 
 neron's Life of the Duchess of Portsmouth, and 
 other historical accounts of the reign of Charles 
 II. My description of Brittany is drawn from 
 well-known authors. La Bretagne Ancienne et 
 Moderne, by Pitre Chevalier, and the able 
 writings of Emil Souvestre. 
 
PREFACE xi 
 
 Few personal records unfortunately remain 
 
 of the beautiful woman, the subject of this 
 
 memoir, but such as they are, I offer them 
 
 to the reader as with the strange vicissitudes 
 
 of her sister and herself, they may prove 
 
 of some interest to the lover of old-world 
 
 histories. 
 
 C. G. 
 
 1909 
 
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 xii 
 
CHEST BELONGING TO LOUISE UK KEKOUALLE 
 Now in the possession of the Earl o/ Rait/in-ly at Northland House, Pungannon, Ireland 
 
 To face page xiii 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 An old chest Kes before me as I write. 
 
 The woodwork of marquetrie in tints of 
 amber and gold is inlaid with the careful 
 work of the craftsman of former days, who 
 finished his task with minutest care, very 
 different to the reproductions of these modern 
 times.^ 
 
 It is raised on a Httle stand of the same 
 fiae work, and has two deep drawers for the 
 better holding of the treasures consigned to 
 its safe keeping. 
 
 As I hft the heavy lid, and look into the 
 depth of the blue silk lining, and at the filmy 
 pieces of lace within, imagination brings out 
 
 ^ Marquetrie work was an industry in Brittany as early 
 as the reign of Louis XIII. It is no longer made there. 
 
 XUl 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 of the shadowy past the vision of the hands 
 that touched those deheate pieces of personal 
 adornment, and that turned the key in the 
 elaborate and ornate lock which secured the 
 valuable contents. 
 
 If, as is said, hands portray the charac- 
 teristics of their owner, how seductive and 
 delicate, and yet how competent and fuU of 
 purpose those hands must have been, for it 
 was a mattresse femme, a subtly fair and frail 
 beauty, to whom this chest belonged, one 
 who was sought after and flattered in the 
 circle in which she moved, and who was 
 beloved of a king. 
 
 Could this ancient rehc only speak, what 
 tales it could teU of the many ambitions that 
 swayed its lovely owner, of royal dalliance, 
 unscrupulous gi^eed and unholy friendships. 
 
 And yet there is a touch of natural human 
 affection and relationship connected with this 
 chest which seems to lift it up above the 
 
INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 corrupt surroundings from which it was re- 
 moved to be carried down to this twentieth 
 century, for it was a gift to a niece, an only 
 sister's child, one who formed a link with 
 home for this great Court lady, who, from 
 the giddy height of her brilliant position, the 
 costly price of her fair fame, still clung to 
 those who had formed part of her home-life 
 in distant Brittany from which theu' race has 
 sprung. 
 
 Fate had brought the sisters to England, a 
 foreign land to them, the one to become the 
 wife of an Enghsh nobleman, the other to be 
 the guilty but adored inmate of a palace, and 
 to reign as queen over the heart of a monarch. 
 
 Yet, in spite of royal smiles and titles and 
 riches lavished on her, this erring woman 
 never quite lost the natural affections, and 
 among others, her love for the httle niece 
 born and reared in a stately Enghsh home. 
 
 Long centuries have passed since those sisters 
 
xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 lived and died, and their heads been laid low 
 in the dust. The very name they bore has 
 gone down to posterity as a stigma, and the 
 chest remains as a perpetual reminder to those 
 who came after them of the dishonour which, 
 in the seventeenth century, was looked upon 
 as a light from the Crown, a privilege rather 
 than a treachery and a disgrace. 
 
BRITTANY TO WHITEHALL 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 CHATEAU DE K^ROUALLE 
 
 In the middle of the seventeenth century there 
 stood a chateau near the village of Guiler about 
 six miles from the town of Brest. It belonged 
 to Guillaume de Penancoet, Seigneur de 
 Keroualle, commonly called the Comte de 
 K6roualle, and the chateau also was so named/ 
 The house of Penancoet, which bore on its 
 arms "fasce de six pieces d'argent et d'azur, 
 ahas a la bordure chargee de six annelets en 
 
 1 This name is generally rendered Qu^rouailles in Eng- 
 lish — the Q or the K being in use in Brittany for the 
 same names. 
 
 In France, however, it is usually spelt as above, Kerou- 
 alle, but it is also rendered Keroel, Keronal, Kerouasle, 
 K^ronazle. In the latter spelling the " s " or the " z " are 
 not sounded. 
 
 (17) 2 
 
18 FAMILY OF DE KEROUALLE 
 
 orbe," had as its device " A bep pen lealdest " — 
 " Loyautd partout," and was of very ancient 
 chevalric extraction and dated from eleven 
 generations prior to, 1669. It belonged to the 
 Bishopric of L^on, whence sprang the most 
 noble families of the province. 
 
 On the occasion of the marriage, 10th May, 
 1330, of Jeanne de Penancoet, Dame de 
 Kerouzale, with Francois de Penhoet, the 
 two families were merged in one, and by the 
 contract then made he was obliged to take for 
 himself and his children the name of Penancoet, 
 and bear their arms, and his descendants con- 
 tinued to be known by that name.^ Descending 
 from a line of princely origin, the family was 
 reputed to be one of the most ancient in the 
 comitry, their name being derived from the 
 ancient Barons and Viscounts of L^on.^ 
 
 Guillaume de Penancoet, Comte de Kerou- 
 alle, had served in the army in his youth. 
 He was at the siege of Hesden in 1639 and 
 
 ^ It is an heraldic error made by some writers in calling 
 Mile, de K^roualle, Louise Penhoet. 
 
 2 It was said of this family : " Antiquite de Penhoet, 
 Valliance de Chastel, Chevalerie de Kergoumadech ". — Guy 
 le Borgue. 
 
WAR SERVICE OF THE COMTE 19 
 
 at the siege of Arras in 1640, where he was 
 severely wounded ; and he was also at Aire 
 and Bapaume in 1641.^ He had been chosen 
 standard-bearer of the company of men-at- 
 arms of Cardinal Richelieu, and was afterwards 
 made commandant of the " Arriere-Ban " or 
 Convocation of Nobles in the Bishopric of Leon. 
 He was also on the Staff of the Due de 
 Chaulnes, Governor of Brittany. He married 
 in 1645 Marie de Ploeuc, daughter of Sebastien 
 de Ploeuc, Marquis de Tymeur, and of Marie 
 de Rieux his wife. She was thus connected 
 with some of the noblest families of Brittany, 
 and was besides a great beauty. 
 
 They took up their abode in the Chateau de 
 Keroualle, but there is no record of the birth 
 of their three children at Guiler, the records 
 having been unfortunately all destroyed there 
 prior to 1725. It is more probable that the 
 children were born at Brest, it being the habit 
 for noble ladies to repair to the nearest town 
 at the time of their confinements. It does not 
 appear that the Comte de Keroualle was a rich 
 man, although his land extended to Brest on 
 
 ^ All these places are in Pas de Calais. 
 
20 CHILDREN OF DE KEROUALLE 
 
 the one side and in the rich country beyond 
 Guiler on the other. Brest was already a 
 maritime town of some importance, but 
 rumours were rife that the State meant to 
 claim some of the low-lying lands of Re- 
 couverance to enlarge the port and increase 
 the defences.^ At any rate, it was at the 
 chateau that the three children spent their 
 childhood. 
 
 The eldest was a son, Sebastien de Penan- 
 coet. Seigneur de Keroualle ; then followed 
 two daughters, Louise Renee de Penan- 
 coet, also Dame de Keroualle, and httle 
 Henriette Mauricette de Penancoet de Kerou- 
 alle — but she never possessed any seigneurial 
 rights. 
 
 The old home exists to this day, although 
 
 ^ Tradition asserts that the old city belonged to King 
 Bristicus — hence its name — whose duty it was every 
 Saturday to throw some person into the sea to be devoured 
 by a cruel dragon, so as to ensure the safety of the rest, till 
 Riok, the little son of the Seigneur d'Elorn, who had been 
 brought up in the Christian Faith, by his innocence and 
 the marvellous power of Heaven, was able, by giving the 
 sign of the Cross, to approach the dragon and lead him 
 peacefully into the town of Brest, to the immense relief of 
 the inhabitants. Riok was of course eventually canonised. 
 
PROPERTY AT GUILER 21 
 
 the family of the De Keroualles is extinct. 
 The chateau is doubtless altered, having been 
 restored probably in the early part of last 
 century, but it still gives a very good idea of 
 what it must have been like over two hundred 
 years ago. 
 
 The territory of the Comte, as has been 
 said before, stretched six or seven miles to the 
 sea, and was mostly forest land. It was in 
 parts a hilly country with extended views, the 
 chief characteristics of the roads at the present 
 day being the oak hedges growing on the high 
 banks of the deep lanes, and which are evi- 
 dently the outcome of forest trees. 
 
 The road from Brest leads there through 
 what is now the modern suburb of Recouver- 
 ance.^ 
 
 Just before reaching the village of Guiler 
 a turn in the road brings the traveller sud- 
 denly on a ruined gateway leading into the 
 woods, the stone pillars of which are now 
 alone standing. A grass-grown drive leads 
 through them under an avenue of trees into 
 what looks Hke a neglected park, now the 
 
 ^ Now the sailors' quarter of the town. 
 
22 DESCRIPTION OF CHATEAU 
 
 property of the Baronne de Didelot, who 
 resides in a modern villa in one corner of the 
 property.^ 
 
 Following one of the many shady avenues, 
 all leading up from different directions to the 
 central point where the chateau stands, an 
 open space is reached. 
 
 The house, a long low one, is an imposing- 
 looking building, consisting of two floors with 
 high roof and dormer windows.^ The central 
 doorway is evidently old, but the ft^amework 
 of the windows is the work of last century. 
 The rooms on the ground floor have been 
 whitewashed ; some are papered ; there are 
 
 1 The history of the chateau through the centuries is 
 unknown. It belonged at the end of the eighteenth 
 century to Madame Hersent, a celebrated painter, and 
 mother of Locadia de Penquer, author of Valleda. This 
 latter was born there in 1827 and mari'ied the Mayor of 
 Brest. The late Baron de Didelot, who was a dis- 
 tinguished admiral, and whose family belonged to that 
 part of the country, bought the property, and left it to 
 his widow. 
 
 2 The high roof with dormer windows was brought into 
 use in France under Louis XIV. The same shape as is 
 reproduced to-day on modern French houses, only that 
 slates are used instead of tiles. 
 
a 
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 Pi 
 
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 w 
 h-1 
 
 
 H 
 
DESCRIPTION CONTINUED 23 
 
 signs of recent habitation, and all are modern- 
 ised. Those on the first floor are untouched ; 
 boarded shutters standing closed preserve 
 them. Here and there on ceilings and wain- 
 scot are traces of frescoes added in 1690. 
 The back of the house has modern doors and 
 windows, and looks out on a large, neglected 
 wilderness of a garden. Two massive towers 
 of the fifteenth century flank the house at 
 the back and have been untouched. Here 
 and there a Tudor window has also been 
 left. 
 
 The courtyard in front of the house is railed 
 off. There are the pillars of the ancient 
 central gate still standing, and it is further 
 embeUished by two pavilions, or what we 
 call wings, not however attached to the main 
 building though standing within the enclosure. 
 
 These pavilions, like the rest of the cha- 
 teau, have been restored. There is a chapel 
 in one of them, and both are ornamented 
 with stone balustrades with grass-grown steps, 
 pointing to the Renaissance period. 
 
 In the courtyard is a weU of much the 
 same date, the cover of which is supported 
 
24 BRETON HOME 
 
 on four slender columns, with ivy clinging 
 round the base. 
 
 On the wall of the chapel are some effaced 
 arms on a stone shield. 
 
 An air of tranquil grandeur pervades this 
 uninhabited and deserted house, standing 
 solitary and alone among the woods, in this 
 remote corner of Brittany, a mere memory 
 now of far-away days. 
 
 In front of this old habitation of the 
 Middle Ages in this prosaic twentieth century, 
 we gaze with interest and curiosity at 
 what was once the home of Louise de 
 Keroualle. 
 
 The surroundings are probably but little 
 altered since she lived there ; it was the spot 
 where her childhood's days were passed, and 
 merry laughter must have re-echoed round 
 those walls as the little children of the Comte 
 de Keroualle pursued their sports near the 
 ancestral abode. 
 
 There, too, she grew into lovely maiden- 
 hood, and dreamed away the happy hours 
 with all the fancies and pleasures of youth. 
 
 Could we but possess a magic crystal so 
 
HOME INFLUENCE 25 
 
 as to conjure up, from that distant past, the 
 scenes that must have taken place in that 
 old Breton chateau, the once famous beauty 
 would Uve again for us, and we should better 
 understand what Ufe meant to the men and 
 women of those days. 
 
 The education that formed her character, 
 and the motives that swayed her after-life, 
 might be read more clearly in the fierce light 
 of the present day if we knew more of the 
 intimate facts of her daily existence. But 
 history is silent on those points, and so her 
 characters, hke puppets on a stage, are judged 
 by modern readers who only dimly perceive, 
 and cannot understand, and are thus often 
 misled. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 BRITTANY 
 
 The province of Brittany, the Armoriea of 
 the ancients, has always kept itself apart from 
 the rest of France, and this very isolation is 
 what has endeared it to its inhabitants. His- 
 torically and geographically this country has 
 held its own against foreign foes and the over- 
 whelming ocean, which, encroaching along 
 other coasts, never could overcome its barriers, 
 defended as they are by their rugged headlands. 
 Of the ancient conquerors Caesar and Charle- 
 magne alone enthralled Brittany. She paid 
 no lasting tribute to the rulers of the world. 
 Even the English, masters as they were of 
 France, though decimating these western parts 
 for years, fighting their battles on her hills and 
 in her vaUeys till the land ran red with blood, 
 never obtained possession, and history repeated 
 
 itself in the days of the great Napoleon, when 
 
 (26) 
 
RELIGION OF BRITTANY 27 
 
 the "Chouans" fought "les bleus," as they 
 called the French regulars, for the Uberty of 
 then* fatherland. The Breton still remains a 
 Breton. Their characteristics are clear and 
 defined. The Celt is strong in the race and 
 brought with it a touch of the Orient to their 
 fog-laden coasts. There is a strain of melan- 
 choly in their nature, perhaps the outcome of 
 their Druidical ancestors, with their human 
 sacrifices and cruel superstitions, these may 
 have left a taint, which has not been without 
 influence on the race. Signs of it still hover 
 over the country where quaint ceremonies and 
 weird omens and customs still prevail. True, 
 they were among the earliest to receive the 
 good seed sown by the saints and bishops of 
 Rome, but the temples to the unknown gods, 
 the Cromlechs, the Menhirs and the Dolmens, 
 the remains of which still strew the land fi^om 
 east to west, continued to be the Holy of 
 Holies to the simple country men. The oaks 
 had been the sacred trees of the Druids, the 
 mistletoe growing on its branches their most 
 precious treasure, and such it long remained 
 in the eyes of the people. 
 
28 BAIE DES TREPASSES 
 
 The sea had no terror for the Breton. Their 
 sons were a race of hardy mariners, who 
 dreaded neither the pitiless i^oek nor the foam- 
 ing ocean waves, which yearly claimed its 
 hundreds, as it does still. Round the rugged 
 coast the sea, with all its splendours and all 
 its harmonies, and yet its terrific force and 
 the uproar of its waves, would fill hearts with 
 dread to whom it was not such a matter of 
 daily occurrence as it is to the hardy inhabit- 
 ants of Finisterre. Its " Baie des Trepasses," 
 ghastly name of " Bay of Death," would fill 
 the more peaceful dwellers on land with 
 horror, for there the bodies of the ship- 
 wrecked are often tossed to and fro among 
 the seaweed, and in those seething waters are 
 denied all possibility of sepulture. 
 
 On All Souls' Day it is said that plaintive 
 moans are heard in the " Baie des Trepasses ". 
 The spirits of drowned mariners, and other 
 victims of the sea, are to be seen floating on 
 the crests of the waves like white foam, and 
 there every year they meet those they loved 
 on earth and from whom they were separated 
 by a cruel death. Each crested wave contains 
 
FINISTERRE 29 
 
 a soul, and it is when they meet that a long, 
 low wail is heard, and as they are once more 
 torn asunder, and each carried on its way, the 
 moans increase in agony, and the traveller 
 passing that way crosses himself and repeats 
 the prayers for the dead.^ 
 
 Finisterre (the ancient Cornouaille and 
 Pays de Leon) is typical of the whole of 
 Brittany, with the fertihty of its valleys and 
 the aridness of its plains. The beauty and 
 ruggedness at every step form strong con- 
 trasts, and the same variety repeats itself in 
 its monuments, its types and its customs. 
 The northern part is the Arabia Petrea of 
 Brittany, the south is Arcadia. In the former 
 are bare dusty roads, open heather land where 
 cattle and sheep graze, scattered far and 
 wide, and on meagre pasturage. The chain 
 of hills stands up bleak against the horizon 
 without trees. The skies are often grey with 
 a chill damp in winter and a dry heat in 
 summer. It is a desert of gorse and thorny 
 plants, and amid these arid scenes lives 
 a population, sombre, hard and silent. 
 
 ^ Emil Souvestre. 
 
30 GOTHIC ART IN FRANCE 
 
 On the other hand, the southern portion 
 has sunny landscapes such as Virgil would 
 have sung ; green orchards with fruit-laden 
 trees ; meadows of rich emerald verdure, 
 starred with flowers. Streams in the valleys 
 watered this country where old manor houses 
 were to be seen among groves of oak, and 
 church spires rose above the thick copses. 
 
 Oak-trees abound, and though not at- 
 taining to a great size as in England, are 
 a distinct feature of that part of Brittany. 
 The sea surrounding the coast with its grand 
 beauty, and the rich woodlands in the centre, 
 makes it seem as if this fertile land had been 
 blessed by reason of its calvarys and belfrys.^ 
 
 When the first fervours of the religious 
 age had passed, and fear of the end of the 
 world been forgotten, and when the after- 
 effects of the Crusades had subsided, then 
 began the pious mysticism of the Middle 
 Ages. In Brittany as in France it was the 
 height of Gothic Art. Churches of architec- 
 tural beauty began to rise in every bishopric. 
 Each gargoyle representing a monstrosity 
 
 ^ Emil Souvestre. 
 
BRETON VIRTUES AND VICES 31 
 
 was intended to teach the eternal battle with 
 the power of darkness ; each carved Christian 
 symbol that of the power of light. The 
 masons and stone-carvers who raised these 
 mighty edifices, with their forests of pillars 
 and flying buttresses of stone lace-work, 
 never left any memory of themselves as 
 individuals. No name was ever graven to 
 carry down their individuality to posterity ; 
 they sought no reward or fame of men. 
 Love of their Church was ever present, and 
 a deep reUgious spirit. 
 
 It is said of the Breton to this day that 
 they have five virtues and three vices : — 
 
 Love of their country ; Submission before 
 God ; Loyalty towards men ; Perseverance ; 
 Worship of the past. 
 
 It is sad to put against these fine qualities 
 the national vices of Avarice, Drunkenness 
 and Want of Consideration towards women. 
 Such was the land, its characteristics and 
 its people, from which the race of the De 
 Keroualles had sprung, and which was not 
 without influence on their minds and lives. 
 In the seventeenth century, when means of 
 
32 LIFE OF THE NOBLES 
 
 communication were difficult and often ren- 
 dered impossible, only some few of the nobles 
 had facilities for reaching the capital. In far- 
 off provinces like that of Brittany impover- 
 ished seigneurs remained in their country 
 homes, although they did their best to send 
 their sons and daughters into the gay world 
 of the Court. 
 
 Not that they lived without luxury in 
 these remote regions, and they held their 
 heads very high, and scorned communication 
 with the middle classes. 
 
 In the days of the Dukes of Brittany we 
 read of their dresses of gold and silver tissue. 
 Rare wines were on their tables, and rich 
 plate. One pictures the lives in the feudal 
 times as having been devoid of all the ele- 
 gance to which moderns are accustomed, but 
 when the castle of the early barons had been 
 replaced by the beautiful structures which, 
 either in ruins or partially restored, are the 
 admiration of the present day, the dwellings 
 of the nobles became stately mansions suited 
 to their position and wealth. Stone had 
 replaced the wooden houses ; the mud forts 
 
HABITS OF THE NOBLES 33 
 
 which surrounded them gave way to massive 
 walls and magnificent gateways. 
 
 Their tables were laid with plate, though 
 fine damask was unknown, and the habit of 
 taking warm baths, and pouring water over 
 their hands after meals, which had come 
 down from the days of the Roman con- 
 querors, was prevalent. Baths were as 
 much a necessity then as with us, and 
 though they were roughly made tubs, they 
 had aromatic preparations which were placed 
 in the hot water, and baths were even taken 
 after dinner, which sounds imprudent when 
 one thinks of the mighty feasts of ancient 
 days.^ 
 
 " Ce n'etait que sous la Monarchic absolue, 
 I'epoque ou la France devint sale," writes 
 Chateaubriand, and it certainly was very true. 
 The habits and manners of the time of Louis 
 XIV. had by no means improved, and many 
 of the chateaux and manors were already in a 
 state of decay, and the hves of the nobles 
 much more restricted. It was the heavy and 
 vexatious taxation under Louis XIV. which 
 
 1 La Ckevalerie, Leon Gautier. 
 3 
 
34 DECADENCE OF THE NOBLES 
 
 brought the old families down so low as well 
 as crushed and ground down the peasantry. 
 
 It was not all the fault of the former that 
 they did not consider the welfare and well- 
 being of their inferiors. It had not been the 
 habit in time past, when the knights rode out 
 of their castles attended by their retinue, 
 monarchs of all they surveyed, then, their 
 vassals gladly did them homage and service. 
 Now, high and low suffered under the tyranny 
 of a rapacious government, both regretting 
 the good old days, and the further from the 
 capital and the Court the less redress could 
 be obtained. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 ANCESTRY 
 
 The history of Brittany stands apart from the 
 history of France, and the nobles who owned 
 the soil were tenacious of their rights and 
 proud of their pedigrees. 
 
 The Penancoets descended fi'om a long line 
 of fighting ancestors who must have won their 
 spurs in the wars with England. Doubtless 
 their descendants took arms, like the rest 
 of the flower of the Breton nobles, under 
 the famous Bertrand du Guesclin, son of a 
 poor gentleman in Lower Brittany, who be- 
 came Charles V.'s most famous general. He 
 ably defended the wall-encircled town of 
 Dinan against the Duke of Lancaster. The 
 siege was long and fierce, and the spirits of 
 the inhabitants began at last to droop, when 
 the beautiful Tiphaine Raguenel, whose mother 
 was the heiress De la Belliere, predicted from 
 
 the market-place to all who would listen to 
 
 (35) 
 
36 DU GUESCLIN 
 
 her that the beleaguered army would yet be 
 successful. In that dark hour many shook 
 their heads, and Du Guesclin openly laughed 
 at her, but in the day of his success he remem- 
 bered the lovely prophetess, and she eventu- 
 ally became his v^fe. Her house on the rock 
 of Mont St. Michel is shown to this day. 
 
 The Du Rieux were among the Breton 
 conqueror's warriors — Du Guesclin's own sister 
 had married one of that name ; and it was one 
 of their descendants, Marechal de Rieux, who 
 in 1436 drove the English out of the He de 
 France. In 1440, when Jean V., then Duke 
 of Brittany, wished to assure himself of the 
 fidelity of his seigneurs, he caused them all to 
 take the oath. The Comtesse de Keroualle 
 was connected with this family, which was of 
 ancient and famous lineage. 
 
 The Sieurs de Penhoet figure in the records 
 of Rennes from 1384 to 1397, and again in 
 1451 to 1455. One of the race, Jean de Pen- 
 hoet was Governor of Morlaix in 1402, and 
 he destroyed the EngUsh fleet there in 1403. 
 He was made admiral for his services, and 
 received from Duke Jean V. for himself and 
 
THE NOBLES OF LJfcON 37 
 
 his successors, the right to eat at the Duke's 
 table when it pleased him to do so, and when 
 he did not care to dine there he could have 
 his dinner and supper sent from the royal 
 kitchens, with the very best wines from the 
 ducal cellar. The elder branch of the family 
 became merged in that of the De Rohans in 
 1475 ; another branch of the K^roualles 
 in that of Troesquer in the sixteenth century, 
 and the branch of Keroual in that of Lemousi- 
 mere in 1492. The device of the Penhoets 
 was " Red co," " II faut ".^ 
 
 In the roll-call of nobles of L^on we find 
 the name of Penancoet, and again it figures 
 in the list of those of Treguiers.^ 
 
 In 1465, in the reign of Francois II., Duke 
 of Brittany, occurred a war called "Pour le 
 Bien Publique," and among the nobles who 
 served was a De Pleuc and a Penhoet. The 
 Marechal de Rieux took a leading part in 
 this war, and was made Guardian to Duchess 
 
 ^Extracts from Z/'Owe*^ aux Croisades, by H. de Four- 
 mont, Conservateur-adjount de la Bibliotheque publique de 
 Nantes. From vol. ii., pages 44 and 45. 
 
 2 Aetes de Bretagne, Col. ii„ 1316-173^; D, Morice, 
 
38 ANNE OF BRITTANY 
 
 Anne by her father. At his death in 1488 
 Anne was left in possession of his estates, and 
 was for a time supported by Henry VII. of 
 England, who lent his aid to preserve the 
 independence of Brittany, as he feared the 
 further aggrandisement of the French mon- 
 archy. But her marriage with Charles, King 
 of France, finally incorporated Brittany with 
 the French Empire, and the constant danger 
 of invasion from England ceased to menace 
 them ; and when the English forces in Nor- 
 mandy were a peril on their borders, a number 
 of nobles, among whom was a Penhoet, with 
 8,000 men, fell hke a torrent on the English 
 and completely routed them. These, there- 
 fore, were some of the records of brave deeds 
 and famous ancestors cherished and remem- 
 bered in the Chateau de Keroualle. 
 
 Love of country and pride in a noble 
 race must have been early instilled into the 
 hearts of these children of the Comte de 
 Keroualle, and love of country remained the 
 keynote of Louise's character in after-hfe. 
 
 She loved authority and wealth too, and 
 had many ambitions. She was not without 
 
LOVE OF COUNTRY 39 
 
 these weaknesses in her mature Hfe, but to 
 serve France when it became in her power to 
 do so was the motive that mainly swayed her 
 actions when after-events enabled her to 
 exercise her talents. 
 
 Thus out of the influences of the home Ufe 
 in that far-away chateau in Brittany, the 
 girl born and reared among them grew to 
 womanhood, and by a combination of circum- 
 stances was led step by step into a very 
 different region of people and things, and 
 from being an insignificant member of society, 
 the centre possibly of her own family circle, 
 but nothing more, she became a powerful 
 factor in the world of her day. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 FIRST INTRODUCTION AT COURT 
 
 There is no really authentic record as to 
 how the girlhood of Louise de Kdroualle was 
 passed. 
 
 It was said that she early showed the 
 prochvities that distinguished her after-years, 
 and was inchned to encourage the adorers 
 who soon flocked around her. The Comte 
 de Keroualle had probably no " dot " to 
 bestow on his daughter, at least such a one 
 as would have tended to promote a marriage 
 that he would have considered suitable. 
 His lands were decreasing in value, and his 
 family much impoverished. He must, how- 
 ever, have thought it unwise to let a girl 
 of Louise's temperament lead the dull mono- 
 tonous existence which was the fate of the 
 inmates of remote chateaux in the province. 
 
 There was always the fear that from sheer 
 
 (40) 
 
LOUISE'S GIRLHOOD 41 
 
 ennui she would take up some lowly lover, 
 and the fame of her beauty had spread round 
 the country side. 
 
 It is said that her father took her himself 
 to an adjacent town, possibly the cathedral 
 city of Quimper, where he lodged her with 
 an excellent lady, with whom he was ac- 
 quainted, and in whose motherly care he left 
 her. There she threw around that bourgeois 
 family the mantle of her fascinations till one 
 and all fell victims to her charms, and she 
 could do pretty much as she hked with them 
 all. Rumours of her gay doings and the 
 many lovers who flocked around her reached 
 the ears of the Count. This was not at all 
 what he intended, and he had to think of 
 some better means of ensuring the safety 
 of his wajrward child. But this statement 
 is taken from a very scandalous book, pub- 
 lished towards the end of the seventeenth 
 century, and no rehance can be placed on it.^ 
 In this pamphlet aU sorts of statements were 
 
 ^ Secret History of the Duchess of Portsmouth, edited in 
 French and English in 169O and 1734; also again by 
 Jacques Lacombe in Paris in 1805, 
 
42 COMTE DE KEROUALLE 
 
 made. The Comte de K^roualle was said 
 to have been a retired wool merchant, and 
 another assertion was that he was a herdsman. 
 Everything that could possibly throw in- 
 sult and indignity on the family of Louise 
 de Keroualle was here set forth, regardless 
 of exactitude, although mixed with some 
 amount of truth. It is stated that her father 
 sent her to Paris. 
 
 This is highly probable, and far more Ukely 
 than that he should have sent her to live 
 with strangers in the provinces, which was 
 against all the habits and customs of his 
 class. His brother's widow Uved in Paris, 
 also a Comtesse de Keroualle, and she doubt- 
 less gladly welcomed the society of her niece. 
 Her husband, during his lifetime, had rendered 
 valuable services to the Due de Beaufort, 
 and he had never ceased to repay this kind- 
 ness to the widow in every possible way. 
 
 Francois de Vendome Due de Beaufort was 
 a grandson of Henri IV., so he held a high 
 position at Court. He was a restless warrior 
 no longer young, and ever seeking service. 
 He had fought in Africa against the pirates of 
 
1669] DUG DE BEAUFORT 43 
 
 Algiers and Tunis, who interfered greatly 
 with the commerce between France and the 
 Levant. Much was said of his bravery and 
 he was made Admu^al of France. In Paris he 
 was immensely popular with the people, and 
 during the Fronde he was famiUarly called 
 " Le roi des Halles ".^ 
 
 The story goes that he met the widow 
 Mme. de Keroualle walking with her niece 
 in the gardens of the Tuileries. The Due, no 
 mean judge of women, was struck at once with 
 the extreme beauty of the girl, and above all 
 the effect her appearance produced on the 
 passers-by. It was further added that he fell 
 in love with her and that Louise returned his 
 passion, and that between them they managed 
 to escape the surveillance of her chaperon and 
 had many stolen interviews. At that time the 
 Venetians were besieged in Candia by the 
 Turks, and De Beaufort asked permission of 
 the King, Louis XIV., to take a force to their 
 rescue. It was affirmed that he was accom- 
 
 1 It was his easy manners and coarse language that de- 
 lighted the rough populace and earned him his sobriquet, 
 — St. Evremond, 
 
44 SEBASTIEN DE KEROUALLE 
 
 panied on the expedition by a young page, 
 who was none other than Louise in disguise. 
 
 But all these stories were invented in after 
 years, when she had become the notorious 
 beauty and stood on an exalted pedestal, and 
 was assailed by the darts of her enemies. The 
 real facts were probably these. Her brother 
 Sebastien, a handsome youth, who greatly re- 
 sembled his sister, had procured, doubtless 
 through her influence, a place about the Duke, 
 and it was he who accompanied him on the 
 campaign. He was made captain of the flag- 
 ship, such appointments to young and inex- 
 perienced men being often given as marks 
 of favour. Sebastien was a Breton, and an 
 inhabitant of Finisterre, and therefore probably 
 a born sailor, and accustomed to the sea. He 
 won his laurels at the siege of Candia, from 
 which the Duke never returned, being killed 
 by the explosion of a mine in the hour of 
 success. 
 
 No one could have credited that Louise, 
 in the guise of a page, encountered thrilling 
 adventures all through this campaign, which 
 lasted from the 5th of June till the 10th of 
 
1669] " MADAME " 45 
 
 October, 1669, as during this period she was 
 before the whole Court in her capacity of 
 maid-of-honour to Henrietta, Princess of 
 England and Duchess of Orleans, commonly- 
 known as Madame. 
 
 Whoever compiled the Secret History 
 knew just sufficient details about the family 
 to give some appearance of truth to this im- 
 aginary and libellous chronicle. Young Se- 
 bastien who, had he lived, might have been a 
 protection and help to his sister, died shortly 
 after his return to France, being wounded by 
 a pistol in some brawl. ^ 
 
 No doubt Louise's appointment at Court 
 had been brought about by the influence of 
 the Due de Beaufort. It must have been 
 considered a great privilege to belong to the 
 household of such a royal lady as Madame 
 of Orleans. Never was there a princess so 
 fascinating and so ready to please aU who 
 approached her. The Abbe de Choisy has 
 left a charming picture of this accomphshed 
 and amiable woman : — 
 
 " You felt interested in her, you loved her, 
 
 ^This occurred in Provence in the winter of I669. 
 
46 CHARLES II 
 
 without being able to help yourself. Her eyes 
 were black and brilliant, full of the fire which 
 kindles a prompt response in other hearts. 
 When you met her for the first time her eyes 
 sought your own, as if she had no other desire 
 in the world but how best to please you. She 
 had all the wit necessary to make a woman 
 charming, and what is more, all the talent 
 necessary for conducting important affairs 
 had this been required of her. But at the 
 Court of our young King in those days pleasure 
 was the order of the day, and to be charming 
 was enough." 
 
 Charles II. adored his sister. Many of their 
 letters have been preserved, both during his 
 exile and after the Restoration. He used to 
 call her "chere Minette" and "my deare 
 deare sister ". 
 
 " Do not treat me with so much ceremony, 
 or address me with so many Majesties," he 
 says in one of these letters, " as between you 
 and me, there should be nothing but affec- 
 tion," and again signs himself '* intierly yours," 
 and " truely and passionately devoted ". 
 
 The history of this unfortunate princess, 
 
1669] LA BELLE BRETONNE 47 
 
 who in spite of her virtues and attractions 
 received but scant affection or even justice at 
 the hands of her husband, the ill-conditioned 
 Phihppe of Orleans, is too weU known to need 
 further repetition, but certainly to be received 
 into her household was a mark of distinction 
 of which any girl would have been proud, and 
 which would not have been granted save to a 
 scion of a noble family and one personally 
 recommended at Court. 
 
 Naturally the new maid-of-honour, who 
 bore the title of La Belle Bretonne, received 
 much attention. Among the men of fashion 
 who paid court to Mile, de Keroualle was 
 the Comte de Sault, son of the Due de 
 Lesdiguieres. He had been the victor in a 
 celebrated tournament held under the windows 
 of the Tuileries in 1662,^ and since then had 
 been a person of importance in the Court circle. 
 
