And by way of
sealing the bond of pacification, the king soon after agreed to
pay her debts, amounting to the sum of thirty thousand pounds,
which had been largely incurred by presents bestowed by her upon
her lovers.
His majesty was not only rendered miserable by the constant
caprices and violent temper of the countess, but likewise by the
virtue and coldness Miss Stuart betrayed since her return from
Oxford. The monarch was sorely troubled to account for her
bearing, and attributing it to jealousy, sought to soothe her
supposed uneasiness by increasing his chivalrous attentions. Her
change of behaviour, however, proceeded from another cause. The
fair Stuart, though childlike in manner, was shrewd at heart; and
was moreover guided invariably by her mother, a lady who reaped
wisdom from familiarity with courts. Therefore the maid of
honour, seeing she had given the world occasion to think she had
lost her virtue, declared she was ready to "marry any gentleman
of fifteen hundred a year that would have her in honour."
This determination she was obliged to keep-secret from the king,
lest his anger should fall upon such as sought her, and so
interfere with her matrimonial prospects. Now with such
intentions in her mind she pondered well on an event which had
happened to her, such as no woman who has had like experience
ever forgets; namely, that amongst the many who professed to love
her, one had proposed to marry her. This was Charles Stuart,
fourth Duke of Richmond, a man possessed of neither physical
gifts nor mental abilities; who was, moreover, a widower, and a
sot.
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