On hearing which King Charles avowed it
was "a piece of ill-nature that he could never be guilty of; and
if ever he should be guilty of having a mistress after he had a
wife, which he hoped he should never be, she should never come
where his wife was; he would never add that to the vexation, of
which she would have enough without it." Finally my lord added
that pursuit of the course his majesty had resolved on, was a
most certain way to lose the respect and affections of his
people; that the excesses he had already fallen into had in some
degree lost him ground in their good esteem, but that his
continuance of them would "break the hearts of all his friends,
and be grateful only to those who desired the destruction of
monarchy."
Charles heard him with some impatience, but in his reply betrayed
that graciousness of manner which, never forsaking him, went far
in securing the favour of those with whom he conversed. He
commenced by telling the chancellor he felt assured his words
were prompted by the affection in which he held him; and then
having by a pathway of courteous speeches found his way to the
old man's heart, his majesty broached the subject uppermost in
his mind. His conscience and his honour, he said, for he laid
claim to both, led him to repair the ruin he had caused Lady
Castlemaine's reputation by promoting her to the position of a
lady of the bedchamber; and his gratitude prompted him to avow a
friendship for her, "which he owed as well to the memory of her
father as to her own person," and therefore he would not be
restrained from her company and her conversation.
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