 The attentions of this nobleman were not 
 fortunate for the reputation of Mile, de 
 Keroualle. He was a man who was for ever 
 
 1 The name is recorded in that of the Place du Car- 
 rousel, where the jousts were held, carrousel being another 
 name for a tournament. 
 
48 COURT INTRIGUE 
 
 mixed in intrigues, and was very lax where 
 women were concerned. 
 
 This flirtation or love passage, whatever it 
 may have been, was never forgotten. It was 
 brought up against her in after years, and even 
 in England the story followed her, and was 
 made use of with many embeUishments by 
 her rivals and enemies. Madame de Sevigne, 
 Louvois, and Saint-Simon all record this in- 
 timacy.^ But after all his was the only name 
 mentioned in connection with Louise at that 
 period, and a beautiful maid-of-honour of the 
 Court of Louis XIV., even when most careful 
 of her reputation, must have been pursued 
 by many lovers, so that if this was the only 
 scandal attached to her name in her early 
 girlhood in Paris, her record was not such 
 a very black one after all ; except for 
 those gossip-mongers, the authors of brilliant 
 memoirs and dehghtful letters, full of scandals 
 
 ^ Saint-Simon affirms that her parents intended Louise 
 to be mistress of Louis XIV., so obtained for her a place 
 in the household of Madame. Unfortunately he gave 
 the preference to Mile, de La Vali^re. But as Mile, de 
 K^roualle was amiable and clever, she had much success 
 at Court (Memoirs of Saint-Simorij vol. iv.). 
 
1669] DE SAULT'S ATTENTIONS 49 
 
 of every one in high places, there is no certain 
 testimony that Louise's conduct was open to 
 real censure. 
 
 However, De Sault's attentions were suf- 
 ficiently damaging to her reputation to be 
 long remembered, and when she had become 
 a great lady in England, her rivals gladly 
 recalled the incident when desirous to mortify 
 her, as will be seen later on.^ 
 
 1 " Aspersions cast on Louise de Keroualle by the 
 Marchioness of Worcester" [Affaires 'Etrangeres, vol. v., 
 114, 1674). 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 SCHEMES OF LOUIS XIV 
 
 In one of the numerous " Chroniques Seandal- 
 euses" that were written at that period, the 
 remark is made that it was not for nothing 
 that noble famihes in the provinces sent their 
 girls to Court, so that they might quickly 
 form their manners and ensure success,^ but in 
 this instance it was not because she attracted 
 the Sultan of the French seraglio that Louis 
 XIV. looked upon Louise de Keroualle with 
 a favourable eye. The subtlety of her charms 
 and her disposition for intrigue did not escape 
 the Grand Monarque, Henrietta, Madame 
 of Orleans, was in a position to help him con- 
 siderably in the schemes he was now forming. 
 His sister-in-law was clever and full of tact, 
 
 ^ Chroniques de V (Euil-de-Boduf, vol. ii., by Toucharcl- 
 
 J>afosse, Compiled in 1829. 
 
 (50) 
 
1669] LOUIS' BRILLIANT IDEA 51 
 
 and he was very fond of her. It was often 
 said that Louis regretted having refused in 
 the first instance to marry her, which had been 
 the wish of his mother, Anne of Austria, and 
 on her part Henrietta had always admired 
 and Mked Louis far more than his brother 
 Phihppe d'Orleans. The French monarch 
 could not have found a better ambassador, 
 and here was a tool among her lovely bevy of 
 girls ready to hand. His brilliant idea was to 
 give the susceptible Charles a French mistress, 
 and thus have a useful ally in closest intimacy 
 with the Enghsh king. Till then Louis had 
 found no woman hkely to play the role to his 
 satisfaction, but this young girl displayed such 
 extraordinary capabilities, as well as possessing 
 so much personal attraction, that he determined 
 to make the attempt. Other nations were 
 becoming uneasy at the aggrandisement of 
 France, and sought to league together, so there 
 was no time to lose. M. de Pomponne, his 
 ambassador in Holland, informed Louis that 
 England was in treaty with the Hague, and 
 was about to join in a further alliance with 
 that country and Spain, 
 
52 DIPLOMATIC METHODS 
 
 By degrees political suggestions began to 
 fuse to such a point that it was thought neces- 
 sary to support Spain, in spite of its creed, 
 against Louis XIV. 
 
 While the descendants of Phihppe II. were 
 languishing in the Escurial, the effete race 
 drawing nearer and nearer to an end, all the 
 Powers in Europe were watching as to who 
 should step in when their final overthrow 
 became a certainty. 
 
 Louis XIV. knew that the friendship of 
 England was absolutely necessary, and that 
 could only be reached through King Charles. 
 
 Before having recourse to petticoat in- 
 fluence to preserve the union, or at least 
 neutrahty with England, Louis had already 
 employed various diplomatic methods. The 
 nearness of that country to Flanders was a 
 source of danger, and on the other hand, the 
 successes of France in the provinces of the 
 Netherlands, drawing away the commerce they 
 considered their own, had raised the ire of the 
 Enghsh people. The strong Protestant feel- 
 ings naturally caused antagonism between 
 them and a Roman Catholic king. That a 
 
1669] CHARLES' CHARACTER 5B 
 
 fierce opposition was to be expected Louis 
 knew full well, and it was only through 
 Charles that he could achieve success ; but 
 this was no easy task. Charles was an impos- 
 sible man to deal with, his vacillations and 
 his versatile nature were proverbial. 
 
 From his youth he had shown himself 
 to be voluptuous. The easy temper and 
 the good-humoured famiharities in which he 
 indulged had acquired for him that popu- 
 larity among his loving subjects which not 
 all his future profligacy and misgovernment 
 could wholly destroy. He was talkative, 
 easily turned from any purpose, and in- 
 dulgent towards all intrigue. The people 
 loved to see him divested of the trappings 
 of State, and conversing easily with those 
 who attended him, or stopping at sight of 
 some familiar countenance that encountered 
 him in his walk. His royal dignity was 
 but a cloak for careless self-indulgence and 
 reckless prodigality. He was without pre- 
 judices and without principles, and though 
 head of the Church of England without much 
 religion. 
 
54 AFTER THE COMMONWEALTH 
 
 Louis had had a good deal to say in Charles' 
 marriage ; he had planned, in furtherance of 
 his schemes, to bring about an aUiance with 
 the Portuguese heiress. The enmity of Portu- 
 gal for Spain was not without merit in Louis' 
 eyes, the latter being looked upon as a great 
 source of danger to the interests of France ; 
 but the uninteresting wife bestowed upon 
 Charles, whatever may have been the merits 
 of that unfortunate lady, was hardly likely 
 to have any weight with him, surrounded 
 as he was by meretricious beauties. 
 
 The King of France much preferred to 
 see his cousin and rival lead a life of frivolous 
 unconcern. 
 
 London, after the stern days of the Common- 
 wealth, had awakened to life and gaiety once 
 more. The Court of Whitehall, once the 
 Restoration had taken place, became one of 
 the most brilhant of Europe, and the result 
 of the gallantry of the nobles, and the easy 
 morals of the rich and powerful, was to spread 
 such examples among all classes. 
 
 So much romance had surrounded the 
 young King in his exile, that his courtiers 
 
1669] MASQUERADES 55 
 
 willingly continued to encourage all the 
 glamour of chivalry and love-making. They 
 had had enough of the puritan among them, 
 and from every tavern issued sounds of 
 dancing and singing. 
 
 Masquerades were the order of the day, and 
 river parties the chief deUght. 
 
 The King would be seen on summer even- 
 ings descending the steps of Whitehall to 
 the water, glad to escape the hot and dusty 
 roads, and after the fashion of Venice to take 
 his relaxation in the royal barge on the cool 
 flowing stream. All the Thames was crowded 
 with boats, and the courtiers in gay cloaks 
 of crimson and azure velvets, with rich trim- 
 mings of Venetian lace, and flowing plumes 
 from the graceful cavalier hats, followed in 
 the wake of their sovereign. 
 
 The royal barge was crowded with the 
 loveliest ladies of the Court, and Charles 
 played on his guitar as he was rowed along, 
 warbling love-songs to the latest favourite, 
 while grave lords with their mandolins tried 
 to follow his example. 
 
 The gay doings gave an impetus to trade 
 
56 ST. EVREMOND 
 
 which began to flourish exceedingly, but the 
 honest citizens objected strongly to the licen- 
 tious habits of the palace. 
 
 Charles had lived so long in France, besides 
 having inherited from his French mother a 
 taste for that country, that many refugees 
 from Paris had settled in London, and were 
 ready enough to serve the interests of their 
 country. 
 
 One of the most remarkable of these was 
 Charles de St. Denis, Sieur de St. Evremond. 
 He was born in 1613, was destined for the Bar, 
 but after finishing his studies he took to the 
 career of arms and served with his regiment 
 for some years in the wars with Flanders. 
 He was under the special protection of the 
 Due de Candale, but the Cardinal Mazarin 
 having quarrelled with the Duke, and not 
 daring to attack him openly, sought to mortify 
 him through his protege St. Evremond. He 
 was accused of having made some unfortunate 
 remarks at the Duke's dinner table and was 
 sent to the Bastile. After three months he 
 was set at liberty, but being always in fear of 
 fresh arrest he determined to leave the country. 
 
1669] LA BELLE HAMILTON 57 
 
 He repaired to England where he had many 
 friends, and was under the protection of the 
 King, and there for a time he made his home. 
 The Dukes of Buckingham and Ormond, also 
 the Earl of Arlington, were among his friends, 
 so he had no real reason to deplore his dis- 
 grace or exile. His chief companion was 
 M. d'Aubigny, uncle of the Duke of Rich- 
 mond.^ 
 
 Another Frenchman of note was the Cheva- 
 lier de Grammont, who became celebrated by 
 his marriage with the King's mistress, com- 
 monly called La Belle Hamilton, 
 
 Louis did not trust the ministers. The 
 Duke of Buckingham, it was true, was on his 
 side, but it was not so much fi^om his political 
 beUefs as it was from hatred for his rival the 
 Earl of Arlington. 
 
 The latter supported the interests of Spain. 
 
 Both united in fearing the return to power 
 of the Chancellor Clarendon. Each had 
 his confidant or spy to work secretly for his 
 interests. 
 
 That of Buckingham was a man named 
 
 ^ Life and Memories of St. Evremond. 
 
58 FRENCH COLONY IN LONDON 
 
 Leyton, a city merchant, clever at his own 
 trade, rich and rapacious, and ready for any 
 combination that would advance the interests 
 of trade. Arlington's friend and secretary was 
 a man named Wilhamson, who was reserved, 
 and apparently disinterested. Therefore he 
 had less power in that corrupt age. 
 
 Louis was fully aware how these men were 
 employed, and why. He wrote openly about 
 them to his ambassador, and Leji:on was 
 bribed by 400 pistoles to come over to the 
 Court of France. A little later he was 
 offered and accepted a pension of 300 
 jacobus.^ 
 
 But Louis did not trust him any more 
 than the others. He preferred the French 
 colony in London. 
 
 These men assisted the French alhance with 
 all their might, and gave valuable information 
 to the ambassador of Louis XIV. There 
 were a considerable number of merchants 
 also Hving in London who found that business 
 was better there than in Paris. These Louis 
 
 1 Letter to Colbert, 27th March, I669, vol. 94. 
 
1670] LOUIS' VISIT TO FLANDERS 59 
 
 utilised for his political schemes. They all 
 worked silently, while Charles went on in 
 the even tenor of his ways, gaily making 
 promises he never kept. 
 
 One day he would be made to declare that 
 he was ready to join France against the rest 
 of Europe, the next he was equally wiUing 
 to coalesce with Holland. 
 
 Louis now determined to take some active 
 steps, but he was too astute to show his hand. 
 For some time past it had been his intention 
 to take the Queen to Adsit their new subjects. 
 It was abeady three years since the French 
 army, commanded by Turenne, had taken 
 possession of the Flemish provinces ; it was 
 therefore proposed that Madame should ac- 
 company them, while the true object of the 
 journey remained concealed. 
 
 A large and brilliant cortege therefore set 
 off for Flanders. The King travelling in his 
 magnificent glass coach in company with the 
 Queen, Madame, and the ruling favourite, 
 Mme. de Montespan, whose presence the 
 luckless Marie Ther^se was obliged to en- 
 
60 LE GRAND MONARQUE 
 
 dure, although at times this lady, who always 
 carried out her own whims, insisted on travel- 
 ling in her own carriage attended by four 
 guards. 
 
 The state with which they moved accorded 
 with the taste of the Grand Monarque, 
 who liked on every occasion to gratify his 
 people by a sight of his splendour. Royal 
 furniture was even sent ahead to the towns 
 where they intended to pass the night. A 
 train of servants, hairdressers, perfume sellers, 
 costumiers and musicians accompanied the 
 Court. It was said there were 2,000 valets. 
 
 The smaller towns were roused to astonish- 
 ment when they saw their streets suddenly 
 bright with colour as they beheld the motley 
 crew invading them, and it gave the burghers 
 a ghmpse of royal luxury in the midst of 
 their provincial poverty. Even the King's 
 cooks set up their ovens in the market- 
 places, and delicious viands and appetising 
 odours met their startled gaze and excited 
 their olfactory nerves. Louis gave banquets 
 at each halting-place to impress the con- 
 
1670] LOUIS THE MAGNIFICENT 61 
 
 quered inhabitants of Flanders with his con- 
 descension, so that they might indeed caU 
 him by his proud title of "Louis the 
 Magnificent ". 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 ROYAL VISIT TO DUNKIRQUE 
 
 The royal progress was continued to Dun- 
 kirque, and when the Court reached that 
 port, it happened by a seeming chance that 
 an EngHsh fleet was cruising in the Channel. 
 What more natural than that the Duchesse 
 d'Orleans should ask permission to take ad- 
 vantage of such an opportunity to pay her 
 brother a short visit. The affair had the most 
 spontaneous air possible. 
 
 All the difficulties had been smoothed 
 away under the clever management of 
 Henrietta, who willingly played into her 
 brother-in-law's hands. Gentle and young as 
 she was, she was equal to the work laid on 
 her shoulders, and her intense love for her 
 brother Charles rendered her more than will- 
 ing to promote whatever she thought was to 
 
 his advantage, and she felt certain that a firm 
 
 (62) 
 
1670] ROYAL SCHEMES 63 
 
 alliance with France was best of all for him. 
 She was prepared to employ any means, good 
 or evil, that would suit her purpose, but 
 she desired to conduct the affair with as 
 much secrecy as possible as regarded her 
 real motives. She embarked with Louis' con- 
 sent, taking with her her suite and five maids- 
 of-honour, among whom was the new Breton 
 beauty. 
 
 It hardly does to discuss the morality of 
 this piece of diplomacy, or by whatever name 
 one can call the proceeding, dehberately to 
 take over a girl to England for such a pur- 
 pose, nor is it certain that this part of the 
 business was an act of premeditation as far as 
 Madame was concerned. Louis XIV. had no 
 scruples and had planned the whole game step 
 by step. If Henrietta was aware of his in- 
 tention she probably thought the plan was 
 absurd and unlikely, and had much more 
 serious matters to discuss with Charles. 
 But in such Courts as Versailles and White- 
 hall, very little fine feeling existed among 
 them, and it is hopeless to judge their con- 
 duct by our present-day standard. It must 
 
64 ARRIVAL AT DOVER 
 
 also be remembered that Madame of Orleans, 
 although a woman of mfinite charm, cannot be 
 altogether reckoned as an uninterested party. 
 She would not have done anything to injure 
 the brother she loved so dearly, but on the 
 other hand she adored King Louis. 
 
 There are many historians who do not 
 scruple to assert that she was his avowed 
 mistress. In any case there was a deep at- 
 tachment between them. She would have 
 been unable to refuse Louis any request, or 
 decline to do him a service, and this was 
 after all a trifling matter. 
 
 What was the reputation of one girl, when 
 weighed in the balance against the interests 
 of the Church, the safest course for King 
 Charles, and the aggi-andisement of Louis. 
 So Madame raised no objections. She was 
 thirsting to reach England and put her 
 plans into execution. 
 
 The weather being propitious the brilliant 
 company embarked on the man-of-war, and 
 soon the white cliffs of Dover greeted the 
 dehghted eyes of the English princess, return- 
 ing to her native land — Charles and the Duke 
 
1670] NEGOTIATIONS 65 
 
 of York being there to welcome their sister. 
 The visit could be only a short one, so Madame 
 lost no time in setting to work over negotia- 
 tions, and she urged upon the King the 
 wisdom of forming an alliance with France 
 against the other Powers. 
 
 He listened to her arguments with attention, 
 and she told the French ambassador after the 
 first interview that she had almost brought 
 Charles round to her views. Her tact and 
 cleverness overcame all difficulties, added to 
 which was the warm affection existing between 
 the brother and sister. 
 
 But as Louis had foreseen there was a stiU 
 more powerful factor at work. Where women 
 were concerned the King of England always 
 fell a ready victim. Louise de Keroualle, 
 with her baby face and large melancholy eyes, 
 caught his attention at once. It was a new 
 face, quite different to the English beauties, 
 and perhaps more pleasing to his foreign- 
 loving eye. 
 
 It was the fashion to consider her lovely, 
 though the portraits extant hardly give us 
 that impression. 
 
66 THE BRETON BEAUTY 
 
 The oval of her countenance was framed by 
 her magnificent hair, very dark brown, with 
 rich red tints gleaming in her tresses, which 
 waved and curled naturally. Her complexion 
 was exquisite, like the bloom on a peach. In 
 England it was usual to call her face childish 
 and wanting in expression. It may have been 
 the former from sheer youth and simplicity, 
 it can hardly have been the latter, for the 
 character she afterwards displayed must from 
 the first have left some traces on her features, 
 for she was clever ; her worst enemies could 
 not deny her that qualification. 
 
 Anyway, she attracted a good deal of atten- 
 tion, whether from her charms or the King's 
 evident admiration it is hard to say. All 
 agreed that she was sweet, gentle and oblig- 
 ing, attentive to her royal mistress, and very 
 rcHgious like all Bretons. Objection was 
 taken by some to her neck being too thin ; 
 in reality her figure was already inclining if 
 not to embonpoint, at least to the fulness and 
 rich curves Charles loved, which speedily 
 caught and captured that voluptuous monarch, 
 and falling into the trap set for him by his 
 
1670] CHARLES' INFATUATION 67 
 
 brother sovereign, the latter was soon to learn 
 that his aim had not missed fire. 
 
 The King insisted on prolonging his sister's 
 visit — perhaps the evenings spent in pleasant 
 gallantries near the lovely stranger had some- 
 thing to do with it. He loaded Madame with 
 presents and did not forget the ladies of her 
 Court, and the jewels he bestowed on her were 
 magnificent. It is said that he asked Hemietta 
 for one of her own jewels as a parting souvenir, 
 and that she bade her Breton maid-of-honom- 
 bring her casket, so that the King might choose 
 what he liked, and that Charles, taking Louise's 
 hand, said that this was the jewel he craved, 
 and begged his sister to leave her behind. But 
 this she at once refused — it was not part of the 
 scheme she had been sent over to accomplish. 
 She took an affectionate farewell of her brother 
 and departed, wisely taking La Belle Bretonne 
 back with her to Paris, and bringing back also 
 the welcome news to Louis that Charles had 
 signed the treaty binding his interests to those 
 of France, and that he would further make a 
 pubhc confession of the Catholic Faith, but 
 that the date of this declaration was to be left 
 
68 MADAME'S RETURN 
 
 entirely to his good pleasure. Louis loaded 
 Madame with rich presents and much con- 
 sideration, and acknowledged his obligations in 
 every possible way. The whole royal family 
 of France received her back with every token 
 of delight, all save her husband. Monsieur 
 was in a sullen and evil mood, and refused to 
 allow his wife to go to Versailles, though he 
 was obliged to do so for a few days on a com- 
 mand from his royal brother, which he did 
 with a very bad grace, and shortly took her and 
 her children to St. Cloud. On the 28th of 
 June Madame complained of being in bad 
 health, but it caused no special alarm, as she 
 was always very delicate. Towards evening 
 she asked for a glass of chicory water which 
 she was in the habit of taking. She was seized 
 at once with the most horrible pains and fell 
 into convulsions. Her ladies hastened to her 
 assistance and laid her on her bed, where she 
 rolled in agony. Monsieur was summoned. 
 She was able just to breathe the word " poison ". 
 He stood by her bed with an air of indiffer- 
 ence and suggested that emetics should be 
 given her. The King had been sent for ; the 
 
1670] HER TRAGIC DEATH 69 
 
 news that Madame was dying had spread 
 abroad, and consternation and dismay was on 
 every countenance. Louis with tears stream- 
 ing down his face reached her bedside. She 
 lingered some hours, and was able to send 
 loving messages to King Charles. Never did 
 any royal lady pass away more beloved and 
 regi^etted than this gentle EngUsh princess. 
 She was only twenty-six years of age, one of 
 the most amiable and accomphshed women of 
 the Court, and beloved by all classes. Her 
 tragic death caused a great sensation. Louis 
 was overwhelmed with grief. He had been 
 informed that the Marquis d'Effiat, one of 
 Monsieur's gentlemen, had been seen tampering 
 with a cupboard in Madame' s apartment, and 
 he sent at once for a man named Morel or 
 Merile, one of the comptrollers of her house- 
 hold, to question him as to what had occun-ed. 
 When this man was brought before him, 
 the King sternly informed him that if he told 
 the truth, whatever it was, his hfe would be 
 spared, but that it depended on himself whether 
 he left Versailles alive that day ; he then 
 solenmly asked him who poisoned the Princess. 
 
70 POISON SUSPECTED 
 
 *'The Marquis d'Effiat and myself," was 
 the cool reply. " It was the Chevaher de 
 Lorraine who procured the drug from Rome, 
 and M. d'Effiat, with my connivance, put it 
 into the chicory water prepared for her Royal 
 Highness." 
 
 " Had my brother cognisance of this deed ? " 
 asked the King, in a low voice. 
 
 "No," was the answer. "Monsieur was 
 not let into the secret, for we dared not trust 
 him." 
 
 " I breathe again," cried Louis fervently. 
 " You may go, wretched man, but you must 
 at once leave my kingdom." ^ 
 
 Whatever his suspicions may have been, he 
 was relieved to find that his brother was not 
 absolutely implicated, and that he would 
 therefore not be obliged to take any steps in 
 the matter ; but there is little or no doubt 
 that the unfortunate lady met her death by 
 foul means, while those who should have 
 protected her from all evil saw the deed 
 accomphshed, if not with their absolute con- 
 nivance, at any rate with strange supineness 
 
 ^ (Euil-de-BcBuf. 
 
1670] HIS HEARTLESSNESS 71 
 
 of conduct. It was a dark blot on the reign 
 of Louis XIV. that nothing could ever wash 
 out, and though of course it is possible that 
 Madame met her death by natural causes, the 
 medical knowledge of those days being so 
 scanty, and the fear of poison so ever present, 
 none the less, the callousness displayed towards 
 one who appeared to be so much beloved 
 shows great heartlessness, but no tenderness 
 or good feeling was to be expected from a 
 man of such a brutal temperament as Phihppe 
 of Orleans ; and not even the King, his brother, 
 dared to express his opinions on the subject. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 DESPERATE SITUATION 
 
 With the death of her royal mistress Mile, 
 de K^roualle's place at Court was necessarily 
 at an end. The situation was rather desper- 
 ate. Charles was clamouring for justice on 
 his sister's murderer, and though Louis genu- 
 inely shared in his sorrow, he was unable or 
 unwilling to take any steps in the matter. 
 He wrote a touching letter to the King of 
 England, saying that the loss of one so dear 
 to them both only added to the burden of 
 his regret ; but Charles' indignation had to 
 be appeased, and their amicable relations once 
 more be renewed. 
 
 "It is much to be feared," writes Colbert 
 to Lionne, "that the grief of the King of 
 England, which is beyond all that one can 
 
 imagine, and the evil reports set forth by our 
 
 (72) 
 
1670] CHARLES' GRIEF 73 
 
 enemies, may produce a very bad effect." 
 Even Buckingham, who was always for the 
 French, was turning against them. 
 
 The Mar^chal de Bellefonds was specially 
 sent by Louis with fresh messages of con- 
 dolence to Charles, but the King did not 
 allow himself to be in any way moDified. 
 " When will the Chevalier of Lorraine be 
 recalled to Versailles," was all the remark 
 he vouchsafed. " I do not know, your 
 Majesty," replied the Mar^chal meekly, and 
 he wrote off to the King to tell him of the 
 non-success of his mission. Besides his natural 
 grief at the death of his beloved sister, Charles 
 had a shrewd suspicion, in spite of all pro- 
 testations, that there had been foul play. 
 
 He exonerated Louis from any share in 
 such a transaction, but no words were strong 
 enough to express his feelings as regarded 
 Monsieur. " He is a villain, a villain," he 
 reiterated. Something had to be done. 
 Buckingham suggested the King should oc- 
 cupy himself in the care of his dead sister's 
 servants. 
 
 It was not till he was willing to drop the 
 
74 CHARLES' OFFER TO LOUISE 
 
 painful subject that Louis' ministers could 
 feel at ease, and defy both the Dutch and 
 Spanish to do their worst. It was more 
 than ever necessary to have someone about 
 the person of Charles who would be faithful 
 to the interests of France. Who was better 
 fitted for the post than the beautiful French 
 girl on whom the King of England had already 
 cast a covetous eye ? The matter was not 
 difficult of arrangement, and Louis XIV. 
 did not find Mile, de Keroualle at all un- 
 willing to fall into his plans. At last Louise 
 was brought face to face with the offer of 
 the King of England to come over and form 
 part of his Court, an offer which, backed as it 
 was by her own sovereign, was more of the 
 nature of a command than anything else. 
 
 No one who knew anything of that royal 
 harem at Whitehall, still less one who had 
 been brought in contact with the King, could 
 mistake the meaning of this appointment 
 as maid-of-honour to the luckless Catharine 
 of Braganza. 
 
 Charles' eagerness to secure the Bretonne 
 beauty prompted him to send over the Duke 
 
1670] DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM 75 
 
 of Buckingham with orders to escort the 
 lady across the Channel. He may not have 
 been aware of the fact, but it was the Duke 
 who first spoke to Louis on the advisability 
 of procming a French mistress for the King 
 of England. 
 
 This second George Villiers, Duke of Buck- 
 ingham, son of Charles I.'s favourite, was as 
 worthless a man as his father had been before 
 him. He was born in 1627 at Wallingford 
 House,^ and he and his brother Francis were 
 brought up and educated with the children of 
 Charles I., so he had known the present King 
 from babyhood. He hved after the Restora- 
 tion in great state and pomp at Wallingford 
 House, where his expenditure was so reckless 
 that he soon ruined himself. He led a most 
 dissipated Ufe, used to turn day into night, and 
 night into day, and as an old writer affirmed, 
 kept the same hours " as owls and antipodes ".^ 
 Nevertheless, he was one of the most briUiant 
 personages at Court. 
 
 In his usually insolent manner he generally 
 
 ^ Afterwards the Admiralty. 
 
 2 Genuine Remaim, Butler, vol. ii., p. 72. 
 
76 KING'S YACHT FOR LOUISE 
 
 went his own way, and either forgot or 
 neglected his royal master's command, being 
 occupied with his own affairs. When he did 
 recall them he started for Calais instead of 
 Dieppe, where the King's yacht was waiting 
 to bring the French lady over, with all due 
 state and regard. Louise remained at Dieppe 
 awaiting instructions in a state of extreme 
 annoyance. She never forgave Buckingham 
 for the slight he put upon her, and he had 
 reason to rue the day when he made the 
 coming favourite his enemy. 
 
 What her feelings were when she at last 
 stepped on to the vessel it is impossible for 
 us to gauge in these days. Morals were of a 
 different calibre in the seventeenth century, 
 and what would justly be reckoned a dis- 
 honour and against all laws, human and 
 Divine, a thing of horror to a young and 
 beautiful girl, was then judged the greatest 
 distinction the depraved Court could offer. 
 
 That Louise was ambitious her after-career 
 fully proves ; that her nature was ardent and 
 sensual there is little doubt. The beautiful 
 
1670] KING S KINDLY GREETINGS 77 
 
 portraits of her speak for themselves. But 
 she was no case-hardened, rapacious woman, 
 as were some of those who aspired to those 
 heights of shame, she was only a girl of 
 twenty, with a love of adventure and admira- 
 tion which had been denied her in her Breton 
 home. The strong passions inherent in her 
 nature had been fostered by the evil counsels 
 of Louis XIV., and she had been tainted by 
 the immorahty of the licentious Court of Ver- 
 sailles which had been her first introduction 
 into royal circles. But she hardly anticipated 
 the reception that awaited her. 
 
 Charles was tired of his mistresses. The 
 insolent Lady Castlemaine, La Belle Hamilton, 
 the lovely Miss Stewart, the low-born actresses, 
 Nell Gwynn and Davis, besides innumerable 
 others had begun to pall on him. Here was 
 something fresh and unUke the rest, yet in 
 sending for MUe. de Keroualle he really 
 beheved himself actuated by a tender regard 
 for his sister Henrietta's memory. He burst 
 into tears at the sight of Louise, and welcom- 
 ing her with the greatest kindness took her 
 
78 NEW MAID-OF-HONOUR 
 
 at once to the apartments of the Queen, and 
 presented the new maid-of-honour to her in 
 remembrance of their lost sister. 
 
 In the hfe of a mistress of a king, where the 
 record is mainly of evil things, it is something 
 to be able to state some land and womanly- 
 actions on the part of one of these usually 
 audacious beauties. From first to last Louise 
 behaved with courtesy and consideration to 
 the neglected Queen. She entered on her 
 duties with respect, which was more than 
 could be said of most of the ladies of Catha- 
 rine's Court. " She ever bore herself with a 
 decent carriage toward the desolate Queen," ^ 
 was said of Louise, but it did not make 
 Catharine love her any the more, for she saw 
 in her but one more false woman to fill her 
 proper place, or rather to be raised above her. 
 
 Many descriptions have been given of 
 Mile, de Keroualle. " Cette ravissante Bret- 
 onne," wiites Capefegne, *'etait blonde, son 
 front large couronn6 dune belle chevelure 
 son oeuil noir et volontaire, indiquant la race 
 d'ou elle venait. Avec la grace dune char- 
 
 ^ Life of Judge Jeffreys J by Irving. 
 
1670] AT WHITEHALL 79 
 
 mante et rieuse enfant, elle avait des signes 
 de fermet6s." 
 
 In Evelyn's Diary we read : " I have seen 
 the famous beauty, but in my opinion she has 
 a mere baby face ". 
 
 It was this childish loveliness, the delicate 
 breeding, the languorous movements that 
 attracted the King from the very beginning. 
 Her race and blazon were sufficient to account 
 for her place, first in the French Court and 
 then in the English one. Not that Charles 
 had indeed always shown partiality for re- 
 finement of taste in the choice of his mis- 
 tresses ! 
 
 Meanwhile the French beauty was es- 
 tabhshed in rooms in Whitehall, and when 
 not in attendance on her royal mistress, the 
 King found some excuse for visiting her. 
 
 If, as some writers assert, Louise had already 
 succumbed to lovers in France, and had not 
 hitherto led a chaste fife at that Court, she bore 
 herself with much discretion at Whitehall, but 
 she knew for what purpose she was there, and 
 perhaps merely wanted to increase the King's 
 passion while posing as an innocent and 
 
80 LADY CASTLEMAINE'S WRATH 
 
 virtuous girl. The other ladies were natur- 
 ally furious, and Lady Castlemaine lost no 
 time in making war on the new-comer. She 
 insisted on Charles making her Duchess of 
 Cleveland, a title which had been suggested 
 but not yet bestowed upon her, and she 
 declared herself ready to support the Spanish 
 cause. She moreover urged that her two sons 
 should be created Marquis of Southampton 
 and Earl of Northumberland. But all these 
 added honours did not relieve her from the 
 rival's presence. 
 
 The winter was passed in a round of 
 gaiety, masked balls and other entertain- 
 ments. Mile, de K^roualle was greatly ad- 
 mired, but so far had not given way one 
 inch. She knew her weakness as well as her 
 strength, she saw that the English people 
 looked upon her with an unfavourable eye, 
 and realised that her only chance lay in the 
 downfall of the last-made Duchess. So she 
 proceeded with caution, resisting all the King's 
 blandishments. 
 
 So much so indeed, and so careful was she 
 that the French ambassador became uneasy ; 
 
PORTRAIT OF LOUISE DE KEROUALLE 
 
 By Sir Pktkk Lely 
 
 To face paje So 
 
1670] THE BABY-FACED BEAUTY 81 
 
 he did not understand Louise's manoeuvres, 
 and feared the rehabilitation of the dangerous 
 Castlemaine. " It will be necessary to con- 
 eihate that lady," he wrote to his master.^ 
 
 That one young girl should hold the situa- 
 tion while they raged in the Court of France 
 at the delay, while in England they looked 
 almost with dismay at the probable downfall 
 of the Duchess of Cleveland, was to say the 
 least a curious situation. Colbert saw with joy 
 the influence of the latter diminishing, and 
 kept Louis daily informed, and related the 
 discomfiture of Molina, the Spanish ambas- 
 sador. 
 
 " How long will this little girl resist," was 
 the question asked by Louis XIV., Louvois, 
 Lionne, Colbert and all the French Court. 
 "The credit of Madame de Cleveland di- 
 minishes daily, while the friendship of the 
 King of England for Mile, de Keroualle 
 increases daily," writes Colbert to Louvois. 
 AU these grave men of office were waiting 
 with feverish excitement to see what the 
 "baby-faced" beauty would please to do. 
 
 1 Colbert au Roi, 12th December, 1670. 
 
 6 
 
82 LORD ARLINGTON'S OPINION 
 
 Was ever such a predicament or Court lady 
 so obdurate ? Such a case was unknown ! 
 Colbert wi'ote to the King in this strain while 
 Charles' passion increased visibly. 
 
 But Louis got anxious, so many weighty 
 matters hinged upon what appeared on the 
 surface to be a mere love aiFair. The diplo- 
 matic relations of Europe hung in the balance. 
 The English ministers also watched the case 
 with anxiety, but from another motive. Lord 
 Arlington considered that a young French 
 girl would be far less dangerous to the inter- 
 ests of the country than the class of mistress 
 Charles had hitherto affected. Court ladies 
 with a power for intrigue were very much 
 to be feared ; women who mixed themselves 
 up in affairs wormed out secrets, and were 
 the ruin of all who came in their way. 
 Equally reprehensible were the low vulgar 
 comedians, creatures unfit for company with 
 the King. At least when in the society of 
 the young maid-of-honour, he would remain in 
 the royal apartments, and every one knew 
 how and when he could be found. 
 
