DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51519#0079
QUEEN CATHERINE OF BRAGANZA. 63
little: Charles, spurred on by the female fury who governed him,
was steady to his cruel purpose. On one particular occasion, when
the Queen held what we should now call a Drawing'-room, at
Hampton Court, Lady Castlemaine was introduced in form by the
King-. Catherine, who did not know her, and heard the name
imperfectly, received her with as much grace and benignity as the
rest:—but in the next moment, recollecting herself, and aware of
the public insult which had been offered to her, all her passions
were roused : she started from her chair, turned as pale as ashes ;
then red with shame and anger ; the blood gushed from her nose,
and she swooned in the arms of her women. The court was im-
mediately broken up : but Charles, though probably touched with
some compunction, had been persuaded by some of the profligates
about his person, that the Queen wished to govern him ; that his
dignity and authority would be compromised if he gave up the
point; and fancying he was imitating his model, Louis Quatorze,
by forcing his Queen to acquiesce in her own dishonour. Lord
Clarendon, during this degrading contest between the wife
and the mistress, had vainly opposed the King’s intention; and
at length, in disgust, absented himself from court: upon which
the King- wrote to him a letter of which the following1 is an
extract:—
(C I wish I may be unhappy in this world, and in the world to
come, if I fail in the least degree of what I have resolved, which
is of making my Lady Castlemaine of my wife’s bed-chamber;
and whosoever I find use any endeavours to hinder this resolution
of mine, except it be only to myself, I will be his enemy to the
last moment of my life. You know how true a friend I have been
to you. If you will oblige me eternally, make this business as
easy to me as you can, what opinion soever you are of j for I am
resolved to go through this matter, let what will come on it, which
again I swear before Almighty God : therefore, if you desire to
have the continuance of my friendship, meddle no more with thif
business, except it be to beat down all false and scandalous reports,
little: Charles, spurred on by the female fury who governed him,
was steady to his cruel purpose. On one particular occasion, when
the Queen held what we should now call a Drawing'-room, at
Hampton Court, Lady Castlemaine was introduced in form by the
King-. Catherine, who did not know her, and heard the name
imperfectly, received her with as much grace and benignity as the
rest:—but in the next moment, recollecting herself, and aware of
the public insult which had been offered to her, all her passions
were roused : she started from her chair, turned as pale as ashes ;
then red with shame and anger ; the blood gushed from her nose,
and she swooned in the arms of her women. The court was im-
mediately broken up : but Charles, though probably touched with
some compunction, had been persuaded by some of the profligates
about his person, that the Queen wished to govern him ; that his
dignity and authority would be compromised if he gave up the
point; and fancying he was imitating his model, Louis Quatorze,
by forcing his Queen to acquiesce in her own dishonour. Lord
Clarendon, during this degrading contest between the wife
and the mistress, had vainly opposed the King’s intention; and
at length, in disgust, absented himself from court: upon which
the King- wrote to him a letter of which the following1 is an
extract:—
(C I wish I may be unhappy in this world, and in the world to
come, if I fail in the least degree of what I have resolved, which
is of making my Lady Castlemaine of my wife’s bed-chamber;
and whosoever I find use any endeavours to hinder this resolution
of mine, except it be only to myself, I will be his enemy to the
last moment of my life. You know how true a friend I have been
to you. If you will oblige me eternally, make this business as
easy to me as you can, what opinion soever you are of j for I am
resolved to go through this matter, let what will come on it, which
again I swear before Almighty God : therefore, if you desire to
have the continuance of my friendship, meddle no more with thif
business, except it be to beat down all false and scandalous reports,