One of
her first requests to these was--as may be learned from a letter
of Lord Sandwich, preserved in the Bodleian library--"that they
would put her in that habit they thought would be most pleasing
to the king." Before leaving the "Royal Charles" she spoke to
all the officers of the ship, thanked them for their services,
and permitted them to kiss her hand. She then presented a collar
of gold to the captain, and gave money to be distributed among
the crew.
When at length the parliamentary business was concluded, the king
found himself in readiness to depart. The last words he
addressed to his faithful commons before starting are worth
recording: "The mention of my wife's arrival," said he, in the
pleasant familiar tone it was his wont to use, "puts me in mind
to desire you to put that compliment upon her, that her entrance
into this town may be made with more decency than the ways will
now suffer it to be; and to that purpose I pray you would quickly
pass such laws as are before you, in order to the mending those
ways, that she may not find Whitehall surrounded with water."
At nine o'clock on the night of the 19th of May, his majesty left
London in Lord Northumberland's carriage, on his way to
Portsmouth. Arriving at Kingston an hour later, he entered Lord
Chesterfield's coach, which awaited him there by appointment, and
drove to Guildford, at which town he slept the night. In the
morning he was up betimes, and posted to Portsmouth, where he
arrived at noon.
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