 Lady Arlington was of opinion it was the 
 
1670] DISCRETION OF LOUISE 83 
 
 best thing that could happen, and she would 
 strongly advise the young lady to agree with 
 the King's request.^ At least this was what 
 Colbert wrote to Louis, and evidently he had 
 found an associate in the minister's wife. 
 
 He informed his royal master that all the 
 ministers sought the friendship of this young 
 lady. Lord Arhngton did not scruple to an- 
 nounce pubhcly that he entirely approved of 
 the idea. 
 
 The courtiers agog with excitement related 
 to each other that King Charles visited 
 Mile, de Keroualle every morning at nine 
 o'clock, but that the young lady was too 
 discreet to receive him at other times. 
 Her rooms at Whitehall were said to be 
 beautifully furnished, and that every honour 
 was paid her. St. Evremond, as one of Louise's 
 compatriotes, thought fit to offer her his advice 
 on this dehcate subject. He wrote what 
 was called a " Probleme," in imitation of the 
 Spanish, to Mile, de Keroualle, and gave her 
 his views on the situation. 
 
 " I ask myself," he began, " what injures 
 
 1 Colbert letter, 8th October, l671. 
 
84 " PROBLEME 
 
 5> 
 
 most the happiness of a woman, whether to 
 give way to all the abandonments of passion, 
 or to follow rigidly the paths of virtue. Is 
 the former really followed by more trouble 
 and evil, or does the life of constraint which 
 takes away all pleasure benefit in the end. I 
 would point out, that a woman finds more 
 annoyances in a convent, so I trust that you 
 will continue to live in the world, and not 
 consent to cloister yourself. I fear you want 
 to accomphsh two things which are incom- 
 patible, love and reserved conduct. This is 
 impossible, but you need fear no dreariness in 
 life if you follow a decent behaviour and love 
 only one person at a time." 
 
 Such was the advice offered in writing, and 
 doubtless in all good faith. There was evi- 
 dently no cautioning hand held forth to 
 restrain Louise, and now the minister. Lord 
 Arhngton, and his wife, were urging her on to 
 her fate. The Countess of Arlington was a 
 Dutch woman, who loved a gay and luxurious 
 life, and entertained with fine hospitahty. She 
 entered into Colbert's plans all the more, that 
 she had been obliged to consent to the engage- 
 
1670] VISIT TO EUSTON 85 
 
 ment of her only daughter, stiU quite a child, 
 to a son of the Duchess of Cleveland, and 
 seeing the downfall of the favourite imminent, 
 she determined to make friends with the 
 rising star. She therefore invited MUe. de 
 Keroualle to pay her a visit at Euston, so 
 that Charles could join then party from 
 Newmarket, where he was bound for the 
 races. 
 
 Euston was a huge pile of buildings built of 
 red brick. It was adorned by balustrades of 
 stone and many statues and ornamentations. 
 It was quite the show-place of the county, 
 and was about three miles from Thetford. 
 The original house had been burnt almost to 
 the ground, but Lord Arlington had rebuilt 
 it and made magnificent additions with great 
 skill. There was a picture gallery, an orangery 
 and a chapel. It was laid out with series of 
 suites of apartments quite isolated one from the 
 other, and could accommodate an immense 
 number of persons. The rooms set aside for 
 the royal guest were beautifully frescoed and 
 richly furnished, it was a regal house, and 
 fit to receive a king within its portals. 
 
86 COURT AT NEWMARKET 
 
 The gardens were laid out with great taste, 
 and the park, full of fine timber, was be- 
 sides well stocked with deer. The stables 
 were on the same princely scale, and filled 
 with carriages and horses. 
 
 The Court was at Newmarket, but the 
 King agi^eed to come over every other day, 
 and invited the house party from Euston 
 to his palace there to attend the races. 
 
 Colbert, who seems to have excelled in 
 letter writing and kept the French king 
 well informed of every move in the game^ 
 describes the life at Euston, being one of 
 the guests. 
 
 "The king," he wrote, "comes to dine, 
 and always spends some hours with Mile, 
 de Keroualle. He has already paid three 
 visits. He invited us yesterday to dine at 
 Newmarket, where we were very finely enter- 
 tained, and he showed every possible at- 
 tention to the lady, with all the eagerness 
 a great passion can inspire, and as she gives 
 signs of much pleasure in his attentions, it 
 is the general belief that this will be an 
 
1670] MOCK MARRIAGE 87 
 
 attachment surpassing all others and of long 
 duration." 
 
 The days and nights at Euston were spent 
 in merriment and dissipation. The courtiers 
 and great ladies had assembled for their own 
 amusement, and Charles came, drawn by the 
 magnet of Louise's eyes. The whole affair 
 had been got up to please him, and he joined 
 readily in the various diversions. 
 
 The Countess of Sunderland assisted Lady 
 Arlington in leading the revels, and every one 
 with one accord flattered and amused La 
 Belle JBretonne, who found herself the centre 
 of attraction. 
 
 At last, tired of every frolic, they proposed 
 to have a mock marriage. Whether this 
 was by accident or pre-arranged it is difficult 
 to say. Evelyn, who was one of the guests, 
 declared that he had never seen any party 
 at Euston exceed the bounds of decorum ; 
 but he also admits he was only twice at the 
 King's table, and did not know all that went 
 on.^ Anyway, the burlesque wedding was 
 got up with much pomp and ceremony, 
 
 1 Diari/, 9th October, l67l. 
 
88 THE NEW MISTRESS 
 
 and amid much merriment ; and with all 
 the coarseness which characterised that age 
 even among the highest of the lords and 
 ladies, the nuptial festivities were carried 
 out in every detail, even to leaving Mile, 
 de Keroualle in the arms of the King. 
 
 The thin veil that had hidden Charles' real 
 intentions was torn away, and Louise returned 
 to London his avowed mistress. 
 
 The coarse, voluptuous features of Charles 
 11. , worn as they were, first by hardships 
 and then by sensuality, do not appear Ukely 
 to attract a young girl, and yet there must 
 have been a charm of manner and a personal 
 magnetism in this dissipated Stuart king, for 
 he seemed capable of inspiring great fondness 
 among the women who shared his affections. 
 
 That Louise from the first admired him is 
 certain ; she soon became genuinely attached 
 to him, and gladly accepted the position 
 he offered her without misgivings. She en- 
 tered on her new life with happiness, chose 
 to consider herself a sort of morganatic wife, 
 deluding herself doubtless into the belief that 
 
1670] LOUISE'S DEEP AFFECTION 89 
 
 there was nothing irregular in her hfe. That 
 she loved him very dearly to the end is very 
 certain, and she held the chief place in his 
 fickle heart almost entkely from that time 
 on. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 WHITEHALL 
 
 Whitehall was the pivot round which the 
 world of London moved. Outside the city 
 walls, along the river-side, between the villages 
 of Charing Cross and Westminster, it con- 
 tained within its walls the fate of many, perhaps 
 indeed that of the whole nation. The stately 
 palace had stood for many generations origin- 
 ally built by Cardinal Wolsey for ecclesiastical 
 purposes. The old pictures that give us some 
 idea of its size and buildings only add to the 
 difficulty of picturing it on its present site, as 
 hardly any part of the original palace is now 
 existent. 
 
 It stood in the middle of fields and co- 
 vered a large area with its cavalry barracks, 
 banqueting hall, tilt-yards and two cock-pits. 
 Moreover, it was full of separate sets of apart- 
 ments. Those of the King faced the river, and 
 
 (90) 
 
III"; 
 
 ^ 1^^- 
 
 
 .Kill 
 
 m 
 
 Mm 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 >'. 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 H 
 
1^70] NEWMAEKET 91 
 
 the Queen's were adjoining. The rooms ap- 
 pointed for the new favourite were between 
 the river and the Stone Gallery, now the site 
 of Richmond Terrace. Green lawns ran down 
 to the river's bank, rich orchards abounded in 
 the neighbourhood, while shady bowhng alleys 
 and other places for amusement surrounded 
 the grey pile of buildings. 
 
 JoUity and merriment sounded within its 
 walls, for although it was the abode of state 
 and magnificence, the pleasure-loving monarch 
 held high revels in the palace, for he ever 
 wanted his fill of ease and entertainment. In 
 those days Newmarket was his favourite place 
 for relaxation, but whether there or in London 
 walking was one of his chief diversions. He 
 was a great pedestrian, and he went at such a 
 pace his gentlemen found it difficult to keep 
 up with him, for he would spend several hours 
 in this favourite exercise. 
 
 At Newmarket he would walk till ten 
 o'clock — and they kept early hours at that time 
 — and then repair to the cock-pit. That amuse- 
 ment never seemed to pall ; no doubt the 
 betting on the feathered combatants was as 
 
92 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN 
 
 extensive as at the horse-races in the after- 
 noon. 
 
 The Palace of Newmarket was built or at 
 least completed under the directions of 
 Charles. The architect was Wren. 
 
 He was a very small man, and rather con- 
 sequential in his manner. Once when Charles 
 complained of the want of height of the rooms, 
 Wren said: "I think, and it please your 
 Majesty, they are high enough". Charles 
 squatted down to Wren's height, and creeping 
 about in this whimsical posture replied : " Ay, 
 Sir Christopher, I think they are high enough ".^ 
 
 When in London it was the King's custom 
 to saunter into St. James's Park. One of 
 Charles' hobbies was birds and all kind of 
 feathered fowls. 
 
 There were aviaries all down Birdcage 
 Walk, hence the name, as far as Storey's Gate, 
 where Edmund Storey, the keeper of the 
 King's birds, lived.^ 
 
 1 Richardsoniana. 
 
 2 When the building at what is now called Storey's Gate 
 was in process of construction about 1900, and the founda- 
 tions were being laid, the remains of an old landing-stage 
 
1670] DUCK ISLAND 93 
 
 This part of London was, of course, open 
 country at that time, there was no gate or 
 enclosure then. Carts bearing market produce, 
 brought from the country farms in boats on 
 the Thames, would pass that way, and White- 
 hall Gardens and Spring Gardens across the 
 way was a favourite Sunday evening stroll 
 with the people. 
 
 There was plenty of wild fowl with which 
 the ornamental piece of water was, as now, 
 well stocked. Charles used to feed them him- 
 self, and discuss their breeds and habits with 
 the keepers. The Government of Duck 
 Island, as the small clump of trees in 
 the middle of the water at the western 
 end was called, was conferred, with a small 
 salary as a mark of royal favour, on St. 
 Evremond.^ It was spoken of as "the first 
 and last government," but this was not the 
 case, for it was a sinecure which had existed 
 for some time, and had formerly been be- 
 
 were discovered, supposed to have been that of the monks 
 of Westminster, as a stream now underground ran down 
 from north London into the Thames at that point. 
 ^ Pennant's London. 
 
94 KING CHARLES' SPANIELS 
 
 stowed on Sir John Flock, who had been a 
 comrade of the King when in exile. Of course 
 the post was looked upon as a joke. The 
 King's spaniels were his constant companions 
 and a source of pleasure to him, and his name 
 is still mentioned in connection with that 
 particular breed of dog, which was called 
 after him. 
 
 He had always a pleasant word for every one, 
 and would talk to the meanest of his subjects, 
 and liked by his jesting remarks to learn 
 something of their true opinions. He did not 
 mind a jest when personal to himself, but 
 would bandy words with pleasure. Once 
 when arguing with Lord Shaftesbury he ex- 
 claimed : " I believe thou art the wickedest 
 fellow in my dominions ". 
 
 " For a subject, sire, I believe I am," was 
 the witty but impertinent rejoinder, but 
 Charles laughed heartily at the retort. 
 
 Constitution Hill in those days was almost 
 in the open country, leading to Hyde Park, 
 which although a royal enclosure was a 
 regular forest, and the abode of much game 
 
1671] THE ROYAL BROTHERS 95 
 
 and wild deer. It was a lonely road, and the 
 King was strolling along one morning accom- 
 panied only by the Duke of Leeds and Lord 
 Cromarty. On the way they met the Duke 
 of York returning from hunting on Hounslow 
 Heath. The guards perceiving the King 
 stopped the Duke's coach, and James instantly 
 alighted to pay his respects to the monarch, 
 and expressed his uneasiness at seeing him 
 abroad with so small an attendance, endanger- 
 ing his valuable Ufe. 
 
 " No kind of danger, James," replied Charles 
 laughing, "for I am sure no man in Eng- 
 land will take away 7ny life to make you 
 King."^ 
 
 All the same, the wisdom of the Duke's 
 words were apparent to the gentlemen, and it 
 was soon after this that the following extract 
 appeared in an order, issued in 1671 : — 
 
 "An officer of our horse-guards is always 
 to attend and foUow next our person when 
 we walk abroad, or pass up and down from 
 
 1 Dr. King's Anecdotes of his Omn Time* 
 
96 THE CROWN JEWELS 
 
 one place to another, as well within doors as 
 without, excepting always our bedchamber." ^ 
 
 This order was issued when Blood made 
 his daring attempt on the Crown jewels ; 
 whether it originally sprang from apprehen- 
 sion of personal danger, or merely from the 
 people pressing on the King in his walks is 
 now difficult to ascertain. 
 
 The happy reply of Blood when Charles 
 inquired how he dared to make his bold at- 
 tempt on the Crown jewels, seems to have 
 prejudiced the King in his favour. 
 
 "My father," said Blood, "lost a good 
 estate in fighting for the Crown, and I con- 
 sidered it no harm to recover it hy the 
 Crown." 
 
 A witty answer on the part of himself or 
 any one else always restored Charles' good 
 humour, and he invariably got the better of 
 the rather heavy and dull James. The royal 
 brothers were very good friends, and the King 
 took care to leave all the burden of difficult 
 or tiresome work to the Duke of York, whose 
 
 ^ Pegge's Curalia, vol. i., p. 79^ 
 
1671] « PELE-MELE " 97 
 
 plodding nature was equal to the task. He 
 sat in the Council Chamber at Whitehall or at 
 St. James's Palace day after day, receiving 
 appUcants for post or promotion, or officers of 
 State desirous of discussing some important 
 matter. His was the wearisome task of re- 
 ceiving petitions and hearing grievances, and 
 having to represent all these matters to the 
 King. 
 
 Charles would drop in for an hour, but he 
 quickly wearied of business, and would soon 
 depart for a game of p^le-m^le, a game 
 somewhat Uke tilting at the ring on foot.^ 
 
 Although the Duke of York held no small 
 position, being as he was at the head of 
 affairs, he roused no enthusiasm among the 
 people, not only on account of his some- 
 what uninteresting personaUty, but also be- 
 cause he made no secret of his adherence 
 to the Church of Rome, which deeply 
 offended the Protestant people of England, 
 more especially as he was at that time, and 
 likely to continue, heir-presumptive. Though 
 
 1 The present Pall Mall was the site chosen for the 
 game. 
 
98 CATHARINE'S DISAPPOINTMENT 
 
 with constant hopes of becoming a mother, 
 Catharine of Braganza never realised that 
 wish, which was a source of disappointment 
 both to the Court and the nation. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 BIRTH OF HER SON 
 
 With the birth of a son, 29th July, 1672, 
 Louise de K^roualle's position was considered 
 absolutely secure. The child was named 
 Charles Lennox. Louis XIV. sent his con- 
 gratulations to the young mother through 
 his ambassador. Colbert writes : "I was able 
 to give much pleasure to MUe. de KerouaUe 
 in assuring her of His Majesty's satisfaction, 
 and his desire that she should long remain 
 in the good graces of King Charles. To 
 all appearance she is hkely to do so, to the 
 exclusion of all others." ^ 
 
 That famous woman of letters, Mme. de 
 Sevigne, who being from Brittany was ex- 
 tremely jealous of the triumphs of La Belle 
 Bretonne, wrote with great bitterness and 
 
 1 Colbert to Louvois, 17 2. 
 
 (99) 
 
100 THREE POINTS OF IMPORTANCE 
 
 sarcasm of the success of the latter to her 
 daughter, Madame de Grignan. 
 
 " Do you not think that La K^roualle 
 has worked out her destiny very cleverly, 
 though it causes no surprise as all knew how 
 her star was pointing. The King of England 
 loves her, she is mildly inclined to like him 
 also, and now she has a child. The Castle- 
 maine is in disgrace, and that is the way 
 things are done in that kingdom." 
 
 Louis lost no time in utihsing the French- 
 woman, for through her means he saw his 
 way to deriving three points of importance. 
 An alliance against Holland, the profession 
 of faith of Charles to the Church of Rome, 
 and the marriage of James Duke of York 
 to a princess chosen by Louis himself. 
 
 These things came about in time, at least 
 the league against Holland very shortly was 
 announced, for Charles declared war with the 
 Dutch even before Louise's son was born. 
 The declaration of faith was far harder to 
 obtain, though she never ceased urging on the 
 King to take this step, and she was backed by 
 I'Abbe Patrice, almoner of the Queen. 
 
1672] DUKE OF YORK 101 
 
 The Duke of York, on the other hand, 
 made no secret of his rehgious behefs ; his 
 wife had died lately, and had openly professed 
 her real feelings with all the fervour of a per- 
 vert. On all sides the French Court were 
 pressing him to marry a Roman Catholic 
 princess, but he was in no great hurry to 
 change his state of widowerhood, though will- 
 ing enough to release himself from the bondage 
 imposed upon him by his mistress Arabella 
 Churchill, for he had taken up with a young 
 girl, daughter of Sir Charles Sedley, who for 
 the moment fully occupied his thoughts and 
 fulfilled all his desires.^ 
 
 Colbert saw clearly that Mile, de KdrouaUe 
 had a difficult path to pursue in spite of being 
 King Charles' mistress and having given him 
 a child. The former favourites, great ladies 
 like the Duchesses of Cleveland and Rich- 
 mond, or fascinating and intriguing actresses 
 might weU prove too much for a stranger and 
 a foreigner, in spite of the royal favours she 
 had attained. 
 
 He did not think either that she knew how 
 
 1 She was afterwards created Countess of Dorchester. 
 
102 QUEEN'S ILL-HEALTH 
 
 to play her cards well, and she had been heard 
 to say that she saw no reason why she should 
 not be Queen of England, as Catharine of 
 Braganza was suffering from a mortal com- 
 plaint. 
 
 This of course was highly injudicious, and 
 the report quite without foundation, consider- 
 ing that the Queen Uved for thirty-two years 
 after that. Some of the Court physicians 
 though, knowing Charles' desire to have a 
 second wife who would give him an heir, 
 supported the theory that the Queen's health 
 was seriously impaired. As a fact the care- 
 less King was mainly engaged with the affairs 
 of the moment, and he did not worry himself 
 about the troubles or quarrels of his wife or 
 his favourites. 
 
 The Duchess of Cleveland held him still, 
 by right of the four children she had borne 
 him, and encountered her rival daily in the 
 rooms of the injured Queen. Her temper was 
 violent, her intrigues numerous, while Louise 
 was tender, languishing, and wholly devoted 
 to the interests of France. " One deceives 
 
1672] NELL GWYNN 103 
 
 him by her infidelities, the other sells his 
 secrets. One laughs and the other weeps." ^ 
 But Louise did not weep for long. Nell 
 Gwynn was looked upon with most favour 
 by the people generally. In that coarse age 
 the hvely, witty actress, with her clever tongue 
 and indehcate speech, amused the King and 
 appealed to the populace. It was play-acting 
 carried into everyday life ; but there was 
 something about the beautiful young French- 
 woman, stronger than a mere appeal to the 
 senses, that held Charles enthralled. 
 
 The Enghsh people hated the foreign mis- 
 tress, and looked upon her as an avowed enemy, 
 and this was hardly surprisiag. It was an 
 open secret that the King confided to her his 
 annoyance at the opposition of his parhament, 
 and told her he saw no other means of having 
 his own way save by dissolving it. At least so 
 Colbert, who acted as a spy for France, wrote 
 to his correspondent Louvois, the Minister of 
 War, in July, 1673. It was said of Mile, de 
 Keroualle, in one of the defamatory pamphlets 
 
 1 Colbert to Louvois, 1 672. 
 
104 LOUISE'S IMPORTANT POSITION 
 
 of the day, in which they wrote every insulting 
 and damaging thing that they could hear or 
 invent, that this young girl, by her penetra- 
 tion, her gift of memory and sparkling intellect 
 enabled her to see clearly how to maintain 
 the diplomatic situation. This was great 
 praise coming as it did from her enemies. 
 She had, moreover, the tact not to worry 
 Charles by insisting on his making the declara- 
 tion of faith asked for by Louis, besides seeing 
 that the English would have to grow ac- 
 customed to the idea by degrees, for the Duke 
 of York had greatly injured the cause by de- 
 clarmg too prematurely his change of opinions. 
 The maid-of-honour who had held such an 
 unimportant position in the little Court of 
 Madame of Orleans, now began, though still 
 only MUe. de Keroualle, to assert her inde- 
 pendence, and fearing that the Duke of York 
 would marry a German princess she began to 
 intrigue for a lady of the House of Lorraine, 
 daughter of the Duchesse d'Elboeuf, who was 
 willing enough to place her daughters under 
 the protection of King Charles' mistress, thus 
 
1672] DEMOISELLES D'ELBCEUF 105 
 
 showing to the world the importance that 
 Louise had attained in the eyes of the Court 
 of Versailles. 
 
 The demoiselles d'Elbceuf were poor, but 
 they were aristocratic and handsome girls. 
 Louise counted on their beauty being suffi- 
 cient to attract the Duke of York, and she 
 had pictures of them placed in his rooms that 
 he might get used to the idea, but he declared 
 they were too young. 
 
 Nothing daunted, Louise kept up a corre- 
 spondence with their mother, Madame d'El- 
 bceuf, but Colbert, the French ambassador, 
 did not approve of the alUance. He called in 
 the aid of the Earl of Arlington, who also 
 pressed Mile, de Keroualle to give up this 
 idea, and when she refused, he reproached her 
 for her want of gratitude seeing what he had 
 done for her ; " but obhgations are forgotten 
 as easily and as quickly as a good dinner," he 
 said reproachfully. 
 
 But in the end the ambassador was worsted, 
 though Louise had the tact, once she had ob- 
 tained the victory, to give up the struggle as 
 
106 LOUISE'S LOVE FOR HER CHILD 
 
 regarded the young princesses of the House of 
 Lorraine, but turned her attention to a Prin- 
 cess of Modena. She did not choose to give 
 way to Colbert, but when she found the match 
 was entirely against the wishes of Louis XIV., 
 who wrote to Colbert that he had his private 
 reason against the match, she wisely let the 
 matter drop. 
 
 She had, moreover, other schemes of more 
 personal interest. She wished to become a 
 naturalised Englishwoman with the view of 
 being better able to benefit by gifts of State 
 money Charles had promised her, and also 
 she wanted an English title. That of Coun- 
 tess of Farnham had been suggested, or 
 Baroness Petersfield. 
 
 Louise adored her child and so did Charles, 
 and yet a whole year had passed and he had 
 not recognised him openly, but now so infatu- 
 ated had he become with La Belle Bretonne, 
 that he determined to give her every honour 
 in his power. 
 
 The boy was created Duke of Lennox in 
 Scotland, with the right to bear the royal 
 
1673] DUCHESS OF PORTSMOUTH 107 
 
 arms on his shield, and Duke of Richmond in 
 England, while the young mother was made 
 Duchess of Portsmouth. Little recked Louise 
 now of the jealousies and covert insults with 
 which her enemies did their best to assail her. 
 She felt her position now secured, and revelled 
 in her new happiness, nor was she ennobled 
 and exalted in England only. Perhaps no 
 one rejoiced more at the turn affairs had taken 
 than Louis XIV., when he saw the success of 
 his well-laid schemes. The future of France 
 and her diplomatic relations with Europe 
 hung on the conduct of the French mistress, 
 who, young and inexperienced as she was, had 
 up to now served him well and faithfully. To 
 show his approbation of her, he created her 
 Duchesse d'Aubigny, a title which the royal 
 House of Stuart had possessed since the days 
 of Charles VII., and he bestowed on her as 
 well the lands pertaining to it at Aubigny-sur- 
 Nievre in Berry. 
 
 These lands had been given in 1422 by 
 Charles VII. to John Stuart for his services 
 to France, with the understanding they 
 
108 DUCHESSE D'AUBIGNY 
 
 should return to the French Crown at the 
 death of the last male heir. This was the 
 Duke of Richmond, husband of Miss Stewart, 
 who had lately died. By bestowing them 
 on the mother of the infant Duke of Rich- 
 mond, it was once more detached from the 
 Crown, so the gift was indeed a princely 
 one. 
 
 When the intelligence of this honour 
 reached Whitehall, Charles in an ecstasy of 
 joy rushed to Louise's apartment to have 
 the pleasure of being himself the bearer of 
 the good news, and share in her surprise 
 and delight. 
 
 To be a Duchess in her own country was 
 indeed an honour to be proud of, and meant 
 far more to her than those titles bestowed 
 in England on herself and her son ; but 
 Colbert had no intention of allowing this 
 addition to be made among the nobles of 
 France, though Louise was ignorant of his 
 design. He took care that it should be 
 bestowed as a favour. She received ducal 
 lands certainly, but there was no mention 
 
1673] COLBERT'S MACHINATIONS 109 
 
 made of heirs in remainder, and he trusted 
 to the possibility that the title would die 
 with her.^ 
 
 ^The title of Due d'Aubigny in France is still held 
 by the Duke of Richmond and Gordon. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE DUCHESS OF PORTSMOUTH 
 
 And now began for her, who but a short 
 time before had been a httle Breton maiden 
 of no account, a time of splendour such as 
 in the wildest dreams of her girlhood at 
 Guiler in Finisterre she could never have 
 imagined. Her rooms at Whitehall filled 
 with every possible luxury and adorned with 
 marvellous objets d'arts given her by her 
 royal lover, were a spectacle and a wonder. 
 They far excelled those of the Queen for 
 splendour and riches. Marvellous services 
 of plate loaded the sideboards. Cabinets 
 of incredible value lined the walls, and con- 
 tained priceless china. Pictures, j ewelled orna- 
 ments and costly toys of all kinds crowded 
 the rooms, and made them a subject of 
 perpetual conversation and the object of 
 
 no little envy. In the gallery outside the 
 
 (110) 
 
1673] LOUISE'S MORNING LEVEE 111 
 
 courtiers hung about, on the chance of obtain- 
 ing a few words with the King, or of entering 
 those rooms sacred to the beautiful Duchess. 
 Curiosity was rife about them, for rumours 
 got abroad of the constant alterations that 
 were made inside them to suit her taste 
 and fancy, and there too was to be seen 
 the new French fabric tapestries familiar 
 only to the dwellers of Versailles and St. 
 Germains, "which was of most tender work 
 and design and an incomparable imitation 
 of the best painting".^ Lovely landscapes 
 and hunting scenes, with the French palaces 
 as backgrounds, were some of the views 
 depicted thereon. It was the habit of the 
 monarch to stroll through the long gallery 
 to the Duchess' rooms to be present at her 
 levee himself, and he made his way through 
 the throng of obsequious courtiers, listening 
 to their flattering remarks, to where the 
 object of his affections held her Court, like 
 the uncrowned queen that she had become. 
 Wrapped in a loose robe of priceless lace, 
 she received her lord and the gentlemen 
 
 1 Evelyn's Biary, 10th Sept., 1675. 
 
112 HER WONDERFUL HAIR 
 
 of highest distinction who accompanied him, 
 while the Cornet gallants crowded in behind 
 them. Her wonderful hair which her maids 
 combed out had been the admiration of every 
 one when she first came over, but judging 
 by the well-known portrait of her, it seems 
 likely that she sacrificed it to the prevailing 
 fashion. In a letter vn-itten by Mme. de 
 Sevigne to her daughter she gives the 
 account of a new mode of hairdressing which 
 reads singularly like the style that the Duchess 
 of Portsmouth wore when her picture was 
 painted.^ " Imagine a mode of hairdressing 
 now in vogue. The hair is divided in front 
 a la paysanne, and left flat on top of the head 
 for about two inches from the parting. The 
 hair is then cut on both sides in layers just 
 the right length to roll in thick curls, they 
 must not be cut too short, because they must 
 appear as if they curled naturally, and some 
 ladies having not been careful in this respect 
 their hair is all frizzed up and a terrible 
 example, which others would do weU to 
 
 1 See No. 6 illustration. This appears to be the hair- 
 dressing mentioned. 
 
PORTRAIT OF DUCHESS OF PORTSIMOUril AS \k( MUAN liERGKRE 
 
 By SiK PiiiEi^ Li!;i.\- 
 
 'l"u I. II I- p 11,'e 11 
 
167S] NEW COIFFURE 113 
 
 profit by. Ribbons are passed between the 
 curls, and tied in a great bow on one side. 
 I wonder if you will understand my de- 
 scription? I will have a doll dressed as a 
 model for you. Madame de Crussel when 
 attending the Queen's (Marie Ther^se) coucher, 
 said to her, ' I see your Majesty has taken 
 to our Coiffure'. 'Your Coiffure indeed,' 
 replied the Queen, in a tone of annoyance. 
 ' I assure you I have done nothing of the 
 kind. I have had my hair cut because the 
 King likes it best so, it was certainly not 
 done to imitate my ladies.' Madame de 
 Montespan, Mme. de Nevers and other 
 fine ladies have adopted this fashion."^ 
 
 Perhaps Charles, like Louis, approved of 
 this style, but it was a terrible sacrifice for 
 those who had lovely hair. 
 
 Her mode of existence was semi-royal also. 
 Once when the doctors ordered her change 
 of air, the King insisted on her being placed 
 in charge of his own doctor at Windsor, 
 and she was escorted there in state, accom- 
 
 1 Letter of Mme. de Sevigne to Mme. de Grignan, 4th 
 
 April, 1671. 
 
 8 
 
114 - EN LA ROSE JE FLEURIS " 
 
 panied by a detachment of the Household 
 Brigade. 
 
 One is lost in wonder as to what her real 
 thoughts and feelings were at this moment 
 in her strangely exalted position, and had it 
 altogether turned her head it would not have 
 been surprising. But there is no question 
 of that, her talent was quite equal to her 
 fascinations, and she did not reign by them 
 alone. She was a born diplomat, with a 
 marvellous turn for politics, or rather, we may 
 say for intrigue. One word might very well 
 serve for both in those corrupt days. 
 
 She did not allow herself either to be lulled 
 into any false sense of security, as a weaker 
 woman might have done, even when Charles 
 added to the many honours already heaped 
 upon her, when with much gallantry he 
 joined to his Httle son's arms the graceful 
 motto " En la Rose je fleuris," which is borne 
 by the Dukes of Richmond to the present time. 
 
 He might indeed flourish exceedingly 
 through his love for her in his own estima- 
 tion, but Louise knew well the perils that 
 surrounded him, and ever kept a watchful eye 
 
1673] SYSTEM OF THE STUARTS 115 
 
 on his interests. It was said that she stood 
 to Charles in much the same position as did 
 Madame de Montespan to Louis. Both had 
 somewhat of the same character, firm, proud 
 and unbending, where grave matters were 
 at issue, though in private Ufe the Duchess 
 of Portsmouth was languid and languorous. 
 She was no mere vulgar, rapacious mistress, 
 but she displayed all the energy of her race 
 when it came to deahng with important 
 matters. She was not long in learning the 
 vacillating nature of her lord and master, and 
 she knew how necessary it was to persuade 
 him to have a definite aim. 
 
 The system of the Stuarts rested on two 
 facts which have more or less existed in 
 England ever since : Rehgious hberty and 
 alliance with France. Whatever their failings 
 they stood up for the rights of the rehgion 
 they professed. It has been said the men of 
 that royal race were ruined through their 
 weakness for women, but in the troubled 
 career so many of them led, their most 
 chivalrous instincts and happiest days were 
 due to this characteristic. 
 
116 IMMORAL COURTS 
 
 Their Courts were immoral, it is true, and 
 they had recourse after all their trials, and in 
 some cases wanderings, to ease and relaxation 
 among what have been called the left-handed 
 queens of England. 
 
 But was the House of Hanover after all 
 more moral ? It was not only the reckless 
 race brought up among the influences of the 
 French Court for generations who were more 
 to be held in reprobation than the stolid 
 and heavy but equally immoral sovereigns 
 who succeeded them on the throne of Eng- 
 land. 
 
 One age cannot be judged by another, and 
 with all his faults Charles II., at one time at 
 any rate, was greatly beloved in England. 
 True, his reckless extravagance and disregard 
 of the good of his people, together with his 
 Popish proclivities, had somewhat alienated 
 their feelings from the time when with joyous 
 gi'eeting they welcomed their exiled sovereign 
 back at the Restoration. But there was a 
 charm of manner about Charles which made 
 him a popular favourite. The glories of 
 Whitehall were the pride of society, and the 
 
1673] MADAM CARWELL 117 
 
 Merry Monarch, as he was fondly called, was 
 popular with all. 
 
 At last, however, his lavish expenditure on 
 his many mistresses and bastard children, in- 
 stead of bestowing his wealth for the good of 
 the people, brought about a feeling of revolt. 
 That and his supposed religious tenets gradu- 
 ally drew away their love, and in the latter 
 years of his reign he was looked upon with 
 suspicion and mistrust. 
 
 Much has been written and said about the 
 strong anti-popish spirit in England, a spirit 
 which has always existed, but it was not the 
 chief cause of the hatred of the new mistress 
 Madam Carwell, as she was familiarly called.^ 
 
 Queen Catharme was of that persuasion, 
 had her own chapel, her priests and Roman 
 Catholic members of her suite. No great objec- 
 tion was raised to them. But deeper even than 
 the Enghshman's love of his rehgion was his 
 rooted aversion to France, it was an undying 
 hatred carried on from one generation to 
 another, and to them no good thing could 
 come out of France. 
 
 1 A\^corruption of Keroualle, 
 
118 LOUISE'S TALENTS 
 
 The position of the Duchess of Portsmouth 
 at Whitehall had become a very important 
 one, and the nation fully realised that fact. 
 
 None knew it better than the Duke of 
 Buckingham, although he was conscious she 
 had never forgiven him his want of courtesy 
 towards her, but he pretended not to be 
 cognisant of the fact. 
 
