"
Finally, the chancellor was, through influence of his enemies,
impeached in the House of Commons; and to such length did they
pursue him, that he was banished the kingdom by act of
parliament.
His grace the Duke of Ormond was the next minister whom my Lady
Castlemaine, in the strength of her evil influence, sought to
undermine. By reason of an integrity rendering him too loyal to
the king to pander to his majesty's mistress, he incurred her
displeasure in many ways; but especially by refusing to gratify
her cupidity. It happened she had obtained from his majesty a
warrant granting her the Phoenix Park, Dublin, and the mansion
situated therein, which had always been placed at service of the
lords lieutenants, and was the only summer residence at their
disposal. The duke, therefore, boldly refusing to pass the
warrant, stopped the grant. [According to O'Connor's
"Bibliotheca Stowensis," Lady Castlemaine soon after received a
grant of a thousand pounds per annum in compensation for her loss
of Phoenix Park.] This so enraged the countess, that soon after,
when his grace returned to England, she, on meeting him in one of
the apartments in Whitehall, greeted him with a torrent of
abusive language and bitter reproaches, such as the rancour of
her heart could suggest, or the license of her tongue utter, and
concluded by hoping she might live to see him hanged. The duke
heard her with the uttermost calmness, and when she had exhausted
her abusive vocabulary quietly replied, "Madam, I am not in so
much haste to put an end to your days; for all I wish with regard
to you is, that I may live to see you grow old.
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