 He would kiss with profound respect her 
 gloved hand, as indeed he had done in the case 
 of Miss Stewart and Nell Gwynn, and all the 
 ladies his King delighted to honour, when their 
 stars were in the ascendant. It was his con- 
 viction that to rule a people, or a court, it was 
 essential to direct and regulate their vices and 
 not make an attack upon them. He was fully 
 aware of Louise's talents, and felt that it was 
 no mean foe with whom' he had now to cross 
 his sword. Louise de K^roualle had studied 
 the tactics of La Valiere and Montespan, and 
 as Duchess of Portsmouth was quite equal to 
 the situation. It had been said of her in the 
 beginning " that the silk ribbon that fastened 
 round the waist of MUe, de Keroualle was 
 
1673] EUROPE AGAINST FRANCE 119 
 
 the zone that bound France and England,"^ 
 and now she put her whole mind to sustaining 
 the alliance between those countries. Yet 
 with it all she worked for what she considered 
 the good of the King, and why should she not 
 have done so, for was he not her lover and the 
 father of her child. Louis may have found 
 her his useful tool, but she was never his dupe, 
 and was, moreover, for the time being absolute 
 mistress of the situation. But while Louise's 
 affairs prospered, those of Louis her patron 
 and master did not. All Europe had turned 
 against France, even the Prussians of Branden- 
 burg, upon whom he had always looked with 
 infinite scorn, one of his sayings about them 
 being, "We can expect nothing good from 
 them until they have learned the lesson, that 
 they are incapable of doing us harm ". Now 
 this insignificant foe had joined forces with 
 Holland, and Spain had followed their example. 
 A strong measure, for that most Catholic 
 country loathed the Protestant people of the 
 north ; probably, however, they thought the 
 Dutch less hateful than the Enghsh. 
 
 1 St. Evremond, 
 
120 HATRED OF PAPISTS 
 
 " If the Dutch also," wrote the Comte 
 d'Estrades from London, "join hands with 
 Spain and the Netherlands, a war wiU ensue 
 such as we shall never see the end of." 
 
 It was more a question of faith than poUtics, 
 and hatred of the French, and hatred of the 
 Papists, began once more to be the dominant 
 feeUng in England. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 HENRIETTE DE K^ROUALLE 
 
 Shortly after that the Duchess of Portsmouth 
 had received her titles and honours, she 
 bethought herself of sending for her young 
 sister, Henriette Mauricette de Penancoet. 
 Louise had all a Breton's love of kindred, and 
 being naturally of a very affectionate disposi- 
 tion, she longed not only to promote the 
 welfare of her own kith and kin, but to see 
 some of them once more. 
 
 England could never have been a land of 
 adoption to her, surrounded as she was by 
 enemies and rivals, and her heart must have 
 ached sometimes to see not only the faces 
 dear to her, but the rugged coasts and fertile 
 valleys of Brittany. 
 
 The King at that period granted her every 
 
 whim, so he fell readily into the plan she pro- 
 
 (121) 
 
122 HENRIETTE'S ARRIVAL 
 
 posed. A yacht was sent to Brest to fetch 
 Heni'iette, one of the household having been 
 ordered to bring her in safety. Naturally her 
 arrival was a subject of much ill-natured talk, 
 and as she was very young and of homely 
 features, not the least like her beautiful sister, 
 she was at once run down and slighted by the 
 tongues of scandal. 
 
 " Hemiette de Keroualle is nothmg to look 
 at. She came alone with a gentleman, who 
 was sent in a yacht to Brest to fetch her. 
 She was at once given £600 a year."^ Natur- 
 ally her arrival was a cause of jealousy, and 
 no one could see why the King should give 
 an income to the Duchess of Portsmouth's 
 sister. 
 
 What the attitude of the Comte and Com- 
 tesse de Keroualle was at his juncture it is 
 difficult to imagine. They must have taken 
 their eldest daughter's briUiant shame com- 
 placently by their allowing their remaining 
 girl to join her sister in England. Whether 
 it was from apathy, or whether it was owing 
 
 iRuvigny k Pomponne, 12 Mai, l674. 
 
1673] KING'S GENEROSITY 123 
 
 to the easy morals of their time, they accepted 
 the situation apparently without a protest. 
 
 Louise was overjoyed to see her sister, and 
 the King welcomed the new arrival with much 
 kindness. The allowance he gave her was a 
 very handsome one in those days, he, more- 
 over, appointed her suitable apartments, and 
 evidently lent himself to Louise's idea of 
 making a good marriage for Henriette. 
 Whether the sister of the King's mistress was 
 generally considered a suitable aUiance by 
 those about the Court it is difficult to say. 
 No doubt it was often extremely useful, indeed 
 often necessary, to be sure of access to the 
 royal ear, and who could easier secure that 
 privilege than the relative of the all-powerful 
 Duchess. So possibly many looked with an 
 eye of favour on the plain French girl, because 
 of the royal dower it was known she would 
 have on her marriage, and the interest and 
 favour she would doubtless bring with her. 
 Perhaps, on the other hand, the Duchess did 
 not find it so easy as she had imagined to 
 settle her sister satisfactorily. Certainly her 
 
124 MARRIAGE TO LORD PEMBROKE 
 
 choice was far from a fortunate one, or rather 
 probably it was the King's selection, for he 
 sanctioned Henriette's betrothal to Philip, 
 seventh Earl of Pembroke. Lord Pembroke 
 was a man of infamous conduct, in fact his 
 vices were carried to such an extent that they 
 almost amounted to madness. Shortly before 
 this time he had been committed to the Tower 
 for an atrocious act of blasphemy.^ His tem- 
 per was violent, his habits of drinking notori- 
 ous, and his life loose and dissipated to a 
 degree. It was cruel to place a young and 
 innocent girl into such hands. 
 
 Perhaps the Duchess was not aware of the 
 extent of his evil conduct, or perhaps she was 
 bent on getting Henriette married, and had 
 but httle choice. Anyway, they did not relin- 
 quish the idea. The wedding took place with 
 due splendour, and the new Countess was 
 carried off to reign in the magnificent and 
 almost regal residence of Wilton.^ 
 
 '^Account of Wiltshire, by Neville Wilkinson. See 
 Wilton House. 
 
 2 " The Duchess of Portsmouth's sister was maiTied on 
 Thursday to the Earl of Pembroke. The King pays the 
 
1674] BIRTH OF LADY HERBERT 125 
 
 No portrait of her exists on these walls, 
 although a lovely one of her sister Louise by 
 Lely is there. There is no record of what the 
 Countess of Pembroke's special sufferings may 
 have been, but Ufe must have been intolerable 
 at times, for she was but a bride of a few 
 months when she appealed to her sister for 
 protection, who at once threatened the Earl 
 that if he did not mend his ways she would 
 make the King interfere. This sobered Pem- 
 broke for a time, besides he wanted an heir, 
 and his wife was about to become a mother. 
 Hemiette was of a shallow nature, and had 
 none of the talent of Louise, and although 
 complaining of her hfe at intervals, she 
 managed to go her own way, in the matter 
 of personal extravagance she certainly did, 
 and found compensation for her loveless home 
 by reckless expenditure. When her child 
 was born it proved to be a girl, which did not 
 tend to domestic peace. After that she let 
 her brutal husband lead his own hfe, while 
 
 portion." — Letter dated Westminster, 19th December, 
 1674, the property of Mr. Thomas Stamford Raffles. 
 
126 ENORMOUS PERQUISITES 
 
 she occupied herself with her Uttle daughter 
 Charlotte. She probably was a good deal in 
 London, for the Duchess of Portsmouth loved 
 her httle niece, and doubtless the sisters were 
 very happy at being together with their 
 children ; the little Duke of Richmond was 
 only two years older than Lady Charlotte 
 Herbert, and the cousins must have played 
 together in Whitehall. 
 
 It does not follow that Richmond was the 
 Kmg's favourite son, but he was the youngest, 
 and therefore received much attention. Lady 
 Marshall a Scotchwoman, was appointed his 
 governess on a salary of £2,000 a year.^ Both 
 the Duchesses of Portsmouth and Cleveland 
 had £10,000 a year settled upon them, which 
 was much in excess of the fortunes bestowed 
 on the other ladies.^ But it was none too 
 
 1 Letter in possession of Sir Harry Verney, 5th August, 
 1675. 
 
 2 ''You have heard doubtless that the Duchess of 
 Portsmouth hath 10,000<£ a yeare settled out of the wine 
 licenses. She of Cleveland having chosen hers out of the 
 Excise as the more secure and legall fonds." — Letters of 
 Mr. Thomas Stamford Raffles. 
 
1674] A WORTHLESS REPROBATE 127 
 
 much for Louise who lost large sums at 
 cards. She wished Hemnette to have as 
 many luxuries as herself, and tried hard to 
 get Lord Pembroke to give his wife gifts 
 suitable to a person of her quality. He 
 highly resented her interference, defied her to 
 ruin his interests beside the King, and openly 
 called her " the grievance of the nation ". He 
 threatened if the Duchess worried him any 
 more to send his Countess back to Whitehall. 
 He was such a worthless reprobate that his 
 words, however, carried but httle weight, and 
 Charles was too wise to take any notice of 
 these quarrels. 
 
 Jealousy of her position was not confined 
 to the habitues of the Court alone. Madame 
 de S6vigne wrote in another of her famous 
 letters : " La Keroualle has not been frus- 
 trated in anything she has undertaken. 
 She determined to be the mistress of the 
 King and she has succeeded ; she wished for 
 a son and she has one, and he has been openly 
 acknowledged and ennobled by his father. 
 But she has found a rival, in the shape of the 
 
128 CHEVALIER DE ROHAN 
 
 young comedian who often takes away the 
 King from her. She is young, witty and 
 reckless, and scorns the high-born lady who 
 accepts the same place as herself. The 
 Duchess pretends that every great person in 
 France is her relative."^ 
 
 This was true, and sometimes Louise al- 
 lowed her vanity to overcome her good sense 
 and good taste, and she was ridiculed for her 
 intense devotion to France. When the Cheva- 
 her de Rohan died, who belonged to one of the 
 greatest families in Brittany, she wore deep 
 mourning, and though there may have been 
 kinship between them it was no near rela- 
 tionship.^ She never forgot her own rank 
 and breeding, or her beloved country, and 
 valued it far more than her English title 
 and position. 
 
 When the Comte and Comtesse de Keroualle 
 
 ^Madame de S6vign6's letters, 11th September, 1675, 
 vol. v., p. 128. 
 
 2 " The Duchess of Portsmouth is in deep mourning for 
 the Chevalier de Rohan, as being forsooth of kin to that 
 family."-— 19th December, 1674. Letters of Mr. Thomas 
 Stamford Raffles. 
 
1675] LOUISE'S PARENTS 129 
 
 arrived in London to visit their daughters, 
 they were received with much pohteness. 
 They did not stay with them however, but 
 lodged with an old friend Sir Richard 
 Browne, whom they had known when he 
 was a refugee in France during the Rebellion. 
 Evelyn in his Diary mentions having met 
 them, and speaks of them in flattering 
 terms. 
 
 From him we learn that the Count had a 
 military air, and was a fine soldierly-looking 
 man, with the frank open countenance of the 
 Breton. The Comtesse had the remains of 
 great beauty, and was a most intelligent 
 woman.^ It was held to be to their credit 
 that they had never derived any pecuniary 
 benefit from the equivocal position of their 
 eldest daughter. It is not Ukely that Lord 
 Pembroke showed them any attention. It 
 would be curious to know what were their 
 feelings in the position they found them- 
 selves in. 
 
 And so the months and years went on, 
 
 1 Evelyn's Diary, 15th June, 1675. 
 
 9 
 
130 THE NEGLECTED QUEEN 
 
 Louise, with all the privileges of a wife, the 
 other beauties with their moments of royal 
 favour, and the neglected Queen in the solitude 
 of her palace, with no pleasure but the gaming 
 table. Basset was her one consolation, and 
 the one attention the King bestowed upon 
 her, was to take her by the hand and lead 
 her to her apartment every evening after 
 her game.^ 
 
 Charles was a courteous and attentive 
 husband, his manner to all women was 
 chivalrous and kind. But he considered that 
 his marital duties were sufficiently fulfilled 
 by such acts of outward respect, and he 
 was too careless to reflect on the lonely 
 and desolate life of the unfortunate princess 
 who had brought him such an ample dowry ,^ 
 and whom he had raised beside him on his 
 throne. 
 
 ^ Ruvigny letter to Louis XIV. 
 
 2 It has often been said that Catharine of Braganza had 
 the biggest dowry of any Queen of England, although it 
 was not of paramount importance at the time. 
 
 The island of Bombay in the East Indies was her 
 portion. 
 
1676] HER GREATEST RIVAL 131 
 
 The only one of her so-called ladies who 
 treated her with consideration and respect 
 was her greatest rival of them aU, Louise de 
 Keroualle. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 COVERT INSULTS 
 
 But the Duchess of Portsmouth did not 
 have everything her own way, although the 
 royal smiles showed no signs of abating. 
 SUghts and insults which she could ill brook 
 were often her lot. In spite of the coarse 
 licentiousness of the age, and the immorahty 
 of the Court, there were yet many high- 
 born people who set themselves strenuously 
 against the evil doings so prevalent around 
 them. 
 
 The great ladies with feelings of outraged 
 virtue refused to countenance women whom 
 they considered beyond the pale, even al- 
 though by doing so they incurred displeasure 
 in high places. A little natural jealousy 
 mingled with these feelings, which is hardly 
 surprising, as it must have been mortifying 
 
 to be overlooked and passed by for ladies 
 
 (132) 
 
1676] TUNBRIDGE WELLS 133 
 
 of easy virtue, or of inferior class simply 
 because of a position which was often con- 
 sidered more of a distinction than a reproach. 
 The Duchess of Portsmouth, owing to her 
 nationaUty, stood apart from the rest, but 
 it perhaps caused her to be even more dis- 
 liked. Once when she had been ailing her 
 physicians recommended her going to Tun- 
 bridge Wells to take the waters for her 
 health. She sent down orders to have a 
 house secured and prepared for her reception. 
 Charles preferred Tunbridge Wells to any 
 other watering-place, and the Court always 
 moved there once or twice a year, so that 
 Louise knew the place well. The quaint 
 Pantiles, old world as they are to this day, 
 must have been like a scene in a comic 
 opera when crowded with the smart folk 
 who were taking the waters. Sedan chairs 
 jostled each other in the narrow space, and 
 the motley gathering of beauties and gallants, 
 in their smartest clothes, must have afforded 
 the careless, pleasure-loving King much amuse- 
 ment. Judging by the letters of Honore 
 Courtin, Seigneur de Chanteraine, who was 
 
134 ENGLISH FASHIONS 
 
 on a diplomatic mission in London, and was 
 besides studying the manners and customs 
 there, the Enghsh led the fashions at that 
 period. 
 
 " Since my stay here," he writes to Louvois, 
 " I can no longer bear the sight of Paris shoes. 
 There is nothing to equal the footwear of the 
 English ladies. Their shoes fit to perfection, 
 their skirts are short, and their sUk stockings 
 irreproachable. Indeed they show their legs 
 freely, but they are beautifully shaped. Green 
 sUk stockings are the fashion, with black velvet 
 garters and diamond buckles."^ In later days 
 EngHshwomen were always accused of a lack 
 of attention to this detail of their toilette, and 
 dainty shoes were a peculiarly Parisian article. 
 The gay Court had probably much to do with 
 this elegance of dress. 
 
 On the occasion when the Duchess of Ports- 
 mouth went to the Wells, more or less as an 
 invalid, the Court was absent and the place 
 was deserted and tranquil. In fact she went 
 down there as a private individual and not 
 as one of the King's retinue. 
 
 1 L6ttres de Courtin k Louvois, November, 1676. 
 
1676] MARCHIONESS WORCESTER 135 
 
 Her annoyance was extreme on her arrival 
 to find that her servants had procured quarters 
 elsewhere, the house she desired being occupied 
 by the Marchioness of Worcester. With much 
 indignation Louise sent a message to Lady 
 Worcester of astonishment that she should 
 have failed in her duty and respect to one of 
 such very superior rank as herself, to which 
 the outraged Marchioness repUed, that titles 
 gained through prostitution were never recog- 
 nised by persons of birth and breeding. She 
 even added some taunts as to the Duchess' 
 former lovers, especially the Comte de Sault. 
 This humiliation being such a public one, hurt 
 Louise cruelly, and Charles was much vexed 
 at the affair, but seemed unwilling or unequal 
 to interfere in the matter. 
 
 But sometimes the Duchess brought these 
 sUghts on herself. Once she sent word to the 
 venerable Duchess of Ormond that she would 
 do her the honour of dining with her. This 
 semi-royal command could not be dechned, 
 insolent as it was. The old Duchess had no 
 intention of raising any storm about her ears, 
 but she was more than equal to the occasion. 
 
136 DUCHESS OF ORMOND 
 
 She sent a polite acceptance of the honour 
 proposed by the Duchess of Portsmouth, but 
 when the latter swept into the stately drawing- 
 room in her usual magnificence of trailing 
 velvet, lace and jewels, it was to find the old 
 Dowager waiting to entertain her in absolute 
 solitude, and Louise knew well that the two fair 
 young grand-daughters. Lady Betty Stanhope 
 and Lady Emily Butler, who Uved under the 
 Ormond roof, had been removed from the 
 contaminating presence now beneath it, and 
 the proud beauty had to sit down at the 
 ducal board with its fine display of plate and 
 rich banquet spread before her in company 
 only with her Grace and the venerable lady's 
 chaplain. 
 
 It was the delight of society generally to re- 
 peat such stories, and Sir John Reresby, courtier 
 though he was, never lost an opportunity 
 either of relating her misdeeds, or retailing 
 gossip about her, although he certainly appears 
 to have been constantly in her society. 
 
 Sir John Reresby was a baronet with a fine 
 place, Thrybergh in Derbyshire. He was M.P. 
 for York, so he naturally took a great interest 
 
1676] SIR JOHN RERESBY 137 
 
 in the affairs of the nation. It is to his 
 Memoirs that we are indebted for much of the 
 information regarding poUtical life of that time 
 at WhitehaU/ 
 
 That he was more or less of a time-server 
 we gather from his writings, but it was the 
 spirit that pervaded those days, where favour 
 was the only road to success, and the smile of 
 the sovereign of paramount importance. 
 
 He writes complacently of the aU-powerful 
 Duchess that she was a very fine woman, but 
 that did not prevent his passing a scathing 
 opinion of her abroad. 
 
 He gave it out that the public had no great 
 love for her, that most thought she was sent 
 to ensnare the King who, as aU the world 
 knew, ran readily into such toils. 
 
 But nevertheless he went almost daily to 
 the Duchess' room, probably the centre of 
 news and gaiety, and the most certain place to 
 meet the King. 
 
 Her splendid rooms at Whitehall were 
 
 '^Memoirs and Travels from l634 io l689, edited from 
 original MSS., first published in 1734 and reprinted in 
 1813. 
 
138 ART TREASURES 
 
 thronged with wits and gallants, and all the 
 news of the world, and the scandals and secrets 
 of half the great London world were discussed 
 there. 
 
 Among the many other treasures they con- 
 tained, the Kmg had given some of his best 
 pictures to hang upon her walls. So much 
 has been said of the magnificence of Louise's 
 possessions she must have acquired a fine 
 taste for art treasures, learnt during her 
 stay in Paris probably, it could hardly have 
 been attained in the Chateau de K^roualle 
 in remote Brittany. Those belonging to her 
 out there must have often rejoiced at having 
 such a powerful friend at Court. Louise 
 never forgot her kith and kin. 
 
 Her slightest requests were invariably 
 granted on their behalf, as the letters to 
 France testify.^ 
 
 1 " Le Roy d'Angleterre m'a temoign^ que S. M. 
 Louis liu feroit plaiser s'il luy plaissoit de donner la 
 premiere Abbaye vacante, a une tante de Madame de Ports- 
 mouth nommee Dame Suzanne de Pleue de Timeur re- 
 ligieuse dans I'^vesche de Vannes. 
 
 ** Je crois qu'il sera bon de con tenter la Duchesse de 
 
1676] TOO MUCH PROSPERITY 139 
 
 Perhaps the worst point in her character at 
 that period was her pride in her influence 
 over the King, for this caused her to blazon it 
 forth to the world. She could not resist the 
 temptation of letting it be seen who really 
 was the master-mind. She would persuade 
 Charles to break his promises, and the victims 
 of such treachery knew whose inspiration it 
 was. Prosperity was turning her head at last, 
 and she felt that she could bend the King to 
 her will, and through him she continued to 
 make demands which she was sure could not 
 be refused. A request conveyed by Ruvigny 
 to Pomponne was, that the King of England 
 begged the King of France, at the insistence 
 of the Duchess of Portsmouth, that he would 
 be good enough to further the interests of 
 M. de Calloet, a Brittany nobleman. Louis 
 was never pleased at any interference, and his 
 only reply to the request was a silent one. 
 He sent a beautiful pair of earrings to the 
 Duchess. She received them with profound 
 
 Portsmouth touchant cette abbaye." — Ruvigny a Pom- 
 ponne, 1675. 
 
140 LE TABOURET 
 
 respect, and sent a grateful message to His 
 Majesty that she would never forget to render 
 him any service in her power, either by word 
 or deed. She knew weU how far she could 
 go. What she really wanted of Louis XIV, 
 was the Tabouret, that wonderful privilege 
 that was the cause of more disturbance at the 
 French Court than anything else.^ She con- 
 sidered that her ducal domain of Aubigny 
 gave her the right to it. She did not, how- 
 ever, Hke to \^Tite direct to the King to obtain 
 this privilege, but determined to make use of 
 M. de Ruvigny, and make her request through 
 a third person, and with a diplomacy amount- 
 ing to deceit, she set about in a roundabout 
 way to succeed in her desire. She apphed to 
 Ruvigny to write to Louis. Whether he be- 
 lieved the Duchess' statement or not, anyway 
 he was willing to be made use of, and wrote 
 the following letter to Louis XIV. : — 
 
 " I write to your Majesty at the request 
 of the Duchess of Portsmouth, who is much 
 
 ^ The right of ladies of rank to sit in the presence of 
 royalty. 
 
^: 
 
 :^m- 
 
 
 
 
 PORTRAIT f)V LOUIS XIV 
 By Jean La have 
 
 To face page 140 
 
1676] LOUISE'S DIPLOMACY 141 
 
 upget by a blunder on the part of the 
 Marquis Dangeau. She had begged him, 
 Sire, to let you know her extreme desire to 
 serve you, and her wish that you should feel 
 trust in her protestations. Instead of this 
 she learns from Dangeau, that he asked you 
 to grant her the Tabouret on her return to 
 France. 
 
 "As that return is so unhkely, and at 
 any rate so distant, she never even gives 
 it a thought, and all she wishes is, that you 
 should be assured of her complete devotion. 
 I pressed her greatly to write herself to your 
 Majesty, but she refused owing, she said, to 
 the profound respect she felt towards you her 
 master." ^ 
 
 Louise was quite clever enough to make 
 other people make requests for her, and Louis 
 must have laughed when he got such a letter 
 as the one just quoted. He knew well 
 enough it was at the dictation of the Duchess, 
 who was determined to force him to give her 
 all she wanted, and yet had diplomacy enough 
 
 1 Ruvigny's letter, 15tli March, l676. 
 
 «» 
 
142 HER DESIRE ATTAINED 
 
 not to appear to have moved in the matter. 
 He knew, and she knew, what each could 
 demand of the other, so inextricably were 
 their affairs mmgled. 
 
 Needless to say she obtained her desire. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 DUCHESSE MAZARIN 
 
 When the Duchess thought that she was 
 now secure from any dangerous rival, news 
 was brought to her that King Charles' old 
 love, the most beautiful woman in Europe, the 
 conquering Duchesse Mazarin, had landed at 
 Torbay. 
 
 This news naturally filled Louise with 
 dismay. Ruvigny, who had succeeded Col- 
 bert as "secret negotiator," was equally 
 alarmed, and made anxious inquiries as to 
 the intentions of the new arrival and her 
 whereabouts. It was a lackey of the Cheva- 
 Uer de Grammont who had seen her land 
 dressed as a man and accompanied by two 
 women, five men and a httle Moor page, who 
 never left her side. She had fled fi^om Hol- 
 land, and after a tempestuous journey reached 
 
 England. 
 
 (143) 
 
144 HORTENSE MANCINI 
 
 Ruvigny promptly wi'ote this exciting 
 piece of news to Pomponne, and added 
 "Arlington and Montagu, who both hate 
 the Duchess of Portsmouth, would gladly 
 make use of Madame Mazarin to disgrace 
 the former "/ 
 
 The news was exciting for Hortense 
 Mazarin was no mean adversary, and rose 
 as a star on the horizon of Whitehall with 
 singular brilliance. For once Louise's heart 
 began to fail, there was probably no woman 
 whose arrival could cause so much dismay. 
 
 Hortense Mancini was the youngest of 
 Cardinal Mazarin's beautiful nieces, and at 
 the age of nineteen she had already laid 
 siege to the susceptible heart of Prince Charles 
 as he was then. 
 
 He lived an exile at the Court of St. 
 Germains, and perhaps the ambitious beauty 
 did not think his attentions worth her ac- 
 ceptance. " I began Ufe with every prospect 
 of becoming a queen," she said in some 
 Memoirs, supposed to be from her pen ; 
 
 1 It is incorrect to call her Duchesse de Mazarin. She 
 was very particular about the article being omitted, 
 
1676] DUC MAZARIN 145 
 
 " for all knew it was proposed that I should 
 marry the King of England." Instead she 
 married the son of the Mar^chal de la 
 Meilleraye, who was created Due Mazarin. 
 This man was intelUgent, agreeable and 
 clever, but he fell completely into the hands 
 of priests and monks and became a fanatic, 
 only fit for hfe in a monastery. Everything 
 that was beautiful in art or nature he con- 
 sidered an offence against the Almighty.^ 
 That such a man should be the husband 
 of Hortense Mancini was a source of incessant 
 amusement at Court. At one time he shut 
 his young wife up in the Convent of "Les 
 Filles de Sainte Marie, de la Rue Sainte 
 Anne". There she made friends with the 
 Marquise de Courcelles, who was also there 
 as a penitent. The two ladies quarrelled 
 with the nuns, refused to obey the orders, 
 and finally fled to Italy together, both dressed 
 as men.^ When the Duchesse finally re- 
 
 ^He mutilated statues, destroyed pictures, and had 
 his daughters' front teeth knocked out for fear they should 
 rejoice in their beauty (Saint- Simon). 
 
 2 Saint- Real, t. vi. 
 
 10 
 
146 MADAME MAZARINES BEAUTY 
 
 turned to France the King took her part, 
 and forced her husband to give her her Uberty. 
 Her beauty was famous and entirely due to 
 nature ; she needed none of the aids of arti- 
 ficial embellishments. Her complexion was 
 brilliant, her eyes and her hair black, in 
 wonderful contrast to the milk and roses 
 of her cheeks. 
 
 Saint- Real in his Memoir es gives the fol- 
 lowing description of her : — 
 
 " Madame Mazarin is one of those beauties 
 of a Roman type who do not possess merely 
 doll-like charms, or who have to rely on the 
 artifices of the mere coquette. The colour of 
 her eyes have no name, they are neither grey 
 nor blue, nor quite black, neither are they 
 languishing nor yet passionate, but as if she 
 had been born only to love and be loved. 
 Her mouth is not large, nor yet quite small, 
 but all its movements are full of expression. 
 
 " Her complexion is brilliant, but the 
 colouring has no vivid tints. I do not think 
 any one ever had anything to say to her 
 skin being not absolutely white, so charming 
 was the effect. Her hair is black and glossy 
 
1676] MANCINI SISTERS 147 
 
 but not heavy. The tendrils that cover her 
 forehead, and float with natural grace, seem 
 swelled with pride at adorning so beautiful 
 a head. She never uses any scents."^ 
 
 This curious account mostly in negatives, 
 certainly describes a very dangerous rival, and 
 no wonder Louise was uneasy at her appear- 
 ance on the scene. 
 
 The Mancini sisters had been the talk of 
 Europe at the time when then uncle the 
 great Cardinal Mazarin was in power, and 
 reigning over the heart of Anne of Austria. 
 
 Two of the sisters had laid siege in turn 
 to the susceptible heart of Louis XIV. when 
 he was still a mere boy. He was heartbroken 
 when forcibly taken away from the influence 
 of Marie Mancini. Hortense was a good 
 deal younger, and was still a child at that 
 period. Whether she was the Cardinal's 
 favourite or not he certainly made her his 
 heiress. The Duchesse Mazarin had joined 
 at Aix her sister Marie, who had married the 
 Connetable Colonna. Madame de Grignan, 
 the daughter of Madame de Sevign^, writing 
 
 ^ M^moires Saint-Real, t. vi., p. 94. 
 
148 ABBE DE SAINT-REAL 
 
 to her mother said that she had seen these 
 two women and that theh^ beauty was divine, 
 and resembled an admirable picture quite 
 faultless. Their sisters, the Comtesse de 
 Soissons, and the Duchesse de Bouillon, who 
 were not nearly so good looking, objected 
 very much to the goings on of their sisters, 
 and declared they were mad women, and 
 ought to be shut up. All sorts of scandalous 
 reports as to their relations with men were 
 set about. In fact they were threatened 
 with a convent if they did not leave Aix. 
 
 The Duchesse Mazarin retired to Savoy 
 with a young man called Cgesar Vichard, who 
 insisted on being called FAbbe de Saint-Real, 
 though he had neither a tonsure nor a cure of 
 souls. He had a brilliant intellect, was madly 
 in love with his protectress, and was by nature so 
 depraved that Louvois, who was a connoisseur 
 in most of the depths of which the human 
 heart is capable, wrote to Courtin on an 
 occasion when he had been obliged to seize the 
 so-called Abbe's letters " that they were, if not 
 the work of a madman, the most infamous 
 
1676] HORTENSE'S HABITS 149 
 
 that Italy had ever produced ". This was the 
 chronicler of her intimate life, the writer of 
 the Mimoires Saint-Real, so the laudatory- 
 remarks on the Duchesse's beauty may be taken 
 with a reservation ; but there was no question 
 that she was a lovely and dangerous woman. 
 When she arrived in England she was ac- 
 companied by Saint-Real, supposed to be her 
 almoner, and she had chosen London as her 
 place of refuge, determined, if possible, to 
 awaken in the heart of King Charles some of 
 the memories of her youth. 
 
 She was then about thirty years of age, and 
 had been married fourteen years, and had four 
 children; after that she had thrown off the 
 domestic yoke and passed her time, sometimes 
 in unwelcome seclusion in a convent, sometimes 
 careering about the country dressed as a man, 
 spending weeks at a time in the saddle, and 
 giving way to aU the passions of which her 
 southern nature was capable. But in spite of 
 her irregular life, she retained all her freshness 
 and good looks. 
 
 Her arrival in London caused a sensation. 
 
150 NELL GWYNN'S RIDICULE 
 
 She was received by the Duke of York at 
 his house with every attention. Nothing was 
 talked of but the charms of this wonderful 
 woman. 
 
 Those who were enemies of Louise de 
 K6roualle saw in this stranger a possible means 
 by which to effect the overthrow of the 
 former. 
 
 AU men were loud in her praises, and all 
 women disturbed and jealous at her all-con- 
 quering loveliness.! NeU Gwynn, who always 
 turned everything into ridicule, at once put on 
 mourning in token of the immment down- 
 fall of the Duchess of Portsmouth, a piece of 
 impertinence that caused much amusement. 
 The Duchess of Cleveland, who was equally 
 disturbed, retned into the country. Nothing 
 but the alliance with France could help Louise 
 
 1 Among the many verses written on the Court beauties 
 was the following ; — 
 
 tc 
 
 Now through the world fair Mazarine had run 
 Bright as her fellow traveller the sun ; 
 Hither at length the Roman eagle flies 
 As her last triumph of the conquering eyes." 
 
 — Waller, 
 
1676] LOUISE'S ILLNESS 151 
 
 at this crisis. She was in hopes of being again 
 a mother, and giving Charles a second child ; 
 but so altered was she by anxiety and alarm 
 that her health gave way, and her pregnancy 
 ended in a premature confinement of a dead 
 child. Even Ruvigny writes compassionately 
 of her weak condition, and inability to rally 
 after her illness. Then for the first time she 
 found that her power over the King was for a 
 time at least greatly diminished. His love was 
 not of the kind to flourish in the face of ill- 
 health, sufFering and faded looks, and he was 
 quite satisfied when the Duchess asked leave 
 to retire to Bath now just coming into vogue. 
 We can readily understand that she did not 
 care to repeat a visit to Tunbridge Wells. 
 When she had sufficiently recovered to return 
 home, she sent word to the King from Bath 
 that she would stop at Windsor on her way 
 to town, so as to see him without loss of time. 
 Charles received her politely when she reached 
 the Castle, but made no offer to her to prolong 
 her stay. No apartments had been prepared for 
 her ; and after dining with the King, the poor 
 
152 CHARLES' SECRET GIFT 
 
 tired lady found she was expected to go on her 
 way. 
 
 But even if the more intimate relations 
 between herself and the King were subsiding, 
 she still retained a strong hold over him, in 
 spite of the passing attractions of the fair 
 Hortense. That lady wanted money, and 
 Charles, while deploring her difficulties, had 
 no intention of overcoming them himself, 
 indeed he wrote' to Louis suggesting he 
 should augment the Duchesse Mazarin's in- 
 come from 8,000 ecus, to 20,000.^ He gave 
 this pleasing task to Ruvigny, and when 
 Louis refused to see the matter in the same 
 light as his brother sovereign, it was Ruvigny 
 to whom Charles secretly confided a purse 
 containing a thousand jacobus with in- 
 structions to give it privately to Hortense 
 Mazarin, for should the Duchess of Ports- 
 mouth know of this gift, the consequences 
 would be serious. This does not look as if 
 his passion for the latter was waning. He 
 could not do without her ; he needed her 
 
 ^ Ruvigny au Roi, 30 Janvier, l676, 
 
1676] RIVALRY OF THE LADIES 153 
 
 counsels as well as her charming society. 
 She never forgot or allowed him to forget 
 the gaUant device he had added to her son's 
 arms, " En la Rose je fleuris," and she made 
 him feel, that through her alone could he 
 succeed and flourish. This strange and 
 beautiful Bretonne had managed not only 
 to raise herself, but to keep her exalted 
 position ; and no passing stranger, even such 
 a past mistress in the art of seduction as 
 Hortense Mazarin, could eject her, although 
 aU England was practically against her, and 
 her rival was looked upon with favour as a 
 means of her downfall. Foreigner as she 
 also was, she was not esteemed so dangerous 
 as the French mistress, who was considered 
 the curse of the country. Ruvigny, who 
 found himself in the middle of these feminine 
 intrigues, good honest man that he was, did 
 not like his post at all, and was thankful when 
 his master recalled him. Outwardly the ladies 
 received each other with aU politeness. The 
 Duchess of Portsmouth would call on the 
 Duchesse Mazarin and invite her to supper. 
 
154 HORTENSE'S SUCCESSES 
 
 Once they were seen coming out together 
 hand in hand. To please Charles she gave 
 a grand dinner to Madame Mazarin, and drove 
 her to Court in her own coach. As the latter 
 was said to enjoy much attention from the 
 King, she was disinclined to return to Paris 
 and her exceedingly unpleasant husband ; and 
 Louise had the wisdom to accept a presence 
 from which she could not rid herself, and 
 treat the lady with the civilities due to her 
 rank, and shut her eyes to the fact that she 
 had been Charles' old love. 
 
 The fair Hortense did not want for new 
 ones, half London was at her feet, the 
 Portuguese ambassador was dying of love for 
 her, the Prince of Monaco divided his ad- 
 miration between her and the lovely Mrs. 
 Middleton, sister of the notorious Countess of 
 Shrewsbury, and one of the toasts of that day. 
 Courtin, the secret negotiator and indefatig- 
 able letter writer, delighted in entertaining 
 Madame Mazarin, and wrote with pride of her 
 sayings and domgs : " She spent the whole 
 afternoon playing at shuttlecock in my salon 
 
1676] ST. EVREMOND'S LOVE 155 
 
 with Madame de Sussex, who is the insepar- 
 able companion of Madame Mazarin " ; ^ but no 
 one worshipped at her shrine more ardently 
 than St. Evremond. He fell madly in love 
 with her as soon as he beheld her, and from 
 that day never faltered in his allegiance to 
 her. His exile m England was sweetened by 
 her presence, he found in her every charm, 
 and nearly all his writings from then on were 
 dedicated to her, or in her praise. He had 
 longed in his earher days to return to France, 
 but now the place which held his divinity was 
 enough for him. He Hved on into old age, 
 devoted to literature and the worship of the 
 Mazarin, and Uved long enough to mourn her 
 untimely death.^ Such was the power of 
 beauty in those times. 
 
 Had Hortense Mazarin really desired to 
 secure King Charles permanently as her lover, 
 so seductive was she that she would have 
 proved a most dangerous rival ; but her light 
 
 ^Courtin's letters, November, 1676. 
 
 2 St. Evremond died in September, 1 703, and was buried 
 in Westminster Abbey in Poet's Corner, where a fine 
 marble bust was erected to his memory. 
 
156 LOUISE'S STATE BANQUET 
 
 capricious nature prompted her to seek admira- 
 tion in all quarters, and money and possessions 
 where she could. Meanwhile the King's in- 
 terest, to the dismay of many, began to revive 
 in the Duchess of Portsmouth. They were 
 seen constantly together in public, and he 
 became very solicitous as to her health and 
 well-being. She gave a great banquet in his 
 honour, with special singers from Paris to 
 perform during the repast. Once more the 
 eyes of all were turned upon Louise. The 
 diplomats exchanged letters on the subject, 
 which was of interest to all Europe. If the 
 French power was not waning, then no passing 
 admiration for the wily Mazarin was of any 
 real moment. The King began frequenting 
 the Duchess' rooms every evening where play 
 was high, and tables set for omhre and bassette. 
 The courtiers flocked there once more, speci- 
 ally on Sundays, her momentary eclipse was 
 over. Unfortunately Louise met with an 
 accident of some kind which gave her a black 
 eye. Many jokes were made on the subject, 
 and the wits declared that the Duchess no 
 
1676] CHARLES ENTHRALLED 157 
 
 longer desired to be a blonde, but was anxious 
 to have beautiful black eyes like Madame 
 Mazarin ! Louise could afford to smile at the 
 pleasantry. Was not Charles in the hollow of 
 her hand once more ? 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE DUCHESS' INFLUENCE 
 
 While the outside world, and even the inner 
 circle, debated whether or no the King's 
 devotion to the Duchess of Portsmouth was 
 real and lasting, and while Louise down in 
 the depths of her heart had moments of 
 depression if she thought him wavering, she 
 still continued the even tenor of her way, 
 determined that whether Charles stiU loved 
 her or not, he should continue to find her 
 indispensable. 
 
 In her rooms met every day the men who 
 stood at the helm of the vessel of State. 
 
 No topic of conversation was ever excluded 
 or set aside. What the King knew she knew, 
 and her knowledge was even greater than 
 his. 
 
 Sir John Reresby would not miss a day 
 
 if he could help in going there, and he it is 
 
 (158) 
 
1677] LORD DANBY IN POWER 159 
 
 who has left us a record of the conversa- 
 tions carried on by the ministers and advisers 
 of the Crown, in a perfectly unconstrained 
 manner before the King and his beautiful 
 French mistress. Lord Danby the minister, 
 cast aspersions on Buckingham without re- 
 serve, and even those members of the ministry 
 who dishked and dreaded the French favourite, 
 such as Lord Halifax and others, were willing 
 enough to frequent her apartment, and meet 
 the King there in all the ease and freedom of 
 privacy. 
 
 While Danby was in power he made a 
 great fight to rescue Charles from the 
 dominion of France. He saw clearly that 
 the net was closing round the easy-going 
 monarch. He discovered to his dismay that 
 Charles had already bound himself, in con- 
 sideration of a yearly pension from France, to 
 enter into no engagements with other Powers. 
 Such a treaty not only forced England into 
 dependence on France, but freed the King 
 from all parhamentary control. The minister 
 pleaded in vain for delay, but Charles, spurred 
 on by the Duchess of Portsmouth, answered 
 
160 HIS EFFORTS FOILED 
 
 Danby's expostulations by signing the treaty 
 in his presence. 
 
 Lord Danby, finding himself duped by the 
 King, still had the courage to form fresh plans 
 to rescue Charles from his bondage to Louis, 
 and to do this he tried to reconcile the King 
 and the Parliament. But he had to reckon 
 with a foe more subtle and with more power 
 than himself. His arguments, when Charles 
 seemed about to yield to his ardent eloquence, 
 were, as soon as he had left the presence, 
 defeated in the scented boudoir of La Belle 
 JBretonne, What man, and one so susceptible 
 as Charles, and a lover besides, could resist 
 those lovely eyes, that enchanting smile. In 
 a few short moments Louise could undo the 
 work of hours and alter the poHtics of 
 Europe. In despair Danby appealed for help 
 from the other Powers, but fruitlessly. Louis 
 held Charles in the hoUow of his hand, thanks 
 to the girl in whom his quick eye and subtle 
 brain had recognised a clever agent, and 
 whom in return he had placed in her exalted 
 position. 
 
 It was disquieting news in 1678 that the 
 
1678] FALSE REPORTS 161 
 
 French King had taken Ghent and Bruges, 
 and that Ostend was besieged. Charles was 
 advised by his ministers to send 1,600 men of 
 the Guards under the command of the Duke 
 of Monmouth to the scene of action. Such a 
 handful of men could have been of no practical 
 use, and was only another move in the game. 
 The Commons became very anxious, and cast 
 reflections on the King's evil counsellors, and 
 while naming no man plainly pointed to the 
 Duke of York. However, it turned out to 
 have been only a report without foundation. 
 Ghent and Bruges had not been taken, and 
 M. de Ruvigny was coming with offers of 
 peace to the King of England.^ 
 
 The storm now began to fall heavily on 
 Lord Danby who was treasurer. His position 
 hitherto had been unassailable, but few things 
 were passed or granted at Court without his 
 knowledge. His power was paramount, both 
 the Duke of York and the Duchess of Ports- 
 mouth were anxious to be on good terms with 
 him. Now he was about to fall from his 
 high estate, and Sir John Reresby, moralising 
 
 1 Reresby's Memoirs. 
 11 
 
162 LORD DANBY IMPEACHED 
 
 on the situation, remarks : " Now the meanest 
 subject would scarce change places with 
 him. This confirms me in the opinion that a 
 middle state is ever the best." 
 
 He was impeached before the Upper House 
 in April, 1679, and pleaded the King's pardon. 
 Both Houses now began to reflect anxiously 
 and pass remarks on the Duchess of Ports- 
 mouth, the mighty and all-powerful Danby 
 had fallen before her. Who would go next ? 
 
 Lord Sunderland, Secretary of State, had the 
 wisdom (as far as his own advantage was con- 
 cerned) to work with her, and he consequently 
 obtained the ear of the King, and the Duke of 
 York kept in with them also. Lord Halifax 
 was by no means inclined to favour the French 
 mistress, and was therefore detested by this 
 lady, which troubled the King, for he hated 
 quarrels or jarring incidents in his circle. He 
 insisted on their making friends, outwardly at 
 any rate, but their interests were so absolutely 
 opposed it could never be other than concealed, 
 if not open warfare between them. 
 
 When Danby was removed from office Sir 
 W. Temple succeeded him, and it was during 
 
1678] THE CABAL 163 
 
 his ministry that the famous " Cabal " was 
 formed, so named from the coincidence of the 
 initials of the council — ChfFord, Arhngton, 
 Buckingham, Ashley and Lauderdale. Louise 
 favoured the Cabal in spite of her enemy 
 Buckingham forming one of them, and Charles 
 saw with her eyes and heard from her lips 
 alone. 
 
 But these measures of the Parliament lasted 
 over many years till Louise's girlish days were 
 over, and she had learnt to the full the in- 
 trigues of Court and State ; but before all 
 these things had ripened, many events entered 
 into her life and brought about great changes 
 with them. She still enjoyed the privileges 
 accorded to her youth and beauty, and did not 
 allow the discords of party feeling to mar the 
 harmonies of her life of pleasure. She must 
 have been secretly amused and flattered at the 
 great men who bowed before her, and hung 
 on her words. She smiled seeing Sir John 
 Reresby, who passed many a stricture upon 
 her in his writings, present himself almost 
 daily in her rooms following in the King's wake. 
 One day he wanted a post for Sir Godfrey 
 
164 SEMI-ROYAL PREROGATIVES 
 
 Copley's son, who was an intimate friend of 
 his own. Another day he came in to gather 
 all the information he could, for affairs were 
 discussed pretty freely and openly. Then he 
 would come to supper, and doubtless take a 
 hand at cards. Louise must have hked him, 
 or he would not have been admitted to such 
 intimacy. But what did she care. These men 
 came and went, were in power or out of it. 
 She never gave way an inch or lost any of her 
 semi-royal prerogatives. As long as Charles 
 sought her society, who his companion or 
 ministers were was of small importance to 
 her ; she reigned over his heart, and that was 
 enough for her. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 PAUL BARRILLON 
 
 Barrillon had succeeded Courtin in 1677 as 
 French ambassador in London. The latter 
 had broken down through ill-health, which he 
 attributed to the climate, the air being so 
 damp and heavy. In his letters to France he 
 writes : " I owe my Ufe to the King of England, 
 for he advised me to wear flannel vests next 
 my skin. This is a white woolly material 
 made in Wales, and it washes the same as 
 linen. I have never known anything so warm 
 or so healthy."^ 
 
 In spite of this admirable precaution and 
 adoption of a class of garment evidently quite 
 unknown to him before, Courtin continued 
 his lamentations, with the result that another 
 ambassador was sent to relieve him. 
 
 Paul Barrillon, Marquis de Branges, was 
 a very able man. He came of a legal family, 
 
 iLettres de Courtin, l676. 
 (165) 
 
166 PRINCE OF ORANGE 
 
 and his father was the famous President 
 Barrillon. He was also very gifted with 
 charming manners, and was said to be equally 
 able to handle money and manage women. 
 Whether he approved of the Duchess of 
 Portsmouth or not, he was of course constantly 
 thrown into her society, and found, as others 
 had done before him, that through her only 
 could he reach the King. It was an anxious 
 moment for England's foes and friends ahke. 
 Scarcely had Barrillon settled himself in the 
 Embassy in London than the first check he 
 encountered was the arrival of William, Prince 
 of Orange. He had been invited over, with 
 a view to his marriage with Princess Mary, 
 eldest daughter of the Duke of York, and heir- 
 presumptive to the Crown. This union would 
 be a political bond with Holland, and ensure 
 a Protestant successor to James. The joy of 
 the people of England was immense ; the 
 country rose in one mass, and the land was 
 filled with festivities. Bonfires were lighted 
 in every village and on every hill-top ; neither 
 Charles nor James dared show any objection 
 to this patriotic outburst, which was really 
 
1678] AUDLEY END 167 
 
 a protest against the Church of Rome, and 
 preparations for the marriage were hurried on. 
 Louis XIV. was furious, but Barrillon felt 
 that all resistance would be in vain, and both 
 he and the Duchess of Portsmouth-understood 
 the necessity of remaining silent before the 
 popularity evoked by the young Prince from 
 the Netherlands. It was then that the plot 
 to assassinate King Charles, of which Titus 
 Oates was the instigator, filled every one wath 
 alarm. Five Roman Cathohc peers were sent 
 to the Tower, every Cathohc was ordered to 
 leave London. Train-bands were called to 
 arms and patrols paraded the streets. The 
 Court ladies forgot their quarrels in the 
 general alarm. Louise de K6roualle felt that 
 her unpopularity might now bear bitter fruit, 
 and she would be one of the first to receive 
 the blow. She went at once to Audley End 
 where the King was lodging.^ She foresaw 
 
 ^ The Duchesse Mazarin lay on Friday night at Audley 
 ^ End on her return, and " I saw the Dtfchess of Portsmouth 
 alight at Audleyend out of her coach this evening". — 
 17th October, 1678. Private letter preserved at Ripley 
 Castle. Audley End is said to have been reduced to its 
 present size at the request of Louise. 
 
168 CHARLES' ALARM 
 
 that he was incapable of defending himself 
 in this crisis, and might be induced to make 
 fooUsh concessions unless she be allowed to 
 remain beside him to act as his counsellor and 
 guide. 
 
 Barrillon, writing to Louis, informed him 
 that the Duchess thought it might be advisable 
 for her to return to France for a time, know- 
 ing that she was certain of his protection, and 
 being desirous to do nothing that could injure 
 the King of England. 
 
 The Queen, too, was in a state of alarm, but 
 clung to the Duchess of Portsmouth, declaring 
 that as ParUament allowed her to have one 
 lady-in-waiting of her own faith she would 
 not part from the Duchess. Even the French 
 Court musicians had to be sent away, so no 
 wonder that Louise felt her position perilously 
 insecure. 
 
 There is no doubt that Charles showed the 
 white feather on this occasion ; the libertine 
 is rarely a man of courage, but the Duchess 
 of Portsmouth did not allow herself to be 
 daunted, and she saw the wisdom of his being 
 
1678] BARRILLON'S LETTERS 169 
 
 reconciled with Lord Shaftesbury, who was 
 now the preponderating power in the land. 
 It was after the dissolution of the Long 
 Parliament that the ministry of the famous 
 Cabal was formed. Meanwhile Barrillon in 
 the private apartments of the Duchess had 
 secret interviews with Charles, which he 
 afterwards retailed in letters to his own master 
 at Versailles. Louise de Keroualle had not 
 failed Louis, even in the hour of danger. 
 Though Shaftesbury hated her, and the people 
 were ready to turn and rend her, she still held 
 the strings. Her enemies tried to make out 
 that Charles was tired of her, but Barrillon's 
 letters prove that her power over him was as 
 great as ever. 
 
 "The King of England tells me, through 
 the Duchess of Portsmouth, that he wished 
 to speak to me in private after every one 
 had retired, and that 1 should find him in 
 her rooms. He declares that your Majesty 
 can if it pleases you, secure his Crown, and 
 bind him to your interests for the rest of 
 his Ufe. It is no question of mere compUment 
 
170 THE CLEVER DUCHESS 
 
 between you. Your Majesty is at liberty 
 to decide whether England shall be governed 
 by a republic or a king." ^ 
 
 And again : — 
 
 " The King spoke to me privately last 
 night when we met at Madame de Ports- 
 mouth, and told me he is determined to take 
 the offer your Majesty has made to him, 
 and to engage not to assemble the Parliament 
 for several years, and then only when your 
 Majesty thinks fit."' 
 
 The clever Duchess, having the French 
 ambassador at her orders, now dictated terms 
 herself. Through Barrillon she made an offer 
 to Louis, that if he would pay Charles the sum 
 of four million francs during three years, all 
 the suggestions he (Louis) had made should 
 be carried out. Money was uncommonly 
 necessary for the Duchess herself, and huge 
 sums had been paid over to her, which were 
 entered as "secret services".^ Her income 
 
 1 Barrillon au Roi, 6 juillet, 1679. 
 
 2 Barrillon au Roi, 31 aout, 1679- 
 
 3 John George Akermann. Moneys received and paid 
 for secret services, as reckoned by the accountant Henry 
 Guy (Camden Society). 
 
1679] ORDER OF THE GARTER 171 
 
 was £12,000 a year, with perquisites which 
 made the total amount to nearly £40,000. 
 It was said that in 1681 she actually received 
 £136,000. But her bills show that she spent 
 the money as fast as she obtained it ; even 
 over a single night's entertainment a fortune 
 was often disbursed. She ordered a man's 
 dress among other items for a masked ball, 
 the details of which are preserved and the 
 expenses lavish as usual. ^ One story told 
 of her about this period speaks for itself 
 as to the terms she was on with the King, 
 the ten years of their union having by no 
 means broken the intimacy of their relations. 
 When the Uttle Duke of Richmond was nine 
 years old, the King made him a Knight of 
 the Garter. At this period the blue ribbon 
 of the Garter was worn round the neck, 
 with the appendage hanging down in front 
 on the breast. 
 
 One day his mother, doubtless as a piece 
 of saucy nonsense, brought her little son 
 into the presence of his father wearing the 
 broad ribbon over his left shoulder, and the 
 
 1 MS. British Museum, fol. 54. 
 
172 CHARLES' ILLNESS 
 
 appendage on the right. Charles was highly 
 amused at this piece of audacity, altering, 
 before his face, his own royal insignia, but 
 this new mode took his volatile fancy, and 
 what was begun in jest remained in earnest. 
 It pleased him to order that the ribbon 
 of the Garter should be worn in this fashion 
 for the future, so the Duchess of Portsmouth 
 may therefore be considered, jointly with the 
 famous Countess of Shrewsbury, as responsible 
 for the decoration as seen to-day. 
 
 It dates indeed from the reign of Edward 
 III., but these two ladies are the cause, the 
 one for the origin of the order, the other for 
 the manner in which it is now worn. 
 
 It was about this time that the King was 
 taken iU at Windsor, and his fever was so 
 severe that the physician feared the worst. 
 Great excitement prevailed all over the 
 country, one party being openly for the 
 Duke of York, another for Monmouth. 
 But a new medicine lately discovered, called 
 "Jesuits' Bark," saved him. It really was 
 quinquina, now called quinine, which had 
 been discovered by some Jesuit fathers as a 
 
1681] KING'S RECOVERY 173 
 
 sure cure for strong fever. When Charles 
 recovered and was told all the measures that 
 were being taken in the possible event of his 
 death, he cannot have been best pleased, and 
 from that time the Duke of Monmouth 
 incurred his displeasure in several particulars, 
 so much so, that he removed him from his 
 post as Master of the Horse and bestowed it 
 on his Uttle half-brother, the Duke of Rich- 
 mond.^ 
 
 The Protestant party upheld Monmouth so 
 strongly in spite of his illegitimate birth 
 that a great though smothered indignation 
 possessed them. This was one more honour 
 heaped on the son of the hated Madame 
 Carwell. High and low, this measure was 
 not popular, but the Duchess of Ports- 
 mouth rejoiced exceedingly. 
 
 1 Reresby's Memoirs, November, 1 68 1 . 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 PARLIAMENT PROROGUED 
 
 Louis XIV. had now come near realising 
 his dream. He knew well the lack of energy 
 of Charles, and as long as he could excite him 
 against the Parliament, he felt that he could 
 mould him to his will. But when the King 
 prorogued his Parliament, the people in general, 
 not being in the secret of the treaty with 
 Louis, attributed his action entirely to the 
 evil counsels of the De KerouaUe. They 
 declared that knowing the peril she would 
 be in was the reason that she had not ad- 
 vised this measure before. Barrillon wrote 
 to his master that the Duchess was much 
 alarmed, and talked not only of sending away 
 her papist servants but of retiring herself.^ 
 But this was said of her ; in reality she 
 
 1 Henry Sidney, Diary, vol. i., p. 217. 
 
 (174) 
 
1681] COUNTESS OF SUNDERLAND 175 
 
 maintained a serene front, and without much 
 trust in the courage of the King, and none 
 in the good faith of the Duke of York, by 
 her audacity, as her enemies called it, and she 
 had no friends to criticise her conduct with 
 sympathy, she managed to keep Charles in 
 touch with Louis, and under the dominion of 
 the latter. 
 
 She manoeuvred with dexterity, and having 
 made friends with Sunderland who was in the 
 Council, together they worked to aUay the 
 suspicions that she had raised. The Countess 
 of Sunderland was furious. " That damned 
 jade," she wrote, "would sell us for 500 
 guineas." ^ 
 
 The Duchess of Portsmouth appeared to 
 favour the interests of the Prince of Orange. 
 Barrillon grew nervous ; he looked upon him 
 as the enemy of France, naturally, as his wife 
 was the Protestant heir to the EngHsh throne. 
 Besides, he thought the hatred openly shown 
 to the Duchess would prevent her from being 
 the useful ally to Louis she had been formerly. 
 She was insulted at the theatre by a party 
 
 ^ Henry Sidney, Diary, January, 1680. 
 
176 MONMOUTH IN FAVOUR 
 
 of young men who made scandalous remarks 
 over her relations with Sunderland, and her 
 name was bandied about the taverns. 
 
 Louise's desire was to restore the authority of 
 King Charles so long as at the same time she 
 could keep in favour with Louis ; but Barrillon, 
 fearing that she was working underhand, was 
 in a constant state of anxiety. The one 
 person, however, to whom the intrigues and 
 the poUtical parties were wearisome was 
 Charles himself, and he ended by falling in 
 a docile manner once more under Louis' 
 dominion. 
 
 As the hatred of the EngUsh people towards 
 Louise grew more intense, not content with 
 abusing her publicly, and connecting her name 
 in a scandalous manner with that of Lord 
 Sunderland, they now began to openly show 
 favour to the Duke of Monmouth. His health 
 was drank in the taverns, and although 
 Barrillon, who watched every movement anxi- 
 ously, knew that too much attention need not 
 be paid to the opinions of the dwellers in low 
 haunts, it yet gave him food for thought. 
 
 "The Duke of Monmouth is now the 
 
1681] BARRILLON'S ORDERS 177 
 
 person of most consideration in the eyes of the 
 people. I think he will have difficulty in ob- 
 taining money, though he seems to think that 
 he will be able to procure a good sum, on the 
 pretext that he is working against the Court, 
 and on that pretence it might be placed in his 
 hands to dispose of as he pleases. 
 
 " In joining forces with the Duke after this 
 fashion, it would assure being in touch with 
 all his party. Lord Shaftesbury is head of the 
 malcontents ; it would be well to make him 
 think France is on his side." He then goes 
 on to speak of all those who would receive 
 bribes, mentioning them by name. What 
 he desired was, for France to stir up all 
 parties, and thus inflame them one against the 
 other. " Separate the Parliament from the 
 Court, excite the different factions, sow 
 dissension," these were the orders Barrillon had 
 received from his royal master. 
 
 Louis wished to force Charles to prorogue his 
 
 ParUament indefinitely. He knew how that 
 
 weak vacillating mind was ready to resort to 
 
 concessions, and feared a reconciliation, so 
 
 he urged his secret agents to provoke the 
 
 12 
 
178 LOUISE'S DESIRE 
 
 King and the Parliament one against the 
 other. 
 
 For once the Duchess of Portsmouth was 
 left out of the schemes ; she was not initiated 
 in this political move. It was the moment 
 when the persecutions were commencing in 
 France against the Protestants. 
 
 She thought she was pleasing Louis by 
 working to restore Charles' authority ; instead 
 she found herself stumbling against Barrillon 
 in the dark. 
 
 She announced to liim that she was wanted 
 in France, and had been sent for to prove the 
 good terms she was on at Versailles, for she 
 still thought it wise to remain on good terms 
 with the ambassador. 
 
 The Duchess of Portsmouth was now able to 
 triumph openly. She was no longer obliged to 
 conceal her allegiance to France or the fact that 
 she was the go-between for the two kings. 
 So confident was she in the strength of her 
 position, that she felt she might safely leave 
 Charles for a time. Her one desire for long 
 had been to visit the Court of Versailles in her 
 semi-royal capacity of reigning favourite. She 
 
1682] VISIT TO LOUIS 179 
 
 thirsted to meet Louis, and relate to him in 
 person what she had done to bring about the 
 union of the two countries. She had left 
 France a humble maid-of-honour, without 
 wealth or position, save what she possessed by 
 right of birth, and with a character that had 
 been assailed by the darts of slander. She 
 would return in state with a regal retinue, 
 unbounded wealth, a Duchess in both countries, 
 and above all, as the friend and counsellor and 
 chief support of the King of England. 
 
 She and Charles therefore separated by 
 mutual consent in March, 1682. The King 
 went to Newmarket, and the Duchess pre- 
 pared to embark, not without the precaution 
 of having her pension paid a quarter in ad- 
 vance from the Moneys for Secret Services, 
 
 She made Barrillon write to Louis to ensure 
 her being granted the Tabouret when she 
 went to visit the Queen Marie Ther^se. 
 Her enemies made out that the Duchess of 
 Portsmouth was leaving never to return ; 
 but strong in her position such rumours did 
 not trouble her. 
 
 The Countess of Pembroke was not far 
 
180 HENRIETTE'S BILLS 
 
 behind her sister in extravagance and display. 
 Henriette strove to mitigate her domestic 
 unhappiness by indulging in reckless ex- 
 penditure. Bills belonging to the Countess 
 are still extant. One for gloves alone, even 
 in this age of costly dress, seems rather 
 preposterous : — 
 
 " Twenty-eight pairs of white transparent 
 gloves, perfumed with orange and amber ; 
 one pair of gloves costing 33 livres trimmed 
 with gold and silver ribbons in little bows. 
 Others trimmed with embroideries. Ribbons 
 studded with tiny diamonds." These were 
 purchased from the great Paris house Lesgu, 
 and Jacquillon Laurent. She also was de- 
 sirous of visiting the French capital, where 
 she had never been in her life, and she resolved 
 to accompany her sister to France. They 
 embarked at Greenwich in a yacht, equipped 
 and armed, and bound for some say Dieppe, 
 others Calais, and after a royal progress, 
 reached Paris in safety, where the Duchess 
 of Portsmouth was received at the Court 
 as a sovereign. From then on it was one 
 
1682] FETES AT ST. CLOUD 181 
 
 long triumph. The great f^tes at St. Cloud 
 were graced by the presence of the beautiful 
 Louise de KerouaUe, the admired and observed 
 of the gUttering circle. She sent long ac- 
 counts to Charles of her reception and of 
 the attentions that were showered on her, 
 and he, through the medium of Barrillon, sent 
 profuse thanks to his brother sovereign for 
 his gracious conduct to Madame de Ports- 
 mouth, as she was called in France. "No- 
 thing was ever seen to equal the manner in 
 which she was received," writes St. Simon. 
 "Even by the religious world. Once the 
 Duchess went to the great f^te at the 
 Capucines in the Rue St. Honore, and the 
 monks having learnt of her presence came 
 out in procession and passed before her, 
 bearing the Cross, the Holy Water, and the 
 Incense. It is the manner in which they 
 greet the Queen, and threw her into a strange 
 confusion." ^ 
 
 From the Court f^tes she proceeded to in- 
 spect her property of Aubigny in Berri, where 
 she was received with all the rights belonging 
 
 1 Barrillon au Roi, 13 avril, l682: 
 
182 SISTERS RETURN TO GUILER 
 
 to the seigneur of the temtory, but she could 
 not stay there many days, as she was bound to 
 reach the baths of Bourbon in the middle of 
 May, as she had been recommended to take 
 the waters there.^ Her sister. Lady Pem- 
 broke, who shared in Louise's present dignities 
 and honours, also wished to take the waters. 
 There they remained for three weeks, return- 
 ing to Paris a little before the 16th of June.^ 
 They were not due at the Court again till the 
 middle of July, and it is conjectured, and is 
 indeed most highly probable, that the sisters 
 visited Brittany and took up their abode at 
 Guiler in the Chateau de Keroualle. An 
 account of such a visit had it been preserved 
 would have been full of interest, but we may 
 yet picture it. Like a royal lady released for 
 a while from the cares of State, Louise must 
 have welcomed those tranquil days in the 
 home of her childhood, among the green 
 
 1 Bourbonne-les-Bains, Hte. Mame, 300 kil. from 
 Paris. 
 
 2 All these details have been preserved in the corre- 
 spondence of the Ambassador Preston in the possession of 
 Walter Sneyd, Esq. 
 
1682] RECOUVEKANCE 183 
 
 pastures and orchards, and along the wild and 
 rocky coast of her beloved Brittany. 
 
 After a wearisome journey in heavy coaches 
 over bad roads, or on horseback when the 
 deep ruts prevented vehicular progi^ess, the 
 sisters must have hailed the sight of the tower 
 of the old church of Landerneau, in the far end 
 of Finisterre, with joy. It stands at the head 
 of the great tidal river which opens at this 
 point, flowing between wooded banks and 
 gaining volume and width from the salt waves 
 rolling in from the ocean. Brest, at the 
 mouth of it, was home already, although the 
 sisters must have looked with astonishment at 
 the forts and other naval works which had 
 strangely altered the familiar face of the 
 country. The lands of Recouverance across 
 the harbour, could doubtless then be only 
 reached by boat, but they were their own 
 lands. Every inch of the road must have been 
 well known to them, over the downs, and be- 
 tween the thick oak gi'oves of the forest in the 
 valley, till at last the hamlet of Guiler was 
 reached, and riding through the glades of the 
 
184 RETURN TO LONDOISI 
 
 wood, the great ladies with theu* retinues drew 
 rein before the stone gates of the Chateau de 
 Kdroualle, and were joyfully welcomed home 
 at last. 
 
 Then refreshed and cheered they must have 
 returned to Paris, to enter upon a fresh round 
 of dissipation, and business too. Louise 
 attended to all financial matters herself. 
 After the fashion of that day, the people 
 about the English Court were in the habit 
 of placing their moneys in funds abroad, 
 and she had savings to dispose of in this 
 manner. 
 
 This shows that her great wealth was not 
 entirely scattered in prodigality and gambling, 
 but with a Frenchwoman's thrift she was 
 amassing for the future. 
 
 Her triumphs were not only reserved for 
 France, nor did they end there. On her 
 return to London she was received with a 
 consideration she had never had before, the 
 Duke of York, who had often slighted her, 
 now sought her society on every possible 
 occasion. The homage shown her by Louis 
 
1682] DUTCH AMBASSADOR 185 
 
 XIV. made her an object of paramount 
 importance. She had left Paris with his 
 entire approbation and full confidence, as- 
 suring her he would never again have any 
 suspicions regarding her acts, but would rest 
 certain that they were always founded on 
 measures most likely to serve his interest. 
 No wonder a woman, with such a testimony 
 from the King of France, and such a backing 
 as the favour of the Grand Monarque, was 
 a power in the land. Who indeed would 
 now be bold enough to flout her who was the 
 intimate friend of two sovereigns. 
 
 When Vanbeuninghen, the Dutch am- 
 bassador, ventured to propagate scandalous 
 stories about the Duchess of Portsmouth to 
 Barrillon, he found to his cost that he had 
 much exceeded his duties in passing any 
 remarks upon her at all. The Duchess com- 
 plained at once to Charles, and the Sieur 
 Vanbeuninghen was obliged to come in 
 person and offer her the most abject 
 apologies. Even the Queen stood by her 
 and resented any rudeness shown to Louise. 
 
186 QUEEN APPRECIATES LOUISE 
 
 After long years she had grown used to her 
 presence, and perhaps appreciated the gentle 
 and kind behaviour of Louise towards her- 
 self. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 GRAND PRIOR OF FRANCE 
 
 A NEPHEW of the Duchesse Mazarin, Philippe 
 de Vendome, Grand Prior of France, came to 
 London in 1683. He was the son of her 
 sister, Laura Mancini, who married the Due 
 de Mercoeur, who was second son of the Due 
 de Vendome. 
 
 He was therefore the grandson of Henri 
 IV. and his beautiful mistress, GabrieUe 
 d'Estrees, and his place at Court was assured, 
 as had been that of his father before him, the 
 Royal bastards taking rank after the Princes 
 of the Blood. 
 
 He was a handsome witty debauchee, who 
 used to pride himself on never having gone 
 to bed sober for thirty years. 
 
 He was, however, quite young when he 
 
 (187) 
 
188 CHARLES' JEALOUSY 
 
 came to England, and was received with 
 much favour by the Duchess of Portsmouth. 
 
 The Court was on the qui vive, and Charles 
 became extremely jealous. " Great clouds 
 have arisen," wiites Barrillon to the King. 
 " King Charles openly shows his annoyance." 
 
 The friends of the Duchess became uneasy, 
 and thought she was pushing the matter too 
 far. Lord Sunderland feared great evil might 
 arise from it. Sir John Reresby spread the 
 reports abroad, although probably he was 
 not the only offender, but any way he left 
 the record of the incident to posterity in his 
 writings. 
 
 The rumours did not affect Louis XIV. 
 He continued to write letters to Louise in his 
 own hand, and at that time sent M. Tilladet, 
 Captain of the Cent-Suisses, on a mission to 
 King Charles, with special instructions to pay 
 every attention to the Duchess. Lord Sun- 
 derland entertained the Grand Prior at 
 dinner, and tried to draw attention from his 
 intimacy with the Duchess. 
 
 But nothing would restore the serenity of 
 Charles. 
 
1683] GRAND PRIOR SENT AWAY 189 
 
 He did not dare to openly reproach the 
 Duchess, for he was more than ever under 
 the yoke of her fascinations, but he vented his 
 wrath on the luckless Grand Prior, and 
 ordered Lord Sunderland to privately pre- 
 vent him from visiting the Duchess. 
 
 This he refrained from doing for five or six 
 days ; when he began to renew his visits 
 Charles was furious, sent word that if he was 
 not out of the country within twenty-four 
 hours he would repent it, and called him a 
 liar, a swindler and a thief ! 
 
 Barrillon tried to persuade the Grand Prior 
 to leave without further scandal, but he re- 
 fused to Usten. His orders were from his 
 own master, Louis XIV., and he gave it as 
 his reason that he could not leave England 
 till he had received his orders to do so. 
 
 When Charles sent him more threatening 
 messages, he proposed retiring to the country, 
 but leave the kingdom he would not. Barrillon 
 declared that he had written and received 
 compromising letters from the Duchess, and 
 that she was as anxious as every one else to 
 see him depart. 
 
190 KING'S TENDERNESS TO LOUISE 
 
 In the end Louis XIV. came to her assist- 
 ance, and ordered the Due de Vendome to 
 write to his brother that he was to return 
 immediately to France. This order he ap- 
 parently disobeyed, as he repaired to the 
 Hague and remained there till Louis sent 
 him a positive command to return to Ver- 
 sailles, and wrote himself to inform Louise 
 that he had done so, and that she need not 
 fear any further annoyance. 
 
 People at that time tried to make out that 
 Charles' love for the Duchess was subsiding, 
 and that her influence was waning. The 
 King's jealousy of the Grand Prior rather 
 proves the contrary, and it was after this 
 episode that he redoubled his attentions 
 towards her. 
 
 He even went so far as to kiss her in public, 
 a thing he never did. Doubtless he took 
 this way to deny the allegations that had 
 been made against him. 
 
 He also had a medal struck in commemora- 
 tion — of what it is hard to say ! 
 
 Bishop Burnet in his history said that 
 he had bought one in a goldsmith's shop. 
 
1683] MARRIAGE OF ANNE 191 
 
 But after this exhibition of tenderness the 
 King thought better of it, and all the medals 
 were recalled. 
 
 During this latter period of his reign, 
 Charles II. received 5,000,000 francs a 
 year from Louis XIV. The receipts were 
 signed by Rochester, brother-in-law of the 
 Duke of York. The latter, Rochester, and 
 the Duchess of Portsmouth were the only 
 persons cognisant of this transaction. Louise 
 was now the chief adviser of the httle coterie 
 who ruled the lethargic King of England. 
 When James was occupied in arranging 
 a marriage for his second daughter Anne, 
 he consulted the Duchess of Portsmouth 
 as to whether she thought Prince George 
 of Denmark was a wise choice, and what 
 was Louis XIV. 's opinion on the subject. 
 He also begged her to send a portrait of 
 Princess Anne to Copenhagen. This she 
 did, and received in return a present of 
 the King of Denmark's picture set with 
 large and valuable diamonds ; the crowned 
 heads seemed determined to pay homage 
 to the Duchess whom the King of England 
 
192 EMBASSY FROM MOROCCO 
 
 delighted to honour. It was in her rooms 
 at Whitehall that the ambassadors from 
 Morocco were received and entertained. 
 She was surrounded by a bevy of beauties 
 sparlding in diamonds, ^ and among these 
 houris the Eastern envoys were offered 
 refi-eshments, to the strains of music, and 
 surrounded by the attentions of the Court. 
 Having come from that of a Sultan, such 
 a reception must, though of an astonishing 
 nature to an oriental, have seemed a usual 
 proceeding. From Louis, the Duchess daily 
 received marks of favour and consideration. 
 One day an alarm was raised, the French 
 fleet having arrived in the Channel under 
 the command of the Marquis de Preuilly, 
 without any notice having been sent to 
 the King of England, which was a great 
 want of respect towards him and the nation. 
 It was only to Louise that word had been 
 sent of Louis' intention, and she hastened 
 to Charles to reassure him that it was with 
 no hostile intent, or want of confidence, and 
 
 1 *' Cattell of that sort as splendid as jewels and 
 excesse of bravery could make them. " — Evelyn's Diarj/. 
 
1683] BARRILLON SENT FOR 193 
 
 also to point out to him that it was unwise 
 
 to show any astonishment at the proceeding, 
 
 for to the world at large it was prudent to 
 
 appear always to be acting in concert with 
 
 Louis, otherwise his enemies would say that 
 
 the aUiance was not a real one. As to 
 
 Barrillon, he treated her as his colleague, and 
 
 once, when some matter of importance was 
 
 under consideration, and she asked him 
 
 whether his master would not send a special 
 
 envoy to London, he replied : " You and 1 
 
 are sufficient here to do all that is necessary. 
 
 Ambassadors do not ask for others to be sent 
 
 to do their work." But sometimes Barrillon 
 
 was less complacent, and revolted against her 
 
 orders and desires. Once Charles sent for 
 
 Barrillon into his private room, and after 
 
 having informed him that the two persons 
 
 he loved best in the world were the Duchess 
 
 of Portsmouth and her son the Duke of 
 
 Richmond, he told him that he desired him 
 
 to write to King Louis and ask him to ensure 
 
 that the ducal title and estates of d'Aubigny 
 
 should be secured upon her son Charles 
 
 Lennox, which had not been yet done. 
 
 13 
 
194 LOUISE SERIOUSLY ILL 
 
 Seeing the Duchess' hand in this fresh move, 
 Barrillon waxed indignant. " Has she not 
 aU the honours of a French Duchess," he 
 said, "without a new mark of favour." 
 However, he need not have raised objections. 
 He was obhged to send on King Charles' 
 request, and Louis granted it at once. " I 
 have given orders," the King rephed, "to 
 have the letters patent of the Duchy made 
 out to her and her heirs, and they shall be 
 conveyed to you without loss of time."^ 
 
 Louise had only to ask, and to have. She 
 was, for the moment, the veritable ruler of 
 England, and her power none could gainsay. 
 She fell rather seriously ill about that time, 
 and all affairs were in abeyance, and Charles 
 hardly ever left her room. Instead of lessen- 
 ing her influence it did but increase it. 
 
 The much-harassed Barrillon wi'ote once 
 
 1 Le Roi a Barrillon, l683. '^ Louis XIV. signa des 
 lettres de neuralite en faveur de son bien cher, et bien 
 aime cousin le prince Charles de Lennox, due de Richmond 
 pour jouir amsi que sa mere des privileges, franchises, 
 et liberte, dont jouissent les gentils hommes de notie 
 royaume." — Enregistrees de Janvier, l684. Affaires 
 Etrangeres. 
 
1683] HINT TO LOUISE 195 
 
 more to his master that the Duchess' illness 
 had caused fresh troubles. One night she 
 was so seriously ill, they thought the end had 
 come, '' and in case," he wrote, " I was con- 
 sulted as to what steps could be taken to 
 put her son the Duke of Richmond in posses- 
 sion of her property, foreigners being unable 
 to inherit property in France ". 
 
 This was a hint to King Louis not to 
 interfere with the arrangements made with 
 so much care by Courtin, to prevent the lands 
 of d'Aubigny eventually falling into the 
 hands of an Enghshman. 
 
 But for some reason Louis would not pay 
 any heed to this warning, and he signed 
 letters of naturalisation whereby his beloved 
 cousin. Prince Charles Lennox, Duke of 
 Richmond, should enjoy "the privileges, 
 franchise and liberties that are the rights of 
 the gentlemen of our kingdom"/ Nothing 
 therefore could be done to prevent him, and 
 Barrillon must have shrugged his shoulders 
 and have thought how useless it was to 
 
 1 Registered; 22nd January, l685. 
 
196 DEATH OF EARL PEMBROKE 
 
 interfere where a beautiful and clever woman 
 was concerned. 
 
 The death of the Earl of Pembroke in 1683 
 was a great relief to Louise, as well as to 
 Henriette, who was at last released from her 
 unfortunate union, and considering the life 
 she had led with him, she had no cause for 
 regi'et. 
 
 She thought fit, however, to make a great 
 parade of her state of widowhood, even to 
 sending to Paris for gloves perfumed with 
 violets and hyacinths, in token of mourning, 
 while her garters were of an elaborate style, 
 black with dull silver ornaments. She seemed 
 to have an insatiable love of the most extra- 
 vagant and unnecessary details of the toilette. 
 To spend money was her delight. She had, 
 however managed, in spite of her extra- 
 vagance, or perhaps because of it, to amass 
 an extraordinary amount of treasure. After 
 that she had settled her affairs, she determined 
 to leave England. Her child, being a girl, 
 was of no interest to the Pembroke family. 
 The Earl was succeeded by his brother, and 
 the widowed Countess was obliged to remove 
 
1684] HENRIETTE'S VALUABLES 197 
 
 herself and her possessions from Wilton. 
 There is no mention made of the little Lady- 
 Charlotte, but we may conclude she did not 
 accompany her mother to Paris. Being a 
 ward in Chancery she could not leave the 
 country, and must have remained in all prob- 
 abihty in the charge of her aunt. Later in 
 her life, her relative, the all-powerful Duchess, 
 interested herself in her welfare ; but if no 
 mention is made of the daughter, there is an 
 exhaustive inventory of the possessions of the 
 widowed Countess, which proves that she did 
 not leave empty handed. She was obliged to 
 charter several ships to convey her valuables to 
 her native land. In the first of these vessels 
 she sent cases full of rich silks, Indian em- 
 broideries, cloth of silver, and bales of Welsh 
 woollen goods which could not be purchased 
 in France ; also boxes of other articles of 
 English manufacture, such as pins and needles, 
 100 lb. of wax candles and 500 lb. of scented 
 powder. From this one may suppose that 
 these were considered useful articles not to 
 be procured abroad. Another boat was laden 
 with yet more stores of flannel, enormous 
 
198 FURNITURE AND JEWELS 
 
 quantities of coffee, sugar, chocolate, raisins, 
 pepper, spices, soap and more candles. The 
 list reads as if the supply was needed to 
 furnish a shop, and not for the wants of a 
 private individual. Whether economy was 
 her motive the chronicle does not say. She 
 had, moreover, an enormous quantity of 
 plate. Dozens of basins, trays and plates in 
 solid silver, besides candelabra, dishes, candle- 
 sticks. Her bed draped with crimson Genoa 
 velvet, lined with white satin and trimmed 
 with point lace, with a magnificent cabinet, 
 and heaps of fine tapestry, was another con- 
 signment. Furniture of a more ordinary 
 nature even to cooking pots, carriages and 
 harness, completed the spoils. Her jewels 
 were also magnificent. She had a pearl 
 necklace worth 20,000 livres, a miniature of 
 King Charles set in diamonds worth 2,000 
 livres, earrings and pendant, and magnificent 
 toilette set in silver. 
 
 The little homely-featured Breton had 
 blossomed out into a very fine lady indeed, 
 and returned to France with a splendour 
 that she had certainly not brought with her 
 
1684] LEAVES ENGLAND 199 
 
 from that country. She had evidently re- 
 mained always on the most affectionate and 
 sisterly terms with the Duchess, who probably 
 regretted her departure. Doubtless much of 
 the wealth Henriette had amassed had been 
 gifts lavished on her by her sister and by 
 King Charles. 
 
 She was evidently not a woman of much 
 character or talent, and cared only for her own 
 pleasures ; otherwise she would have hardly 
 abandoned her only child, but would have 
 sacrificed her own inclinations to bring up her 
 daughter as her rank befitted among her 
 father's people. 
 
 All that Henriette wanted, however, was 
 to lead a gay Ufe in Paris. England had no 
 charms for her, which is perhaps not sur- 
 prising, and for which she cannot be blamed ; 
 but her responsibilities evidently sat lightly on 
 her shoulders, and she departed with every 
 intention of disassociating herself for ever 
 with her husband's country and people. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 JUDGE JEFFREYS 
 
 One of Louise's firm friends was the Chief 
 Justice Lord Jeffreys, whose name has gone 
 down to posterity with loathing, on account of 
 his brutal cruelty at the time of the Monmouth 
 RebeUion. His judicial tour through the 
 Western Counties has been called ever since 
 the "Bloody Circuit". 
 
 The man to whom this stigma of atrocious 
 cruelty was in after years no doubt very 
 rightly attached, was a very clever lawyer. 
 He came of an old Denbighshire family, and 
 was born at Acton Park, near Wrexham. He 
 was one of a large family, the fourth son, and 
 he was sent to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 
 1662. It has often been supposed that he 
 was of humble birth, a mere adventurer who 
 had risen to rank and power, but this was far 
 
 firom being the case. He was a student of the 
 
 (200) 
 
I'oRTRAir Ul FIRST EARON JtFFREVS 
 
 To face pa^je 200 
 
1684] CALLED TO THE BAR 201 
 
 Inner Temple in the seventeenth century, a 
 merry hfe for the most part, and his beauty 
 must have been no mean factor in his after- 
 success. He was very handsome, as his por- 
 trait testifies, with well-formed features and 
 large eyes. He was called to the Bar in 1668, 
 and in 1671 was elected Common Sergeant 
 of the City of London. Rapid promotion 
 indeed, but his abilities must have been excep- 
 tional, as from a letter preserved we learn that 
 he was considered worthy of being employed 
 in very important work.^ 
 
 Being a confidential agent of the Crown, 
 it is easy to understand that he was made 
 welcome at Court, and through Sir Richard 
 Browne, the friend of her parents, he got to 
 know the Duchess of Portsmouth. It was 
 said she had a penchant for witty members of 
 
 ^ Letter to Sir Richard Browne, Clerk of the Council : — 
 
 "Sir, 
 
 " I have caused diligent search to be made from 
 the beginning of I668 till this time, and you may be 
 assured there is none. Fear not. Keep all things close. 
 Excuse haste, and the rudeness of this address made by 
 
 " Your most faithful servant, 
 
 " George Jeffreys." 
 
202 JEFFREYS' MARRIAGE 
 
 the Bar, for in spite of her still infantile air, 
 she was a shrewd and clever woman. 
 
 He may have been an miscrupulous lawyer, 
 he probably was not easily turned from his 
 purpose, but with the curious two-sidedness of 
 most characters, he had shown himself capable 
 of a kind and generous action. 
 
 His marriage was a proof of this. Being a 
 poor and struggling lawyer, with httle chance 
 of success, in spite of liis undoubted talents, 
 he determined to push his way in the world 
 by making a rich marriage, and laid siege to 
 an heiress, who was willing to hsten to his suit. 
 Her father, however, had other views for 
 his daughter. When he heard of her secret 
 meetings with the penniless barrister he was 
 furious, and not only forbade him the house, 
 but turned his daughter's companion into the 
 street for having acted as go-between for the 
 lovers. 
 
 This girl, whose name was Sarah Neesham, 
 was the daughter of a poor clergyman. She 
 had neither money nor beauty, and found her- 
 self alone and adrift in the world. 
 
1684] LOUISE HIS PATRON 203 
 
 In a fit of generosity, knowing that by the 
 use they had made of her they had utterly 
 ruined her prospects, Jeffreys married the lowly 
 companion, 22nd May, 1667, at the church of 
 AU Hallows, Barking. 
 
 Whether the marriage was a happy one or 
 not, the lady Uved to enjoy her husband's suc- 
 cess, and bore him four sons and two daughters. 
 
 The Duchess of Portsmouth had been one 
 of his earhest patrons, and for her he always 
 had a great regard, and in 1672, thanks to the 
 friendship of the Duchess, he was placed on 
 an intimate footing with the agents of the 
 Crown. 
 
 The clever Jeffreys was an agreeable variety 
 on the Court gallants. Of course he was at 
 once credited with being the Duchess' lover, 
 but it is beheved that their intimacy was purely 
 platonic. If all the poUticians and peers said 
 to have obtained her favours had really been 
 her lovers, she must have changed her admirers 
 pretty often, and Jeffreys was only one more 
 name added to the long list that scandal as- 
 signed to her. In 1673 Danby was not above 
 
204 ENTERTAINED ROYALTY 
 
 making use of the Duchess' handsome protege, 
 as his pohcy greatly rested on a system of 
 bribery and espionage. In 1677 Jeffreys was 
 appointed SoUcitor- General to the Duke of 
 York, and received the honour first of knight- 
 hood and then of a peerage. It was thus that 
 he first came under the notice of James. His 
 sprightly talents impressed the rather morose 
 and heavy Duke. 
 
 It did not take long for a man of such ex- 
 cellent parts, and favoured as he was, to come 
 prominently before the world, and to be a 
 leading member of society. When it was 
 known that he entertained royalty, the time- 
 servers sought him eagerly. Charles announced 
 one day in August, 1678, that he and the 
 Duchess would do themselves the pleasure of 
 dining with the new knight. By that time he 
 was living in a fuie house in Queen Street, 
 Westminster, in good style, or such a command 
 would not have been possible. Sir George was 
 a widower at that period. He received his 
 royal guests with aU the honours due to both 
 
 • 
 
 of them, and the utmost cordiality prevailed, 
 
1684] HIS RE-MARRIAGE 205 
 
 the Duchess graciously accepting her friend's 
 hospitaUty. It is said that Charles drank to 
 his host seven times, which the latter returned 
 with every demonstration of devotion. He 
 married again soon after this, Lady Jones, the 
 buxom widow of a Welsh knight. 
 
 After the fall of Danby, Jeffreys found means 
 of making himself useful to the Earl of Lauder- 
 dale, who was favoured by the Duchess. In 
 1684, as he was by now Lord Chief Justice, 
 he started on the Western Circuit, and visited 
 for the first time that portion of the country 
 notorious the following year for the Bloody 
 Assizes. On his return, when he appeared at 
 Court, Charles, who was holding an audience 
 surrounded by his courtiers, drew from his 
 own finger a diamond ring, and with many 
 flattering expressions presented it to the Lord 
 Chief Justice in gracious approval of his 
 services. 
 
 Those looking on, many possibly with envy 
 in their hearts, can httle have thought that 
 this highly favoured individual would die a 
 hunted fugitive in a few short years, execrated 
 by all. 
 
206 THE HISTORIAN LETl 
 
 But it was not Louise alone who courted 
 the society of the clever and inteUigent. 
 Charles enjoyed their company quite as much 
 in his own way. He delighted in learned 
 foreigners, and among others whom he 
 honoured was a native of Milan, an historian 
 named Leti. One day the King said to him : 
 " I hear, Leti, that you are writing the history 
 of the Court of England ". 
 
 Leti admitted that he was collecting 
 material for such a work. 
 
 " You must take care," said Charles, " lest 
 your words give any offence." 
 
 " Sire," replied Leti, " I will do what I 
 can ; but if a man were as wise as Solomon, he 
 would scarce be able to avoid offending some 
 one." 
 
 " Why, then," answered the King, with his 
 usual quickness, "be as wise as Solomon, and 
 write proverbs not histories ! " 
 
 We have the authority of Lord Keeper 
 Guildford that Charles was better acquainted 
 with the foreign policy of his time than all his 
 mmisters put together, and whether drunk 
 or sober, made a point of conversing with 
 
1684] THE POET DRYDEN 207 
 
 every eminent foreigner who came to Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Evelyn, who was a well-educated, inteUigent 
 gentleman, affirms that King Charles' know- 
 ledge if not deep was various and improving. 
 It is well known that in shipbuilding and 
 naval affairs he took the greatest interest. 
 
 An Order in Council, 8th May, 1677, dis- 
 plays his solicitude to induce famiUes of con- 
 sideration to bring up their sons in the Royal 
 Navy, and he was pleased to maintain at his 
 own charge several sons of gentlemen as 
 naval volunteers. 
 
 He also loved music and poetry, while 
 theatricals were his passion. 
 
 He said one day to Dryden : " If I were a 
 poet, and I think I am poor enough to be a 
 poet, I would write a poem on such and such 
 a subject ". 
 
 Dryden took the hint, and carried out the 
 King's idea. 
 
 Charles is said to have been himself a poet, 
 and if, as Sir John Hawkins affirms, and as 
 Horace Walpole thinks probable, he wrote 
 some verses which are given below, he had 
 
208 POEM BY KING CHARLES 
 
 some claim to merit as a lyiic poet. But 
 there is of course no proof of their authorship.^ 
 
 I pass all my hours in a shady old grove. 
 But I live not the day when I see not my love. 
 I survey every walk, now my Phillis is gone. 
 And sigh when I think we were there all alone. 
 Oh ! then 'tis I think there's no hell 
 
 Like loving too well. 
 
 But each shade, and each conscious bower where I find 
 Where I once have been happy, and she has been kind, 
 When I see the print left of her shape on the green 
 And imagine the pleasure may yet come again. 
 Oh ! then 'tis I think that no joys are above 
 
 The pleasures of love. 
 
 While alone to myself I repeat all her charms, 
 She I love may be locked in another man's arms. 
 She may laugh at my cares, and so false she may be 
 To say all the kind things she said before me. 
 Oh ! then, 'tis oh then that I think there's no hell 
 
 Like loving too well. 
 
 But when I consider the truth of her heart — 
 Such an innocent person so kind without art, 
 I fear I have wronged her, and hope she may be 
 So full of true love to be jealous of me. 
 Oh ! then 'tis I think that no joys are above 
 
 The pleasures of love. 
 
 1 From England Under the Stuarts, by J. H. Jesse. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE EXCLUSION BILL 
 
 Great had been the contest that raged in 
 ParUament while what was called the Ex- 
 clusion Bill was going on. The Lords first 
 threw it out, and Lord Hahfax pressed for 
 limitations, one being that the Duke of York 
 should Uve 500 miles from England during 
 King Charles' Hfetime, but that was not carried. 
 The truth was the leading men thought they 
 were secure of the nation, and of all further 
 elections, as long as popery was in view. 
 
 The Duke of York was daily becoming 
 more unpopular. His popish marriage with 
 Mary of Modena had alarmed the country, as 
 it was beheved to be the tottering of the 
 national rehgion. His position, as weU as that 
 of the Duchess of Portsmouth, became pre- 
 carious. The latter, as has been said, played 
 
 (209) 14 
 
210 MONMOUTH'S MOTHER 
 
 a little at being in favour of the Monmouth 
 party, and James was advised to retire to 
 Flanders tiU the storm was over. 
 
 This did not please him at aU, as if he had 
 to go anywhere abroad he preferred France ; 
 but this was not considered pohcy for the 
 moment. 
 
 The Duke of York being absent, the Pro- 
 testant party raised a new debate, by the sup- 
 posed discovery of documents purporting to 
 prove the legitimacy of Monmouth. 
 
 Although he had passed all his life as the 
 natural son of King Charles, and his mother, 
 who should according to this have been 
 Queen, was a Welsh girl of no family, the 
 people preferred to see him raised to the posi- 
 tion of heir to the throne, rather than see his 
 papist uncle in that position. 
 
 During James' absence Monmouth thought 
 he had it all his own way, for his father had 
 always been fond of him ; besides Charles 
 always appeared to side with the person with 
 him at the time. Not that he was really any- 
 thing hke so weak as people made out. Now 
 that the Exclusion Bill was claiming the at- 
 
1684] KING OPPOSES BILL 211 
 
 tention of all, the King was forcibly obliged 
 to declare himself one way or the other. 
 
 The Duchess of Portsmouth did not openly 
 side with the House of Commons. Her 
 behaviour at that time was unaccountable, 
 but after-events threw some light on the 
 matter. The courtesy shown to her by James 
 in later times looked as if he had some deep 
 debt of gratitude to acknowledge towards her. 
 
 Some thought she was set as a decoy, to 
 keep the party up to the Exclusion Bill. It 
 was rumoured that the Duke wrote her very 
 unpleasant letters, and looked upon her and 
 the Cabal she favoured as being the most 
 dangerous enemies he had. 
 
 Her foes tried to tempt her by proposing a 
 clause that the King might declare his own 
 successor, as was done by Henry VIII., in 
 which case there was no reason why her son, 
 the Duke of Richmond, should not be selected. 
 The Duchess was accused of intriguing with 
 the Exclusionists, and it was said at one time 
 she got the King to agree to the Bill, pro- 
 vided she got £800,000. Bishop Burnet 
 mentions this, and his statements are much 
 
212 SUPPORTS JAMES' INTERESTS 
 
 quoted by Macaulay in his brilliant history of 
 England. On the other side there are many 
 who affirm that Burnet was a prejudiced and 
 far from truthful writer. 
 
 We can hardly beUeve that the King would 
 have been capable of such double dealing as 
 to assure the Duke of York that the Duchess 
 apparently favoured the Exclusion party at his 
 express wish as a blind. He openly opposed 
 the Bill, and supported the interests of his 
 brother and heir. His two nieces, who would 
 either or both eventually succeed to the 
 Crown, were both Protestants. 
 
 What more could the people want. Charles 
 himself was growing weary of perpetual con- 
 tests. It was less trouble to give way to all 
 Louis' demands ; he had but to listen to the 
 counsels of his beloved Duchess, and put his 
 signature to his cousin's proposals. Whenever 
 the King of France thought his cousin of 
 England was getting restive or masterful, he 
 made some fresh suggestion. He got Charles 
 to agi-ee to the French possessing themselves 
 of Luxembourg, and gave £300,000 for the 
 permission to do so. 
 
1684] KING'S DEVOTION 213 
 
 The Duchess of Portsmouth vali^ed herself 
 on this, and called it the last service she did to 
 the Court of France, says the Bishop. 
 
 One thing was very certain, the King's 
 fondness for Louise did but increase ; he used 
 to caress her in pubhc and bestow on her lov- 
 ing attentions such as he had never shown to 
 any one before. Even her enemies had to 
 reluctantly acknowledge this. 
 
 In 1684 Lord HaHfax spoke of the dis- 
 ordered state of the King's revenue, and 
 knew that he created ill-feeling towards him- 
 self in trying to save his master's money. Lord 
 Rochester, upheld by the Duchess, openly 
 opposed him. One day HaUfax told that lady 
 that he did not expect to find many friends on 
 her side of Whitehall. 
 
 She retaliated that plenty who professed to 
 be friends of his did find their way there, 
 but she had the grace to blush at his remarks, 
 for she knew she had persistently worked 
 against him.^ 
 
 However, most people found that it did 
 
 ^ Reresby's Memoirs. 
 
214 HONOURS TO RICHMOND 
 
 not further their interests to go contrary to 
 the powerful Duchess, and in these later days 
 she met with but few rebuffs and many civili- 
 ties. The city of York made choice of the 
 little Duke of Richmond for their High 
 Steward, an honour which pleased her mightily, 
 and upon the receipt of the patent for that 
 office which the city presented the young 
 Duke with, in a gold box, her Grace sent the 
 Lord Mayor a letter of thanks in which she 
 told him that the King was well pleased 
 that the second city in England had made 
 such a choice for that office, and assured him 
 and the Corporation of her utmost services. 
 This gracious condescension came as if from 
 a royal lady. Sir John Reresby, who was 
 Member for York, received this poKteness 
 as if he thoroughly appreciated it. 
 
 " I wrote to Col. Oglethorpe Chief Com- 
 missioner of the Master of the Horse," he 
 writes, " that I desired to acquaint the Duke 
 of Richmond and the Duchess of Portsmouth 
 that I was glad that the place where I had 
 the honour of being concerned had expressed 
 its loyalty by making so good a choice, though 
 
1684] RERESBY'S DIARY 215 
 
 it received a much greater honour than it 
 conferred." 
 
 Sir John was not at all above making use 
 of his influence with Louise, and records in 
 his diary, in much the same style as did 
 Evelyn and Pepys in theirs, his hopes and 
 desires, and the means he took for their ful- 
 filment. 
 
 "Feb. 22, 1684.— I waited on my Lady 
 Portsmouth (her son, Duke of Richmond and 
 Master of the Horse to the King) to desire 
 she would put the King in mind of a former 
 promise to accept my second son Tamworth 
 as Page of Honour. The boy being then 
 twelve, was handsome and of good parts." 
 
 "March 17. — Hearing that the Duchess 
 of Portsmouth had spoken to the King to 
 accept my son as his page, I thanked her for 
 it, and she told me she would present him 
 herself to His Majesty. She invited me the 
 day after to dinner, where His Majesty having 
 already dined before sat with us all the time. 
 The weather was very unseasonable and dirty, 
 and the King advised me to wear stronger 
 shoes, to prevent getting cold, so great was 
 
216 LOUISE'S CIVILITY TO HIM 
 
 his goodness and care for those persons about 
 him, however inconsiderable." 
 
 That Louise was kind also to those about 
 her this story proves, and the intimacy of the 
 little dinner with Charles sitting famiharly 
 beside them, points to a good deal of friendly 
 intercourse. 
 
 So many years had now passed the courtier 
 must have looked upon her as an accustomed 
 fact, and ceased to think of her anomalous 
 position. Sir John Reresby was glad to take 
 his wife to call upon the Duchess, and still 
 more glad when she invited his wife and 
 daughter to dinner, and said kind things to 
 them. This was m May, on the occasion of 
 the Court being at Windsor for the King's- 
 birthday, and she further told Sir John, that 
 whenever he had reason to come to Windsor, 
 she desired him " to make her table his own ". 
 
 One of the King's accomplishments was the 
 art of telling stories, and Sheffield, Duke of 
 Buckingham, said he could with pleasure listen 
 to them, although he had heard them perhaps 
 five or six times before, as they were invariably 
 retouched and embellished. Burnet with his 
 
1684] ART OF STORY TELLING 217 
 
 usual maKce, observes that the courtiers grew 
 so tired of the King's stories that though he 
 might have commenced them in a crowded 
 room, it was generally nearly empty when he 
 had concluded them. This on the face of it, 
 is obviously untrue, whatever their real feel- 
 ings may have been. 
 
 Rochester said he wondered how a person 
 possessed of such a good memory as Charles 
 should have so bad a one as to forget that he 
 had told the same story abeady to the same 
 company only the day before. However, 
 others affirm that the King had a large stock 
 of anecdotes, and his talent in relating them 
 was no mean one. 
 
 The enemies of Charles have denied to him 
 every sense of rectitude in theu' sweeping 
 charges of profligacy, indolence and ingrati- 
 tude, but Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, 
 already quoted, stands up for him. " Surely," 
 he says, " he was inchned to justice, for nothing 
 else would have retained him so fast to the 
 succession of a brother against a son he was 
 so fond of." 
 
 "James will not keep the Crown," said 
 
218 WITTY REMARK 
 
 Charles on one occasion, " but at least let him 
 forfeit it by his own ill-conduct. I will not cut 
 him off from the succession." Which remark 
 shows a good deal of good feehng. He knew 
 that he was often misunderstood. " They think 
 I have a mind for a new wife," he said at the 
 time of the Popish Plot ; " but for all that, I 
 will not see an innocent woman persecuted." 
 It was wittily observed by the Duke of 
 Buckingham that " Charles could have been a 
 great king if he would, and that James would 
 have been if he could,'' which remark really 
 sums up their characters. " Had King Charles 
 but loved business as well as he understood it, 
 he would have been the greatest prince in 
 Europe," was another saying,^ showing that his 
 subjects were not vrithout appreciation of his 
 talents. 
 
 1 Sir Richard Bulstrode. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 LAST ILLNESS OF CHARLES 11 
 
 And now the time was drawing near which 
 brought to an abrupt conclusion the briUiant 
 career of the Duchess of Portsmouth. Those 
 about the Court thought that the King was 
 not in good health. He was not old, only 
 fifty-five years of age, but he had become 
 strangely lethargic. He was in the habit when 
 visiting the Duchess to fall asleep for hours in 
 his favourite chair in her room. He was aged 
 before his time from a life of sensuality and 
 self-indulgence. Still no one anticipated that 
 the end would come with the suddenness that 
 it did. He had certainly been troubled with 
 gout all the winter, but that seemed no reason 
 for alarm. He still held his crowded Courts 
 at Whitehall, and would sit surrounded by a 
 bevy of ladies, each vieing with the others in 
 
 the splendour of their dress and jewels. 
 
 (219) 
 
220 KING SEIZED WITH A FIT 
 
 The gaming tables were set out as usual for 
 basset, and piles of gold glittered under the 
 briUiant lights of a thousand wax candles, while 
 slender fingers eagerly grasped the coins ; and 
 the men betted and gambled, while the strains 
 of the band accompanied the laughter and 
 merriment. 
 
 But it was remarked that the King often 
 looked weary and worn, and retired earlier. 
 On Sunday, 1st February, 1685, he seemed 
 ailing, ate very little and came at night to the 
 Duchess of Portsmouth's rooms and asked for 
 some spoon meat. He had an unquiet feverish 
 night, and the following morning, when his 
 physician Dr. King came in to see him, his 
 speech was thick. Lord Peterborough, who 
 was in waiting, said that His Majesty was in 
 a strange humour. While they stood by the 
 bedside the King was seized with a fit. 
 
 A great confusion at once prevailed. The 
 rest of the Court physicians and the Duke of 
 York were immediately summoned. The news 
 was spread abroad at once and received with 
 every expression of sorrow in the Metropolis 
 over which a great gloom was cast. 
 
1685] PALACE IN A TUMULT 221 
 
 In the sick-room everything was tried in turn, 
 with but Httle or no satisfactory result. Bleed- 
 ing, that favourite remedy, was resorted to 
 without loss of time, and bUsters apphed to 
 his extremities. Emetics, hot irons, even to 
 the opening of the jugular vein, were the rough 
 and drastic surgery j deemed fitting to the 
 occasion, but through it all he remained sense- 
 less, with his features distorted out of all re- 
 cognition. 
 
 The Palace was in a tumult. The Queen 
 gave loud expressions to her grief. The 
 Bishops hurried to the bedside of the dying 
 monarch, while the frightened attendants 
 rushed helplessly about. Only the Duke of 
 York remained coldly tranquil, sending at once 
 for the ministers and giving instructions as to 
 his own succession. All felt that the King was 
 doomed, and each began to prepare for his or 
 her own future. One person showed very real 
 feeling, and this was the Duchess of Ports- 
 mouth. On the second day after the seizure 
 she sent for Barrillon ; he found her in her 
 dressing-room, away from her gorgeous saloons 
 and rich decorations, with reddened eyelids 
 
222 LOUISE SENDS FOR BARRILLON 
 
 and disordered dress. " Monsieur," she ex- 
 claimed, as soon as he entered her presence, " I 
 have a great secret to confide in you, but I 
 dare not breathe it to any one else. The King 
 of England at this moment on his dying bed 
 is surrounded by prelates of the Church of this 
 country, but at heart he is a CathoUc, and has 
 no comfort in the Protestant faith. No one 
 tells him of his dangerous condition or speaks 
 to him of his God. I cannot with decency 
 enter his room, as the Queen is there most of 
 the time, otherwise he would Usten to me. 
 The Duke of York is entirely occupied with 
 his own affairs, and does not trouble himself 
 about his brother's conscience. Yet go to him, 
 I implore you, he is of the same faith, and beg 
 him at least to save the soul of the King."^ 
 
 In that supreme hour Louise had no 
 thought save for the man she loved. She 
 had too much good taste to force herself into 
 the Queen's presence, although she must have 
 
 1 Barrillon's Le^/er.y. Aff allies Eirangeres, vo\. 154. Ex- 
 tracts from these letters were published by Fox beginning 
 in l684. See Hiatory of the Reign of James II., by Right 
 Hon. C. J. Fox. 
 
1685] BISHOPS IN ATTENDANCE 223 
 
 known that royal lady would have opposed 
 nothing, but rendered every assistance in this 
 matter which also lay nearest to her heart. 
 Louise knew that he was surrounded by the 
 prelates of the Church. 
 
 The Bishops of London, Durham, Ely and 
 Wells were in attendance. One slept by 
 turns in the King's chamber. The Bishop of 
 Bath and Wells had told the King of his 
 danger, and the air of resignation with which 
 the announcement was received encouraged 
 him to read the office for the visitation of the 
 sick. He then asked if he might administer 
 the sacrament. The King took no notice. 
 Bishop Kenn asked again, and Charles 
 answered in a low voice, "there was time 
 enough ". 
 
 The Bishop prepared the elements, but all 
 he could get from the dying man was, "he 
 would think of it ".^ 
 
 All these details filtered through from the 
 sick chamber to the world outside. The 
 French ambassador fully understood the 
 urgency of the case. He needed no second 
 
 1 History of England, by Lengard, vol. x. 
 
224 ROMISH PRIEST 
 
 bidding, but flew to the Duke of York with 
 Louise's message, and rousing him from his in- 
 difference, insisted that not a moment should 
 be lost. 
 
 Barrillon's persistency won the day. James 
 consented to a Romish priest being brought. 
 Hudleston was selected. He had waited on 
 the King at the Battle of Worcester, and 
 seemed a suitable person to attend his dying 
 bed. Chiffinch ^ was the messenger who con- 
 ducted the priest secretly into the King's 
 chamber, and James, leading him to the bed- 
 side, introduced him to Charles with these 
 words : — 
 
 " Sir, this worthy man once saved your life? 
 he now comes to save your soul." 
 
 Charles wished all to leave the room, which 
 was done with the exception of the Earl of 
 Bath, who was Lord of the Bedchamber, and 
 the Earl of Feversham, Captain of the Guard.^ 
 
 1 A Page of the Back Stair. 
 
 2 Barrillon says the attendants in the room amounted to 
 more than twenty. 
 
 Fraser says that there were five Bishops, twenty-five 
 Lords and Privy Councillors, and that in the room sat four 
 
1685] CHARLES' DEATH 225 
 
 Be that as it may, the company had to re- 
 tire, and Charles received the last rites and 
 sacraments of the Church of which he had for 
 long been a secret member. If the English 
 Bishops had any idea of what was going on in 
 the sick-room, they were powerless to prevent 
 it. If it was true that they had retired to the 
 antechamber, the presence of two Protestant 
 Peers may have reassured them. 
 
 Charles had raUied sufficiently to give his 
 brother aU his last instructions ; among other 
 things he very especially recommended Louise 
 and her son to the protection of the Duke of 
 York. Not once but over and over again the 
 dying man spoke of the woman, whom he de- 
 clared he had always loved, and he loved her 
 to the end.^ 
 
 Yet it is said that he died with the name of 
 Nell Gwynn on his lips ! 
 
 Within an hour of the death of Charles II. 
 the Duke of York, now James II., visited the 
 
 doctors, four Lords of the Council, three Lords of the Bed- 
 chamber, one apothecary, one surgeon, besides servants. — 
 Eraser's History^ p. 584. 
 
 1 Burnet. 
 
 15 
 
226 HIS FAULTS AND QUALITIES 
 
 Duchess of Portsmouth and assured her of 
 his affection and protection. These offers of 
 friendship were not quite so disinterested as 
 might appear, he knew better than to sUght 
 one who could render him that most valuable 
 of services, the renewal of the aUiance with 
 Louis XIV. 
 
 But whatever the motive that prompted 
 him, it must have been balm to the spirit of 
 Louise sorrowing in the soKtude of her room. 
 Her grief was as sincere as it was personal ; 
 she had been deeply attached to Charles 
 from the very beginning, and he undoubtedly 
 had the power of endearing himself to those 
 about him, especially to the women he 
 loved. 
 
 His had been a complex character, full of 
 engaging qualities and many and grievous 
 faults. His wit was not particularly refined 
 nor elevated, but he was always well-bred. 
 He was an easy generous lover, and an obliging 
 husband though not a faithful one, and a 
 most indulgent father. But this panegyric 
 cannot be carried further when his character 
 is regarded as a sovereign, for he was 
 
rOR'IKAir Ol CHARLES II 
 l!y Gk'I-.I'.mni.i. 
 
 To face page 226 
 
1685] HIS RELIGIOUS BELIEFS 227 
 
 negligent and careless of the interests of his 
 country. 
 
 It was reported of him that he never said a 
 foohsh thing and never did a wise one. When 
 he was informed of this saying, he answered 
 laughingly that the matter was easily ac- 
 counted for, as his discourse was his own, and 
 his actions were the Ministry's ! ^ 
 
 There is no doubt he was a slave to women, 
 and tolerated their caprices and submitted to 
 their intrigues in a way unfitted to his high 
 position, and his example in this respect was 
 most pernicious. With regard to religion, 
 some said he was a Deist, others a hypocrite 
 and a secret Papist. 
 
 Both were wrong. Charles never abandoned 
 the beUefs of Christianity, nor was he ever re- 
 conciled to the Church of Rome till the eve of 
 his death. Of his pecuniary transactions with 
 the Eang of France no Englishman can think 
 without shame. 
 
 As to his private life, it is impossible to 
 wash out the stain left on his name. His 
 
 ^ Hume's History of England, 
 
228 HIS ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN 
 
 immorality none can gainsay or excuse. He 
 acknowledged nine illegitimate children.^ 
 
 Whether through friendship, or because he 
 still had further use for her, Louis XIV. 
 hastened to assure the quasi- widowed Duchess 
 of Portsmouth of his continued good feelings 
 towards her, to which she responded with 
 many expressions of gi^atitude, declaring that 
 his kind message was the first thing that had 
 brought her any consolation since the death of 
 his late lamented Majesty. She had no faith 
 in the new King of England, in spite of James' 
 protestations, which were soon put to the proof, 
 when he removed the Duke of Richmond from 
 his post of Master of the Horse. Louise was 
 a tigress where the rights of her son were in- 
 terfered with, and she appealed at once to 
 
 1 The Duke of Monmouth, son of Lucy Walter. 
 Countess of Yarmouth, daughter of Lady Shannon. 
 Duke of Grafton, 
 Duke of Southampton, 
 Earl of Northumberland, 
 Countess of Lichfield, 
 Duke of St. Albans, son of Nell Gywnn. 
 Countess of Derwentwater, daughter of Mary Davies. 
 Duke of Richmond, son of the Duchess of Portsmouth. 
 
 children of the Duchess of 
 Cleveland. 
 
1685] THE NEW KING 229 
 
 Louis, who expressed his surprise at such 
 conduct on the part of James who had faith- 
 fully promised his dying brother to look after 
 the interests of his son. 
 
 The King knew better than to run counter 
 to the French influence ; Louis held the purse- 
 strings and the Duchess had no idea of letting 
 the matter drop. She would be Louis' friend 
 only as long as he protected her and the boy. 
 She admitted that the Duke of Richmond at 
 the age of thirteen was unfit for the duties 
 this post entailed, but she determined it 
 should be made good to him in some other 
 way. 
 
 She made Barrillon write at once to King 
 Louis, which he did without loss of time, 
 the letter being dated 8th March. In it he 
 informed his master that the new King con- 
 stantly visited the Duchess and seemed on 
 the best of terms with her, and for his part 
 he did not believe that she was really alarmed. 
 She was quite wiUing to admit that a child 
 of thirteen was not fitted for the post of 
 Master of the Horse. What she was really 
 pressing for, was to have the revenues granted 
 
230 LOUISE IN DESPERATE STRAITS 
 
 to her by the late King securely settled on her 
 by the present monarch ; and for that reason 
 she begged for the support of Louis XIV. all 
 the more as he had granted to her son the great 
 dignity of being a future Peer of France. 
 
 BarriUon was not the least taken in by the 
 Duchess' representations, no more was Louis. 
 Both these men knew she was fighting for the 
 rank and wealth, especially the wealth, which 
 was slipping from her grasp. The ambassador 
 concluded his letter by saying, that he thought 
 she would be quite satisfied if Louis would 
 assure her a sum of money, sufficient to pay 
 her debts in England, and buy a house in 
 Paris. Louise really was in desperate straits, 
 ready to temporise in every possible way. 
 She promised that her son should become a 
 member of the Church of Rome, and that 
 she was then engaged in carrying out the 
 necessary steps for that object. 
 
 England, moreover, had now become dis- 
 tasteful to her. She who had reigned in a 
 palace had no intention to live as an English 
 lady, with neither position, save her title, nor 
 friends. She knew, none better, that the people 
 
1685] INCOME GRANTED TO HER 231 
 
 hated her, and if her money affairs could be 
 settled to her satisfaction, she determined to 
 retire to France. She laid claim to some 
 property in Ireland, which she declared had 
 been granted to her by Charles, but she could 
 not substantiate her demand. She hinted 
 that unless her son and herself were amply 
 provided for, she would consider that her 
 services had soon been forgotten and over- 
 looked. By her diplomacy, or James' fears, 
 the matter was finally settled amicably. The 
 Duchess was to be assured an income of 
 130,000 francs per annum. She had also the 
 moneys she had already invested in France. 
 Her son was granted £5,000 a year, and she 
 had besides her furniture, plate and jewels, and 
 a sum of £10,000 in gold — a large amount in 
 those days — which had been paid her directly 
 after Charles' death, so that she was now a 
 very wealthy woman. 
 
 Directly after the first Parhament had 
 assembled, the country was thrown into ex- 
 citement by the news of the arrival of the 
 Duke of Monmouth from Holland to claim 
 the throne of England, thinking that the 
 
232 MONMOUTH REBELLION 
 
 people would gladly support the late King's 
 Protestant son. The account of that rebellion, 
 and Monmouth's tragic fate, needs no repetition 
 here. It was just before the departure of the 
 Duchess of Portsmouth, and must have still 
 further inflamed the hatred of England for 
 the Papists. A curious rumour, utterly with- 
 out foundation, was circulated to the eJfFect 
 that the Duke of Monmouth had been exe- 
 cuted in effigy only, and that he had in reality 
 been committed to the charge of the Duchess 
 of Portsmouth who conveyed him to France, 
 where he became the famous Iron Mask ! 
 
 On the Monmouth rebellion and the terrible 
 cruelties inflicted by the Lord Chief Justice 
 Jeffreys it is not necessary to dwell. King 
 James was determined to stamp out the rising 
 at any cost, and he enacted a dreadful venge- 
 ance on the seditious people. His choice fell 
 on Jeffreys for the task, who joined to his 
 natural talents a violent temper and a brutal 
 mind. He and the King formed an unfortun- 
 ate combination at this crisis. 
 
 The judicial murders, the outcome of his 
 jurisdiction, have left his name as a by-word 
 
1685] CRUELTY OF JEFFREYS 233 
 
 for cruelty, but yet in justice to Jeffreys it may 
 be said that as far as his sentences went, they 
 were only what any other judge would have 
 felt bound to pronounce. He may have acted 
 with great brutality of manner in carrying out 
 his unpleasant duty, in some cases he is said 
 not to have inflicted the full penalties sanc- 
 tioned by the law. 
 
 Three hundred and fifty rebels were hanged 
 by his orders ; but what raised even more in- 
 dignation was the brutal treatment of women 
 implicated ever so sHghtly in the rebellion. 
 Age and sex, however, received but httle con- 
 sideration in those days, and in the hands of 
 the law women fared no better than men. 
 But whether Jeffreys acted with unnecessary 
 harshness and greater cruelty than any other 
 of his legal brethren would have done, the fact 
 remains that on him rested the terrible task of 
 quelling the rising in the manner considered 
 right according to the King's orders. No 
 royal favour could ever wipe out the fearful 
 charges brought against the Lord Chief Justice. 
 An outcry was raised in England and it did 
 not easily die out. 
 
234 NEVER FORGOTTEN 
 
 Although over two hundred years have 
 passed, popular history still preserves the 
 memory of the atrocious cruelties enacted, and 
 little else has ever been remembered or re- 
 corded about the great judge.^ 
 
 ^ Long years after, his grand-daughter^ the Countess of 
 Pomfret, when travelling with her children on the Western 
 road in the early portion of the eighteenth century, was 
 hooted, and had stones thrown at her when it became 
 known that she was the grandchild of the infamous judge. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 LOUISE RETURNS TO FRANCE 
 
 Thus ended the second phase in this romantic 
 and eventful hfe-stoiy. As far as history is 
 concerned, Louise de Kdroualle faded from 
 its pages, but nearly fifty years were still be- 
 fore her, and probably some happiness also. 
 Writers affirm that she dissipated her great 
 wealth on many lovers ; that she hved in a 
 circle of admirers and hangers-on is tolerably 
 certain. She arrived at Versailles in August, 
 1685, wealthy, still beautiful, and we may 
 be sure she did not lack for friends. 
 
 Louise had looked forward to joining her 
 sister Henriette, to whom she was tenderly 
 attached, and a great disappointment awaited 
 her. The widowed Countess received her 
 with an ak of embarrassment, and at first 
 
 tried to evade the meeting; but when they 
 
 (235) 
 
236 HENRIETTE^S MARRIAGE 
 
 did finally see each other, the Duchess of 
 Portsmouth was dismayed to find that Henri- 
 ette was on the eve of her confinement, and 
 being forced to do so, admitted having married 
 Timoleon Gouffier, Marquis de Thois, some 
 time previously. 
 
 This want of sisterly confidence on the 
 part of Henriette cut Louise to the quick. 
 There seems to have been no reason either 
 for the concealment, as the marriage was a 
 suitable one for Lady Pembroke. M. de 
 Thois had a fine position, and was Governor 
 of Blois.^ 
 
 Although the Duchess of Portsmouth, dur- 
 ing her residence in England, had kept up 
 such close relations with France, she did not 
 at that period seem able to settle down in her 
 native land. 
 
 She had left her son behind in the country 
 of her adoption ; her sister, whom she had 
 ever treated with consideration, had failed her ; 
 her business matters claimed her across the 
 Channel, so she restlessly returned to London. 
 
 1 They left four children. 
 
1687] DESCRIPTION OF RICHMOND 237 
 
 She had always been devoted to her only 
 child, though she seemed to have altogether 
 failed in having any authority over him, 
 nor had he inherited her capabilities. The 
 accounts she received of him were very un- 
 satisfactory. 
 
 Reports varied about the Duke of Rich- 
 mond. As to his personal appearance, he 
 is described as very gentlemanly, with a good 
 figure, handsome and dark complexioned hke 
 his father, but with his mother's expression 
 about the mouth and eyes. He has been 
 called a shallow coxcomb,^ and certainly seems 
 to have had a weak character. He was born 
 and bred in a bad school, but he was good- 
 natured and agreeable. An enemy to business, 
 indolent and extravagant, he inherited some of 
 the faults of his parents. 
 
 He had joined the Church of Rome at his 
 mother's entreaties, but now had returned 
 to the Anglican one. In reality he had little 
 if any reUgion, and had become very dissi- 
 pated, spending his time in drinking and 
 
 1 Dean Swift. 
 
238 LOUISE RETURNS TO ENGLAND 
 
 gambling. His mother had very Uttle influ- 
 ence over him, but, hke all mothers, she 
 thought her presence might prove beneficial. 
 Her niece, Lady Charlotte Herbert, was 
 also her charge, whom she could ill leave 
 for a long period. Whatever her reasons, 
 she was desirous of returning again to Eng- 
 land. 
 
 She had incurred the suspicions of Louis, or 
 rather of his ministers, by leaving France so 
 speedily. Some hidden reason was supposed 
 to have accelerated her movements, and there 
 was a talk of exihng her altogether. C our tin, 
 however, took her part, and declared that such 
 a proceeding would be a stain on the honour 
 of Louis if he allowed such an unjust measure 
 to be carried out, considering the great and 
 important services that the Duchess had ren- 
 dered him. Matters had gone so far that a 
 letter exiling her had been already written, 
 but Louis agreed to burn this document, 
 and Louise's mind was once more set at 
 rest. 
 
 When Lady Charlotte Herbert had reached 
 
1688] CHARLOTTE'S MARRIAGE 239 
 
 a marriageable age, it was the son of her old 
 friend Lord Jeffreys that the Duchess of 
 Portsmouth chose as a suitable husband for 
 her niece. 
 
 The wedding took place in July, 1688. John 
 Jeffreys was a briUiant but reckless youth, 
 who quickly dissipated his inheritance. 
 
 His father had again caused popular dis- 
 pleasure, as just before the marriage he had 
 given judgment in the Court of Chancery in 
 favour of his daughter-in-law. 
 
 At the time of Lord Pembroke's death. 
 Lady Charlotte had been made a ward in 
 Chancery, as she inherited from her father a 
 great estate in Cardiff, and was no inconsider- 
 able heiress. The late Earl's creditors had 
 claimed some of these moneys, and her uncle, 
 Lord Pembroke, strongly objected to Lord 
 Jeffreys having tried the case, under the cir- 
 cumstances, as she was about to become his 
 daughter-in-law, and all the more that he won 
 it for her. But Jeffreys had taken care to 
 procure the best legal advice in London — two 
 common law judges, Powell and Lutwyche, 
 
240 FLIGHT OF JEFFREYS 
 
 His decision was twice confirmed, in spite of 
 strenuous efforts on the part of the Pembroke 
 family to upset it. 
 
 Rumours of his fall were going about, but 
 he managed to weather the storm yet a little 
 longer. He had moved from his house in 
 Queen Street to one in Westminster overlook- 
 ing the Park. Here he lived in great state, 
 his domestic Ufe was careless and extravagant, 
 and his second wife spent money freely. But 
 his health had given way, and he suffered 
 agonies from violent attacks of stone. Did he 
 suffer agonies besides at the recollection of 
 the thoughts of what he had made others to 
 endure ? 
 
 Lord Jeffi'eys sat for the last time in the 
 Court of Chancery on 8th December, 1688. 
 After the flight of James he knew well the 
 peril he was in. His life and liberty were at 
 once in danger, and he fled disguised to 
 low haunts near the river in the hopes of 
 making good his escape in some vessel going 
 abroad. 
 
 It was in an alehouse, the Red Cow, in 
 
1689] HIS DEATH 241 
 
 Anchor-and-Hope Alley, Wappiiig, that he 
 was ignominiously discovered and taken 
 prisoner. What he feared was the violence 
 of the populace, and he gladly went to the 
 Tower. There his sufFermg increased, but he 
 lived on for some months, for he did not die 
 till the 18th of April, 1689. He was buried 
 in the Tower of London, but his body was 
 afterwards laid by his first wife in Aldermans- 
 bury Church.^ 
 
 John the eldest son succeeded his father 
 as second Baron. He was not able to run 
 through his wife's fortune, and their position 
 was probably a good one backed as they were 
 by her aunt, though she was no longer the 
 powerful woman she had been. The second 
 Lord Jeffreys died in 1702, leaving no male 
 issue, and the title became extinct ; their only 
 daughter, Henriette Louise, named after her 
 Breton grandmother and great-aunt, married 
 
 1 His will was preserved at Somerset House^ and con- 
 tains his only defence. " I George Lord Jeffreys of Wenn, 
 being heartily penitent for my sins, and begging forgive- 
 ness for the same, I give and submit my soul to God who 
 gave it, and my body to the grave to be decently and 
 
 privately buried." 
 
 16 
 
242 HENRIETTE LOUISE 
 
 in July, 1720, Thomas, first Earl of Pom- 
 fret.^ 
 
 1 The widowed Lady Jeffreys married Thomas Windsor, 
 created Viscount Windsor. Their eldest son Herbert, 
 second Viscount, married Alice, co-heiress with her brother 
 Sir James Clavering, Bart., and left a daughter. Charlotte 
 the eldest married (1766) first Marquis Bute, and retained 
 the Cardiff estates. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 BIRTH OF PRETENDER 
 
 The position of the Duchess of Portsmouth 
 in England was so pecuUar that it is not sur- 
 prising to find that she had many and great 
 annoyances. Although she was under the 
 protection of both Kings, they had other 
 things to thmk about than the interests of 
 La K^roualle, and they probably both thought 
 it was unnecessary and inconvenient to supply 
 all her demands. 
 
 Besides, James had ceased to be a king, he 
 was now a fugitive in a foreign land. The 
 child that was born to him and his wife Mary 
 Modena, was openly declared to be a spurious 
 one, brought into the pretended lying-in 
 chamber in a warming-pan. 
 
 That the child afterwards grew into a living 
 image of the Stuart race made no difference ; 
 the country wished to beheve that James II. 
 
 was without a male heir, and that in driving 
 
 (243) 
 
244 FLIGHT OF MARY OF MODENA 
 
 him away they had got rid of a future Roman 
 Cathohe king, seeing he had no one to suc- 
 ceed him, save his Protestant daughter and 
 son-in-law, Wilham and Mary of Orange, who 
 reigned m his stead. 
 
 His unhappy Queen, with her new-born 
 child, flew for her life, as did many of her 
 co-religionists, as their chapels and private 
 dweUings were being pillaged and burnt. 
 
 It was said that the Duchess of Portsmouth 
 was one of the ladies who accompanied her in 
 her flight, but there is no record of this. It is 
 difficult indeed in tracing the lives of persons 
 who lived so many hundred years ago, as the 
 various writers give reports that are unverified 
 and contradictory. 
 
 The half-brothers, the Dukes of St. Albans 
 and Richmond, declared their allegiance to 
 the new King of England, so the latter must 
 have found it rather awkward when he had to 
 pay his respects to the royal exiles the foUow- 
 ing year, when he went to visit his mother in 
 France, and it was reported that the Duchess 
 had expressed herself openly respecting the 
 supposed imposition on the bu'th of the late 
 
1689] EXILED KING 245 
 
 Prince of Wales, and found herself in an 
 uncomfortable position in consequence. But 
 whether these statements are true or not they 
 are not of much moment.^ 
 
 The unhappy King James was wearing 
 away his hfe in the Palace of St. Germain. 
 That old-world garden, descending in ter- 
 races to the river, which serpentines through 
 a lovely and verdant valley, was where the 
 ruined monarch wandered about in a solitude 
 almost as great as that of a monastery. His 
 httle Court of English Lords who had 
 followed him into exile, were hardly less 
 dreary than himself. 
 
 Sometimes under the auspices of the Grand 
 Veneur M. de la Rochefoucauld he would 
 rouse himself to take part in a hunting party 
 in the forest, and his faithful servants would 
 play " God save the King " in his hearing to 
 the air composed by LuUy, and afterwards 
 adapted as a national hymn by the House of 
 Hanover, as were so many of the customs and 
 traditions of the Stuarts. 
 
 But life in its full sense was over for James, 
 
 ^ Memoires du Marquis de Dangeau, vol. i., p. 140. 
 
246 WILLIAM OF ORANGE 
 
 he had played his game and lost it. He 
 thought that, like his brother, if supported by 
 Louis of France his throne was secure. It has 
 been said that England was httle better than 
 a province of France, so deep were her in- 
 trigues, so completely did she fulfil the in- 
 structions of Louis. If it were so the people 
 had had enough of it, and they revolted. To 
 Louise James was no great loss, although she 
 found it humihating and unpleasant to apply 
 to the new King William of Orange for her 
 promised pension, an application not well re- 
 ceived, for William was rapidly doing away 
 with the sinecures and allowances granted by 
 Charles II., and among others those of the 
 Duchess of Portsmouth.^ 
 
 The young Duke of Richmond went over 
 to France m 1689 to remind Louis of his pro- 
 mised favours, and again to receive the French 
 King's reiterated repUes that he had never for 
 a moment suspected him or his mother of any 
 lack of loyalty. This looks singularly like 
 neglect on Louis' part in the matter of pay-^ 
 
 ^Calendar of Treasury Papers, July, l689, published by 
 J, Redington, 
 
1690] MARRIAGE OF RICHMOND 247 
 
 ments, otherwise the visit would not have been 
 necessary. 
 
 The poor Duchess suddenly found misfor- 
 tunes crowding upon her. Her supplies in 
 England had been cut short ; news came that 
 her father the Comte de K^roualle was dying, 
 and a disastrous fire destroyed her apartments 
 at Whitehall, and such of her possessions as 
 were still there. ^ 
 
 Some writers affirm that Louise returned to 
 England in 1699, and by that time the Duke 
 of Richmond was married to Lady Anne 
 BrudeneU, and was the father of three children, 
 although matrimony does not seem to have 
 greatly steadied his character. 
 
 But she clung to her worthless son to the 
 end, and she had always loved her niece Char- 
 lotte. Lord Jeffreys was by this time dead, 
 and his widow was re-married to Viscount 
 Windsor, but she and her children remained 
 objects of interest to the Duchess of Ports- 
 mouth, especially the eldest, Henriette Louise, 
 daughter of the first marriage. 
 
 The only child of an only child, in both 
 
 1 Saint-Simon notes sur Dangeau, 
 
248 HENRIETTE LADY POMFRET 
 
 cases the father dying early, and the mother 
 re-marrying, Henriette Lady Pomfret was 
 more fortunate than her mother or grand- 
 mother. Her hfe was a happy and prosperous 
 one. She was Lady of the Bedchamber to 
 CaroHne Princess of Wales, and her husband 
 was Master of the Horse when the latter be- 
 came Queen, a post he is said to have bought 
 of Mrs. Clayton, George II. 's mistress, with a 
 pair of diamond earrings.^ This caused a great 
 deal of amusement in the gay world, and the 
 old Duchess of Marlborough expressed surprise 
 to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu that Mrs. 
 Clayton should call on her with her bribe in 
 her ear. 
 
 " How are people to know where wine is 
 sold," replied Lady Mary, "if you do not 
 hang out a sign ? " 
 
 Lady Pomfret's French great-aunt must 
 have been in England (for her last visit) just 
 about the time of her marriage, and the 
 Duchess of Portsmouth, having been so fond of 
 her niece Charlotte, probably took great interest 
 in that niece's eldest child, and her namesake. 
 
 1 Mrs. Clayton was afterwards made Lady Sundon. 
 
1690] THE LADIES FERMOR 249 
 
 The Duchess hved long enough to have 
 seen some of her great-great-nieees as babies, 
 that is, if they ever went over to Paris, but 
 we do not hear of the Pomfret family going 
 abroad till later. Lord and Lady Pomfret 
 had a large family — one son and six daughters. 
 The eldest, the beautiful Lady Sophia Fermor, 
 married Lord Carteret, afterwards Earl Gran- 
 ville. She was a noted beauty of the day, 
 and probably inherited some of the Breton 
 loveliness of her ancestresses. Lady Charlotte, 
 the second girl, married the Honourable 
 WiUiam French, heir to Lord Winchester. 
 Lady Anne married Viscount Cremorne. 
 Lady Juhana, the fourth daughter, married 
 Thomas Penn, son of the great quaker, 
 William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. 
 The two younger ones. Lady Louise and 
 Lady Harriet, married respectively Sir W. 
 Clayton and Mr. Conyers of Clare Priory, 
 Essex. 
 
 So Lady Pomfret had the satisfaction of 
 seeing her fair bevy of girls suitably settled in 
 life. Doubtless she earned the reputation 
 of being a manoeuvring, managing mother. 
 
250 HORACE WALPOLE 
 
 She was described by Horace Walpole as 
 a sort of aristocratic Mrs. Malaprop, making 
 absurd statements with a certain amount of 
 priggishness and bombast. Her sayings are 
 recorded in his letters to Sir Horace Mann, 
 but one must take his remarks with a certain 
 reservation ; his sarcastic, somewhat bitter 
 tongue was often a httle hard on his genera- 
 tion. He wrote of " the learned luminaries " 
 Lady Pomfret and Lady Mary Wortley 
 Montagu at Florence, describing a masquerade 
 there in 1741 : " Of all the extravagant 
 figures commend me to our Countess (Lady 
 Pomfret). She and my Lord trudged in hke 
 pilgrims with vast staves in their hands, and 
 she was so heated you would have thought 
 her pilgrimage had been like Pantagruel's 
 voyage to the oracle of the bottle ! Lady 
 Sophia was in a Spanish dress, so was Lord 
 Lincoln, not by design as it happened." 
 
 This latter was an admirer of Lady Sophia, 
 but she would never listen to him although 
 he was a good match. 
 
 Walpole was said to have been in love with 
 Lady Charlotte Fermor, and not being en- 
 
1690] MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU 251 
 
 couraged as he desired, he indulged in sar- 
 casm on her mother, and thus relieved his 
 wounded feehngs. 
 
 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was a great 
 friend of the family. Her eldest grandson, 
 the first Marquis of Bute, had married Lady 
 Pomfret's niece, daughter of her half-brother, 
 second Viscount Windsor. Probably it was 
 owing to Lady Mary's taste for living in 
 Italy that her London fine friends followed 
 her there. She was very fond of the Fermor 
 family, and in one of her letters she writes : 
 " I am astonished that Lady Sophia does 
 not condescend to leave some copies of her 
 face for posterity. 'Tis impossible that she 
 cannot command what matches she pleases, 
 when such pugs as Lord Archibald Hamilton's 
 daughter becomes a Peeress." 
 
 But the fak Sophia was imlucky in her love 
 affairs, and did not find the matter quite so 
 easy as Lady Mary thought it was. It was 
 a disappointment to her friends when she 
 finally married Earl Granville, an elderly 
 widower with grown-up daughters, who from 
 illness or accident walked v/ith a limp. 
 
252 EPIGRAM 
 
 Walpole quotes an epigram of the day, not 
 however of his own composition : — 
 
 Her beauty like the scripture feast 
 To which the invited never came, 
 
 Deprived of its intended guests 
 Was given to the old and lame. 
 
 Lady Pomfret was more fortunate in her 
 daughters than in her son. The young man 
 was extravagant, and when on the death of his 
 father he succeeded to the family honours he 
 soon brought things to such a pass that to 
 raise the necessary money his mother had to 
 sell some famous statues at their place Easton 
 Newton, which had formerly been in the 
 Arundel collection. But no sooner had she 
 done so than she bitterly regretted having 
 allowed such precious works of art to have 
 fallen into aUen hands. She therefore bought 
 them back herself, preferring any sacrifice to 
 their loss, and that they might not run a 
 similar risk again if in her son's hands, she 
 presented them to the University of Oxford, 
 where they are to this day, and a cenotaph 
 was in consequence placed in the college com- 
 
1690] DEATH OF LADY POMFRET 253 
 
 memorating the virtues and accomplishments 
 of the donor. 
 
 The Countess of Pomfret was on her way 
 to Easton Newton when she died suddenly 
 at Bath in 1761. 
 
 But this is a digression, and all happened 
 long after the death of her great-aunt De 
 Keroualle. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 COURT OF GEORGE I 
 
 The last visit paid by the Duchess of Ports- 
 mouth to England was in 1715. She had 
 tried to return there once before, but on that 
 occasion Wilham had sent word privately that 
 the Duchess of Portsmouth would not be 
 allowed to land. He evidently still considered 
 her dangerous. But now both he and his wife 
 were gone, and Queen Anne had reigned and 
 passed away also, and a new King was on the 
 Throne of England. 
 
 She attended the Court of George I., and 
 was presented to the Princess of Wales, after- 
 wards Queen Caroline. 
 
 How she came to be so well received in 
 England it is hard to say. 
 
 It is related that at this drawing-room there 
 were also present the Countess of Dorchester, 
 mistress of James II., the Countess of Orkney, 
 
 mistress of Wilham III., and the famous 
 
 (254) 
 
1715] LAST VISIT TO LONDON 255 
 
 Duchess of Portsmouth, and that the Countess 
 of Dorchester at sight of her blurted out, " By 
 Jove ! who would have thought that we three 
 should meet here ". 
 
 Whether this was an annoyance history does 
 not say. Her feelings were probably blunted 
 by this time. She had had her way, and ap- 
 peared once more at the Court of England 
 even if she had received an insult. 
 
 It was her last visit to this country ; she had 
 no more to gain from it, neither friends nor 
 money, and judging by the letters she wrote 
 at this period, that had become the chief object 
 of her life. Her increasing difficulties made 
 it the paramount interest of her Ufe. It may 
 not have been altogether owing to her own 
 extravagances, doubtless her worthless son 
 drained her to the uttermost farthing for the 
 wherewithal to pay his debts. 
 
 But although so often in money difficulties, 
 and a suppliant at both Courts, she had by no 
 means ceased to be a great lady. When in 
 France she divided her time between Paris 
 and d'Aubigny, and was always made welcome 
 on terms of equality. 
 
256 LOUISE'S CREDITORS 
 
 Whenever her creditors pressed her for pay- 
 ment, she was in the habit of appeahng to 
 Louis XIV., and such was the influence she 
 retained over him, by reason of her talent and 
 personal magnetism (for there had never been 
 any other feehng between them), he even 
 suspended the course of justice on her behalf 
 There have been preserved many papers and 
 letters on the subject, and by these we learn 
 that the Courts invariably gave judgment in 
 her favour to the discomfiture of the other 
 parties who clamoured for their rightful dues. 
 
 Several letters of the Duchess of Portsmouth, 
 written after her return to France, have been 
 preserved. They mostly consist of piteous 
 appeals to those in authority hkely to assist 
 her; they date from 1689 to 1731, and are 
 preserved in the National Archives. Part of 
 one of them to the Comte de Pontchartrain is 
 given in facsimile. 
 
 ''Paris, Oct. 4, l692. 
 " To THE CoMTE DE PoNTCHARTRAIN. 
 
 " The extreme misery of the inhabi- 
 tants and peasants round d'Aubigny, my duchy, 
 has caused me, Monsieur, to conjure you to 
 
HER APPEALS FOR MONEY 257 
 
 have pity on the wretched state to which they 
 are reduced, both from the excessive taxes and 
 expense of their necessary tools, as well as by 
 their misfortunes caused by hail, which has 
 ruined them this year, so that being unable to 
 pay they are leaving both the town and the 
 land. That is the reason, Monsieur, that I 
 venture to implore you to have pity on them, 
 and to ask M. de Ceraucor, Intendant of 
 Bourge, if he will exempt them from war 
 service this year and remit some of their taxes, 
 otherwise the entire property will be ruined. 
 Do not refuse me. Monsieur ; it is a real act 
 of charity, as the wretchedness is beyond what 
 you can imagine. Forgive my constant im- 
 portunities, for you have always encouraged 
 me to count on your goodness ; therefore, 
 Monsieur, I address myself to you with con- 
 fidence. 
 
 " L. DUCHESSE DE PORTSMOUTH. 
 
 55 
 
 Most of her letters were written to Des- 
 
 marets, generally about some private or 
 
 personal grievance ; evidently she had no one 
 
 to help her. 
 
 17 
 
a 
 
 O 
 
 tZ3 
 
HER LETTERS 259 
 
 Paris, 20tk March, 1708. 
 
 t( 
 
 " A Desmarets. 
 
 " Being unable to have the honour of 
 seeing you, Monsieur, on account of the weak- 
 ness that I experience after strong fever and 
 an attack of erysipelas in the head, I take the 
 liberty to write you these hnes, to remind you 
 of the promise you made me to speak to M. 
 Nicolle, who behaves towards me these last 
 four months as badly as possible. I have not 
 been able to get a penny from him. He has 
 all my fine Tapestry in his keeping and he uses 
 and spoils it, so I find myself much worse oflF 
 than I was with Th^vening, for at least he paid 
 me regularly every month, and did not use 
 my Tapestry, but took great care of it. I only 
 gave him 8 per cent, and to this man I give 
 10, and moreover he receives my rents and 
 does not pay me, and if he does not believe 
 that I have a strong protector in you, I shall 
 never get my own. Do not refuse me. Mon- 
 sieur, I implore you, and let him know that 
 you must be obeyed. I venture to hope that 
 I may receive this essential service from you. 
 Monsieur, and believe me, no one in the 
 
260 HER LETTERS 
 
 world esteems and honours you as much as 
 
 I do. 
 
 "L. Duchess of Portsmouth."^ 
 
 1 " De Paris, ce 20 Mars, 1708. 
 
 " A Desmarets. 
 
 " Ne pouvant avoyr Thonneur de vous voir, Mon- 
 sieur, par le grand abattement qui me reste d'une viol ante 
 fiesvre, et une etresipelle que j'ai eu dans la taite et sur 
 tout le visage, je prant la liberie de vous ecrire sais lignes, 
 pour vous suplier devouloir bien vous resouvenir de la pro- 
 messe que vous 'avez eu la bonte de me faire aupres de M. 
 NicoUe, qui auagist le plus mal du monde avec moy, car 
 depuis castre moy je ne pas pus parvenir a tirer un soult 
 de luy pour ma subsistance. II a ma belle tapisserie dont 
 il se sert et qu'il gaste toute, et je me treve pis que je 
 nettais avec Thevening, car au moins me payes til re- 
 gulliesrement tout lay moy ; mais tapisserie ne servoient 
 poingt et estet fort soigneusement conserve ; je ne luy 
 donne que huit pour cent, j'endonne dix a icelluy cy, il 
 touche mon revenu, et il ne me payen poingt et me lesse 
 manquer de tout ; enfin s'yl ne luy parest pas que vous 
 macordye une forte protection, je n'en viendere jamais 
 about. Ne me la refusse, pas Monsieur, je vous ansupli 
 et donnez vous la penne de luy parller comme lui mar- 
 quant vouUant estre obeys. Josse esperer cet esantiel 
 servisse de vous. Monsieur, et vous serez persuade que per- 
 sonne dans le monde ne vous peut estimer et honorer sy 
 parfaitement que moy. 
 
 "L. DUCHESSE DE PORTSMOUTH." 
 
 Lettre conservee aux Archives Nationales, Paris, G., 7, 
 543, Piece originale autographe. 
 
HER LETTERS 261 
 
 On another occasion she wrote on behalf of 
 her brother-in-law, so evidently her family still 
 considered that she could be of service to them. 
 This letter was written the same year, and was 
 also addressed to Desmarets.^ 
 
 "Paris, 18th July, 1708. 
 
 " A Desmarets. 
 
 " I ventm^e to hope, Monsiem% that 
 the favour that you were kind enough to grant 
 to the Marquis de Thoye, in speaking to M. 
 Volland for him, will not be taken back as in 
 the case of the Marquis de Vallance, who pro- 
 mised to make M. Volland listen to him, with- 
 in six or seven days. I flatter myself that this 
 will not happen, and that you will have the 
 goodness to continue your protection as Mon- 
 sieur de Thoye is able to give all the required 
 sureties to M. Volland. Do not therefore re- 
 fuse me this mark of your kindness and con- 
 sideration, which I deserve on account of the 
 sentiments of friendship and esteem that I 
 
 1 It is not certain whether "Thoye" as here spelt and 
 "Thois" are the same name. Pronounced they appear to 
 be the same. 
 
262 HER LETTERS 
 
 have for you, whom I feel to be one of the 
 most honest of men, and full of merit. 
 
 " L. Duchess of Portsmouth. 
 
 6i 
 
 Permit me, sir, to venture to beg you, to be 
 good enough to remember my pension that is 
 due since the beginnmg of last month." ^ 
 
 1 "De Paris, ce 18 Jitillet, 1708. 
 
 "A Desmarets. 
 
 '' J'osse esperer. Monsieur, que la grasse que vous 
 avez bien voullu accorder a Monsieur le Marquis de Thoye 
 an parllant au sieur Vollant pour luy ne seras pas retraite 
 par vous comme Monsieur le Marquis de Vallance ce le 
 prom est et quil la fait entandre au sieur Volland an luy 
 demandant six ou sept jour pour anployer sait sollicitassion 
 auprais de vous Monsieur, quelle noront nulle lieux et que 
 vous orez la bonte de nous continuer vostre protection, 
 Monsieur de Thoye ayant toute lais suretes k donner au 
 sieur Volland. Ne me refusez done poingt ceste marque 
 de bonte et de consideration que josse vous dire. Monsieur, 
 que je meriste pas lais sentiments d'amiti^s et destime que 
 je pour vous comme pour un des plus honneste homme du 
 monde, et qui a le plus de merite et que j'onnore le plus 
 parfaitement. 
 
 " L. DUCHESSE DE PORTSMOUTH. 
 
 " Permettey-moy ancore, Monsieur, d'osser vous suplier 
 de vous voulloyr souvenir de moy pour ma pansion qui est 
 eschue depuis le cosmancement du moy passe." 
 
 Lettre conservee aux Archives Nationales, Paris, G., 7, 
 543, originate autographe. 
 
1715] SUCCEEDS TO ESTATES 263 
 
 The pith of this letter is very certainly in 
 the postscript. It was evident that she was 
 persistent in her demands, which having been 
 granted all her life, she could not understand 
 how they could ever be refused. 
 
 It was not only for the settlement of her 
 debts that the Duchess appUed to Louis with 
 success, but what was far more curious she 
 got him to sustain her claims against the 
 royal domain itself. On the death of her 
 father she succeeded to the Chateau de 
 Keroualle and the lands at Guiler, which 
 stretched as far as Brest. A large portion of 
 this estate, now the suburb of Recouverance, 
 had been taken by the Crown, more land 
 being necessary to build arsenals and maga- 
 zines so as to enlarge and fortify the harbour. 
 
 Brest was said to be " La pensee de 
 RicheHeu, et Fceuvre de Louis XIV.," and 
 yet at the instance of Louise he declared 
 that the Province of Brittany should pay 
 back the full value of the land to the estate 
 of the Comtesse de KerouaUe. 
 
 Such a thing had never been done before, 
 and the point was hotly contested, but the 
 
264 CHATEAU RESTORED 
 
 Duchess applied to the Controleur-Gdn^ral, 
 and once more she was supported by the 
 Council. An attempt was then made to pay- 
 half the claim, but this was afterwards rejected, 
 and they had finally to pay the whole. 
 
 It was at this time that the Duchess caused 
 the ceiling at the Chateau de K6roualle to be 
 frescoed with pictures on mythological sub- 
 jects, the faint traces of which still linger on 
 its walls. One of the subjects chosen was 
 that of Andromeda and Perseus, in which the 
 daughter of Cepheus, King of Aethiopia, was 
 chained to a rock at the mercy of a sea dragon, 
 who decimated the country. Here she was 
 found and saved by Perseus who slew the 
 monster. Tradition has it that the features 
 of Andromeda were those of the beautiful 
 Duchess herself. 
 
 She had always attended very cleverly to 
 business matters, and had carefully superin- 
 tended the administration of her affairs, and 
 the documents on this subject show the per- 
 sistent character with which she pursued 
 every detail of these matters. She had 
 acquu'ed the Seigneurie of du Chatel m the 
 
1720] POSSESSIONS 265 
 
 Pays de Leon as well as the domain of Re- 
 couveranee, so her possessions in Brittany 
 were considerable, and she received large sums 
 from these lands. How she attained the 
 lands of du Chatel is not clear, except that in 
 ancient days, judging by the motto, they must 
 have been of the same family or clan, but her 
 right must have been undisputed, for they 
 became incorporated in 1681 into the township 
 of Brest. ^ After this financial victory the 
 Duchess of Portsmouth thought she would 
 do well to apply a similar measure to her 
 Duchy of Aubigny, and she got permission 
 to dispose of sinecures on the estate in her 
 capacity of seigneur. She, however, seems 
 to have taken very Uttle trouble to improve 
 the place, and still continued to besiege Des- 
 marets with requests. Ready money was 
 evidently her difficulty, and she tried to raise 
 it in every direction. 
 
 iln 1681. When Louis XV. added to the town of 
 Brest, an indemnity was granted to the Seigneur du 
 Chatel, as his lands and that of Recouverance had been 
 entirely incorporated into the maritime city of Brest. 
 
 Letter of 1 3th March from Colbert to the Steward Des- 
 clouizeaux. 
 
266 MORE LETTERS 
 
 "Daubigni, 21th November, 1720. 
 
 " A Desmarets. 
 
 " I had the honour two months ago to 
 present you, Monsieur, with a petition in which 
 I asked you to order that the sale of my woods 
 in my Duchy D'Aubigny should be put off 
 till next year, in the hopes that I had, that 
 they would fetch a higher price than this 
 year, but having no reply to this petition they 
 executed a council ordering the sale. The 
 woods were therefore sold the 5th of this 
 month, for the sum of 1,800 livres, and having 
 made enquiries myself, I was informed they 
 had fetched their full value, as they are situated 
 nine miles from the river. Nevertheless, 
 Monsieur Thiton, my head steward, having 
 shown me the order that you sent him on the 
 15th of November, to put off the adjudication, 
 I venture to beg of you to order that the 
 receiver should not be prevented from having 
 the amount as a delay would be very pre- 
 judicial to me. And I venture again. Mon- 
 sieur, to impress on you my painful situation, 
 that is even more rigorous than you can 
 imagine. I am sure that the King, who is 
 
1720] MORE LETTERS 267 
 
 aware of my melancholy condition, as a true 
 friend you would again di^aw his attention to 
 it, for neither he nor you would raise objec- 
 tions over 10,000 frs. more or less in this affair. 
 " All the more that having been obUged to 
 refuse one of my requests which he was 
 unable to comply with, he promised that I 
 should always be paid regularly. In God's 
 name. Monsieur, will you look upon my ne- 
 cessities with a humane and tender heart. I 
 hope for this act of kindness in all justice, 
 being persuaded, Monsieur, that of all the 
 many persons who have declared themselves 
 your friends, there is no one who regards and 
 honours you as much as myself, 
 
 "L. Duchess of Portsmouth." i 
 
 1 ''Daubigni, ce 21ih Novemhre, 1720. 
 
 '^ A Desmarets. 
 
 '^ J'us rhonneur, il y a deux mois de vous faire 
 presanter un plasset, Monsieur, par lequel je demandais 
 qu'il vous plut ordonner que lais vente dais boys de mon 
 duehe Daubigny fussent remise a raimee prochaine que 
 j'avais quelle serest porte a un plus hault pris que stannee, 
 et nayant poingt este statue sur ee plassait. Ion a exequste 
 laroit du conseil qui an hordonnait la vente. Lay boys 
 furent vandus le sainc du present moy, pour la somme de 
 1,800 livres, et mestent par moy maime fait informe. Ion 
 
268 MORE LETTERS 
 
 But in spite of all her efforts the poor lady 
 never seemed able to get clear of her diffi- 
 
 ma raporte a leur caslite ck leur situassion estant esloingne 
 de neuf lieux dais riviere. Cependant comme Monsieur 
 Thiton grand mestre ma voyr lordre que vous luy avez 
 envoye le quinsse Novambre pour la remise de I'adjudica- 
 tion, josse vous suplier de vouloyr bien luy ordonner quil 
 nanpesche poingt I'adjudicataire de jouir puisque sait une 
 chose conforme et que le ietar me serest tr^s prejudissi- 
 able ; josse ancosre. Monsieur, vous conjurer da voir pitie de 
 ma triste situassion qui est plus rigoureuse que vous ne 
 pouvez vous I'imaginer. Je suis tres persuade que le Roy 
 qui nignore pas depuis fort longtems mon malhereux estat, 
 que si vous aviez la bonte de luy ancosre represanter an 
 bon et veritable amie, qui ny luy, ny vous, ne pouvez pas 
 trever auqun desrengemant pour dix mille franc de plus ou 
 de moings dans lais afaire. 
 
 '' Dautant que sait la senile grasse et le seul bienfait dont 
 il mest jamais honore, et mayant fait I'honneur de masurer 
 quand je pris la liberte de luy andemander dautre qu'il 
 ne pouvest pas mais qu'il me ferest payer regulliesrement 
 et preferablement. Onon de dieu^ Monsieur, veillez antrer 
 avec un coeur umaing et tandre dans mon rigoureux be- 
 soing. Josse esperer ceste marque de vostre amitie et de 
 vostre bonte comme la justisse, Monsieur_, destre persuade 
 que de toute lais personne qui ont toujour fait profession 
 destre de vos amis, il n'y en a auquine qui vous aime et 
 honore aussy parfaitement que moy. 
 
 " L. DUCHESSE DE PORTSMOUTH." 
 
 Archives Nationales, Paris, G., 7, 543, originale auto- 
 graphe. 
 
D'AUBIGNY NEGLECTED 269 
 
 culties, and whether from inability or indiiSFer- 
 ence, the lands of D'Aubigny were terribly 
 neglected. The chateau was soon out of 
 repair, the chapel in ruins, and the forest in 
 much need of proper care. 
 
 It was doubtless a penance to the great lady 
 to hve in quiet retirement in the country, 
 counting the cost and retrenching in every 
 direction, after the state which she had held 
 for so many years, and she craved for money 
 that she might hve to the end in the manner 
 to which she was accustomed. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 CLOSING YEARS 
 
 Voltaire has left a record of the wonderful 
 beauty that survived so many years. " Never 
 did vi^oman," he writes, " preserve her charms 
 so late in life. At the age of seventy she was 
 still lovely, her figure stately, her face un- 
 faded." Like Cleopatra, " age could not wither 
 nor custom stale her infinite variety ". In the 
 autumn of her days Louise de K6roualle had 
 ceased to be dangerous, she was only beautiful 
 and gracious. The King always received her 
 with the utmost consideration, which when 
 her funds were low enhanced her credit. He 
 even went so far as to issue an order to the 
 effect that for the period of one year her 
 creditors were not to approach her ; thus with 
 the glamour of other days still hanging around 
 
 her she could still hold her head high. 
 
 (270) 
 
LOUISE AS A MADONNA 271 
 
 Her past history affected no one, and when 
 her mighty protector Louis XIV. had passed 
 away, she found the Regent PhiHppe Due 
 d'Orleans willing to extend his protection to 
 her, still in the name " of the great services 
 she had rendered to France "/ 
 
 Her portrait is to be seen as one of a circle 
 of fashionable women in many French engrav- 
 ings of the time. There are five such pictures 
 still extant. In one the Duchess is repre- 
 sented as Venus, her son as Cupid, both pro- 
 tected by a sphinx. 
 
 It was held that she had earned the gratitude 
 of the Church of Rome for having brought 
 Charles II. into the true faith, and enabled 
 him to die with the privileges of that Church. 
 
 A beautiful portrait of Louise was painted 
 in the guise of a Madonna, holding her child 
 in her arms, for the altar-piece of a convent in 
 France. This singular piece of profanity was 
 not altogether uncommon, and the Duchess 
 
 1 The Regent granted her 8,000 livres in addition to her 
 pension of 12,000 livres in consideration of her important 
 services, — Memoirs Saint-Simon^ vol. xv., p. 344. 
 
272 BEAUTIFUL PORTRAITS 
 
 was considered as heaven-sent for the con- 
 version of Charles of England. With such a 
 view of morals as this, it brings forcibly before 
 us that all the disgrace cannot be laid on the 
 woman only. No wonder that she ceased to 
 see her conduct in its true light, and saw her- 
 self only as a person with a right to considera- 
 tion. She had no reason therefore to feel 
 the obloquy of her position. She was one 
 of a family of the Bishopric of Leon, that 
 was an honour and privilege in itself, and 
 she had been a good Catholic all her life 
 as behoved one who was of Breton origin, 
 and had moreover received the thanks of her 
 Church. 
 
 Many beautiful portraits of her have looked 
 out for generations from their massive frames 
 in stately picture galleries. Artists used to 
 beseech the privilege of immortalising the 
 features which had found such favour in the 
 eyes of kings. Of the best known one is at 
 Blenheim, another at Holland House. 
 
 Henri Gascar, a French artist, who died at 
 Rome in 1701, painted two pictures of the 
 
GASCAR AND MIGNARD 273 
 
 Duchess. One represents her with a Portuguese 
 head-di*ess, the other shows her seated and 
 occupied in defending a bird on her lap from 
 a cupid.^ Gascar also painted a portrait of the 
 Countess of Pembroke. 
 
 The oldest of the Ukenesses of the Duchess of 
 Portsmouth was a miniature by Cooper taken 
 almost directly after her arrival in England, 
 perhaps even during her first stay in that 
 country.^ 
 
 Gascar's picture is at Hampden Court in 
 King William's bedroom. Mignard, the great 
 French portrait painter of the day, also immor- 
 talised the features of the beautiful Duchess, 
 and his picture is at Kensington Palace. 
 
 The portrait of Charles II. and the Duchess 
 painted together, representing Cymon and 
 Iphigenia, is mentioned by Horace Walpole as 
 being lost or missing from the royal collection. 
 A copy, or possibly the original, is in the pos- 
 session of Sir Gerard Noel. It is the only 
 picture in profile. One of the best known is the 
 
 1 This was engraved by Stanislas Baudet. 
 
 2 Some writers affirm that Cooper died in 1670. 
 
 18 
 
274 DUKE OF RICHMOND'S DEATH 
 
 " Arcadian Bergfere," by Sir Peter Lely, now 
 at Althorpe. 
 
 The death of her son, the Duke of Richmond, 
 in 1723 was doubtless a pang to his mother, 
 depraved as his Ufe had been, and with his 
 untimely end her last tie with England was 
 broken. Paris was more her home, and as long 
 as the Marquise de Thois was alive, Louise 
 took up her abode mostly there. 
 
 The tie between the sisters had always been 
 a close one, and lasted to the end. 
 
 The Marquise de Thois had a fine hotel in 
 the Rue de Varennes, that in which the 
 Duchess of Portsmouth Uved was the Rue 
 des Sept-Saints, but such of her letters as 
 have been preserved are simply dated from 
 Paris. 
 
 Henriette had become almost an invalid in 
 her latter years, and on the 12th of May, 1725, 
 two years after the death of her nephew, feel- 
 ing her end approaching she dictated her will. 
 For some reason the description of the sur- 
 roundings of the Marquise in her last days 
 has been preserved. No longer able to move 
 
1731] HENRIETTE'S DEATH 275 
 
 about she inhabited a room on the ground 
 floor in her fine house. She spent her time 
 lying on a couch by the open door that led 
 into the garden. Her family were gathered 
 round her, and there she expired peacefully 
 twelve days after she had set her affairs in 
 order, and Louise was now left alone and 
 solitary. 
 
 We have no record of how she met her 
 death. She survived Henriette nine years. 
 Although she now mainly Uved at Aubigny, 
 she does not appear to have used her French 
 title. All her letters from Aubigny, the last, 
 to the Controller- General of Finance, still on 
 the subject of her money, dated 1731, are 
 signed L. Duchesse de Portsmouth.^ 
 
 She Uved in the retirement during these last 
 years which befitted her advancing age. She 
 remained a memory only at the Courts, of 
 which she had been such a brilhant ornament 
 and such a powerful factor. Alone and deserted 
 
 '^Mercure de FraTtce, November, 1734. 
 2Philibert Orry was Controlenr-general 1730 to 1745. 
 In the collection of M. de Barberey. 
 
276 LOUISE'S DEATH 
 
 by the great world, what can have been her 
 thoughts or feelings ? Not regret or remorse, 
 of that we may feel certain. Triumphant 
 rather, that she had lived her life every 
 moment, carried out her mission, and raised 
 herself to the pinnacle of her fame. There had 
 been no failure throughout her career from 
 her point of view, and there had been much 
 happiness. Finer feelings of repentance and 
 regret found Uttle place in the age and circle 
 in which she moved. Her last years were not 
 altogether wasted. She founded a convent 
 on her property ; the order of nuns divided 
 their time between the instruction of the 
 young and the care of the sick. She also 
 richly decorated several churches : thus she 
 ended her days in the odour of sanctity. In 
 October, 1734, she came up to Paris to con- 
 sult her physicians, and while there she died, 
 14th November, at the age of eighty-five. 
 
 She was laid to rest in the Church of Les 
 Carmes de Chausses in the sepulchre belong- 
 ing to the family of De Rieux, where her dust 
 could mingle with that of her illustrious 
 
1734] HER TOMB 277 
 
 ancestors of that name, whose descendants 
 saw no reason why the once famous Louise 
 de Keroualle should not sleep in their midst. 
 " Autre temps, autre mceurs." 
 
 FINIS 
 
INDEX 
 
 Anne, Duchesse, 38. 
 
 — of Austria, 51, 147. 
 
 — Princess, 191. 
 
 Arlington, Earl of, 57, 81, 85, 105, 
 144, 163. 
 
 — Countess of, 82-4. 
 Ashley, 163. 
 
 Aubigny, Monsieur d', 163. 
 
 — Duchesse d', 107, 140, 266. 
 
 B 
 
 Barrillon, 166, 168, 169, 170, 175, 
 
 i77» i79» 185, 188, 189, 193, 
 
 194, 221, 229. 
 Bath, Earl of, 224. 
 Bath and Wells, Bishop of, 223. 
 Beaufort, Due de, 42-4. 
 Bellefonds, Marechal, 73. 
 Belliere, de la, 35. 
 Blood, 96. 
 Bristicus, 20. 
 
 Browne, Sir Richard, 129, 201. 
 Brudenell, Lady Anne, 247. 
 Buckingham, George Villiers, 
 
 Duke of, 73, 75, 118, 163. 
 — Sheffield, Duke of, 216, 217, 
 
 218. 
 Burnet, Bishop, 190, 211. 
 Butler, Lady Emily, 136. 
 
 Caesar, 26. 
 Calloet, M. de, 139. 
 Candale, Due de, 56. 
 Carteret, Lord, 249. 
 Carwell, Madam, 117, 173. 
 
 Castlemaine, Lady, 77, 79. 
 Catharine of Braganza, 74, 98, 102, 
 
 117. 
 Ceraucor, M,, 257. 
 Charles IL— 
 
 Love of sister, 46. 
 
 His character, 53. 
 
 Sends for Louise, 72. 
 
 Tired of his mistresses, 77. 
 
 Devotion to Louise, 86. 
 
 His life at Newmarket, 91. 
 
 Love of birds, 92. 
 
 Joy at Louise's honours, 108. 
 
 Beloved of the people, 116. 
 
 Welcome to Henriette, 123. 
 
 Kind and attentive husband, 130, 
 
 Bestows treasures on Louise, 
 138. 
 
 Jealousy of Grand Prior, 190. 
 
 Sends for Barrillon, 193. 
 
 Dined with Jeffreys, 205. 
 
 Exclusion Bill, 209. 
 
 Witty remarks, 218. 
 
 Illness, 220. 
 
 Death, 222. 
 
 — v., 35- 
 
 — VIL, 107. 
 Chiffinch, 224. 
 Choisy, Abb^ de, 43. 
 Chouans, 27. 
 Churchill, Arabella, loi. 
 Clarendon, Chancellor, 57. 
 Clayton, Mrs., 248. 
 
 — Sir W., 249. 
 
 Cleveland, Duchess of, 80, loi, 126, 
 
 150. 
 Clifford, 163. 
 Colbert, 72, 81, 86, 108. 
 Colonna, Conn^table, 147. 
 Conyers, Mr., 289. 
 
 (279) 
 
280 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Cooper, 273. 
 
 Copley, Sir Godfrey, 164. 
 Courcelles, Marquise de, 145. 
 Courtin, Honors, 133, 148, 154, 
 
 238. 
 Cremome, Viscount, 249. 
 
 Danby, Lord, 159, 160, 161, 203, 
 
 205. 
 Dangeau, Marquis de, 141. 
 Davis, Miss, 77. 
 
 Derwentwater, Countess of, 228. 
 Desmarets, Monsieur, 257, 259, 
 
 260. 
 Didelot, Baron de, 22. 
 Dorchester, Countess of, 254. 
 Dryden, 207. 
 Durham, Bishop of, 233. 
 
 Effiat, Marquis d', 6g, 
 Elbceuf, Duchesse d', 104. 
 — Demoiselles d', 104. 
 Elorn, 20. 
 
 Ely, Bishop of, 223. 
 Estrades, Comte d', 120. 
 Estrees, Gabrielle d', 187. 
 Evelyn, 87, 129, 207. 
 
 Fermor, Lady Sophia, 249. 
 
 Charlotte, 249. 
 
 Anne, 249. 
 
 Juliana, 249. 
 
 Louisa, 249. 
 
 Harriet, 249. 
 
 Feversham, Earl of, 223. 
 Flock, Sir John, 94. 
 Francois IL, Duke of Brittany, 37. 
 French, Hon. W., 249. 
 
 Gascar, Henri, 272. 
 George L, 254. 
 — IL, 248. 
 
 George, Prince of Denmark, 191. 
 Grafton, Duke of, 228. 
 Grammont, Chevalier de, 57, 143. 
 Granville, Earl, 251. 
 Grignan, Marquise de, 100. 
 Guesclin, du, 35. 
 Guildford, Lord Keeper, 206. 
 Gwynn, Nell, 77, 150, 223. 
 
 H 
 
 Halifax, Lord, 159, 161, 209, 213. 
 Hamilton, La Belle, 57. 
 
 — Lord Archibald, 251. 
 Hawkins, Sir John, 207. 
 Henrietta of Orleans, Madame, 45. 
 
 Fondness for Louis XIV., 50. 
 Journey to Holland, 59. 
 Royal visit to Dover, 62. 
 Unscrupulous action, 63. 
 Her illness, 68. 
 Her death, 69. 
 Henry VH., 38. 
 
 — VIIL, 211. 
 
 Herbert, Lady Charlotte, 126, 197, 
 
 238. 
 Hersent, Madame, 22. 
 Hudleston, 224. 
 
 James H., 226, 243, 245, 253. 
 Jean V., Duke of Brittany, 36. 
 Jeffreys, ist Baron, 200. 
 
 His marriage, 203. 
 
 Made solicitor-general, 204. 
 
 Knighted, 204. 
 
 Monmouth rebellion, 231. 
 
 His cruelty, 232. 
 
 His death, 241. 
 Jeffreys, 2nd Baron, 239, 246. 
 
 K 
 
 Kdroualle, Comte de, 17, 42, 122, 
 128, 146. 
 
 — Comtesse de, 42, 122, 129. 
 
 — Sebastien de, 20, 44. 
 
 — Henriette de, 20, 121, 122, 
 123, 124. 
 
INDEX 
 
 281 
 
 Kdroualle, Louise de, 20. 
 
 Bringing up, 24. 
 
 Introduction at Versailles, 40. 
 
 Meets de Beaufort, 43. 
 
 Attentions of de Sault, 49. 
 
 Visit to Dover, 64. 
 
 Her beauty, 65. 
 
 La Belle Bretonne, 68. 
 
 Charles sends for her, 74. 
 
 Leaves Dieppe, 76. 
 
 Behaviour to the Queen, 78. 
 
 Visit to Euston, 87. 
 
 Mock marriage, 88. 
 
 Birth of her child, 99. 
 
 Hated by the English, 103. 
 
 Peculiar position, 104. 
 
 Splendours at Whitehall, ito. 
 
 " En la Rose je fleuris," 114. 
 
 Receives her sister, 123. 
 
 Second child born dead, 151. 
 
 She fades from history, 235. 
 
 Her death, 276. 
 King, Dr., 220. 
 
 Lauderdale, 163, 205. 
 Leeds, Duke of, 95. 
 Lely, Sir Peter, 125, 271. 
 Lesdiguieres, Due de, 47. 
 Leti, 206. 
 Leyton, 58. 
 
 Lichfield, Countess of, 228. 
 Lincoln, Lord, 250. 
 Lionne, 72-81. 
 London, Bishop of, 223. 
 Louis XIV.— 
 
 Heavy taxation, 33. 
 
 His schemes, 50. 
 
 Policy towards Charles H., 52. 
 
 Decided to go to Flanders, 59. 
 
 Plans for Charles, 63. 
 
 Creates Louise Duchesse d'Au- 
 bigny, 107. 
 
 Makes her his tool, 119. 
 
 Pays Charles a pension, 159. 
 
 Realises his dream, 174. 
 
 Gets Luxembourg, 212. 
 
 Suspects double dealing, 238. 
 
 Continues to assist Louise, 256. 
 
 Death, 271. 
 
 18 
 
 Lully, 245. 
 Lutwyche, Judge, 239. 
 
 M 
 
 Macaulay, 212. 
 Mancini, Laura, 187. 
 
 — Marie, 147. 
 Mann, Sir Horace, 250, 
 Marie Therese, 59. 
 Marlborough, Duchess of, 248. 
 Marshall, Lady, 126. 
 
 Mary, Princess, 166. 
 Mazarin, Cardinal, 56, 144. 
 
 — Due, 145. 
 
 — Duchesse, 143. 
 Living in Savoy, 148. 
 Her travels, 149. 
 
 Received by Duke of York, 150. 
 
 Want of money, 152. 
 
 Supper with Duchess of Ports- 
 mouth, 153. 
 
 Adored by St. Evremond, 155. 
 Mercoeur, Due de, 187. 
 Middleton, Mr,, 154. 
 Mignard, 273. 
 
 Modena, Mary of, 209, 232, 251. 
 Molina, 81. 
 
 Monaco, Prince of, 154. 
 Monmouth, Duke of, 166, 172, 
 173, 176, 209, 228, 231, 232. 
 Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, 
 
 248, 250. 
 
 N 
 
 Neesham, Sarah, 202. 
 Nevers, Madame de, 113. 
 Noel, Sir Gerard, 273. 
 Northumberland, Earl of, 80, 228. 
 
 Gates, Titus, 167. 
 Oglethorpe, Colonel, 214. 
 Orange, Prince of, 166, 175. 
 — William of, 244-46. 
 Orkney, Countess of, 254. 
 Ormond, Duchess of, 135, 
 
282 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Patrice I'Abb^, loo. 
 Pembroke, Philip, 7th Earl, 124, 
 127, 129, 196, 239. 
 
 — Countess of, 125. 
 Her extravagance, 180. 
 Reception in Paris, 182. 
 Becomes a widow, 196. 
 Leaves England, 197. 
 Married toMarquis deThois, 236. 
 Her death. 
 
 Penancoet, Jeanne de, 18. 
 
 — Guillaume de, 17. 
 
 — Sebastien de, 20. 
 • — Louise de, 20. 
 
 — Henriette de, 20. 
 Penancoets, 38. 
 Penhoet, Fran9ois de, 18. 
 
 — Jean de, 36, 37. 
 Penn, Thomas, 249. 
 
 — William, 249. 
 Penquer, Locadia de, 22. 
 Pepys, 215. 
 
 Peterborough, Lord, 220. 
 Philippe of Orleans, 47, 51, 71. 
 
 — IL of Spain, 52. 
 Ploeuc, Sebastien de, 19. 
 
 — Marie de, 19. 
 
 — des, 37. 
 
 Pomfret, Earl of, 242, 249. 
 
 — Countess of, 248, 250, 252, 
 Portsmouth, Duchess of — 
 
 Created, 107, 
 
 Leaves England, 180. 
 
 Returns there, 236. 
 
 Last visit, 254. 
 
 Money troubles, 255. 
 
 Restores Chateau de Keroualle, 
 
 264. 
 Portraits, 274. 
 Preuilly, Marquis de, 192. 
 
 Querouailles, 17. 
 
 R 
 
 Raguenel, Tiphaine, 35. 
 Reresby, Sir John, 136. 
 Constantly at Whitehall, 158. 
 
 Reresby, Sir John, His diary, 162. 
 Friend of Duchess of Ports- 
 mouth, 163. 
 Spreads reports, 188. 
 Member for York, 214. 
 Asks favour for his son, 215. 
 Dined with the Duchess, 216. 
 Richelieu, Cardinal, 19, 253. 
 Richmond, Charles Lennox, Duke 
 of, 106, 126, 171, 172, 173, 
 193. i95> 211, 214, 228, 229, 
 237, 244, 246, 247, 274. 
 
 — Duchess of, loi. 
 Rieux, Marie de, 19, 36. 
 
 — Marechal de, 37. 
 
 — des, 276. 
 
 Rochefoucauld, M. de la, 245. 
 Rochester, Earl of, 191, 213. 
 Rohan, Chevalier de, 128. 
 Rohans, des, 37. 
 
 Ruvigny, 139, 140, 141, 152, i6i. 
 
 St. Albans, Duke of, 228, 244. 
 
 St. Evremond, 56, 83, 93, 155. 
 
 St. Real, 146, 148. 
 
 St. Simon, 48, 181. 
 
 Sault, Comte de, 47, 49, 135. 
 
 Sedley, Sir Charles, loi. 
 
 S6vign^, Madame de, 48, 99, 112, 
 
 127, 147. 
 Shaftesbury, Lord, 94, 169, 177. 
 Shrewsbury, Countess of, 154. 
 
 — Countess of, 172. 
 Soissons, Comtesse de, 148. 
 Southampton, Marquis of, 80. 
 Stanhope, Lady Betty, 136. 
 Stewart, Miss, 77. 
 
 Storey, Edmund, 92. 
 Stuart, John, 107. 
 Sunderland, Countess of, 87. 
 
 — Earl of, 161, 176, 188, 89. 
 Sussex, Duchess of, 155. 
 
 Temple, Sir W., 161. 
 Thois, Marquis de, 236, 274. 
 — Marquise de, 274. 
 Thoye, Marquis de, 261, 
 
INDEX 
 
 283 
 
 Tilladet, M., i88. 
 Treguiers, 37. 
 Troesquer, 37. 
 Tymeur, Marquis de, 19. 
 
 V 
 
 Valiere, Madame la, 48, 118. 
 Vallance, Marquis de, 261. 
 Vanbeuninghen, Sieur, 185. 
 Vendome, Philippe de, 187, 189, 
 
 190. 
 Villiers, Francis, 75. 
 Volland, M., 261. 
 Voltaire, 270. 
 
 W 
 
 Walpole, Horace, 208, 250, 252. 
 Williamson, 58. 
 
 Winchester, Lord, 249. 
 Windsor, Viscount, 247. 
 Wolsey, Cardinal, go. 
 Worcester, Marchioness of, 
 
 135. 
 Wren, Sir Christopher, 92. 
 
 49, 
 
 Yarmouth, Countess of, 229. 
 York, James, Duke of, 65. 
 
 Brotherly affection, 95. 
 
 Hard worker, 105. 
 
 Open about religion, loi. 
 
 Seeking second wife, 105. 
 
 Commons against her, 161. 
 
 Protestants against her, 166. 
 
 His illness, 172. 
 
 Marriage of his daughter Anne, 
 191. 
 
 ABERDEEN : THE UNIVERSITY PRESS