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great prejudice we have suffered by it, has made 1661. that sale to be often reflected on very severely. But it was pretended, that Tangier, which was offered as a part of the portion that the infanta of Portugal was to bring with her, was a place of much greater consequence. Its situation in the map is indeed very eminent. And if Spain had been then in a condition to put any restraint on our trade, it had been of great use to us; especially, if the making a mole there had been more practicable than it proved to be. It was then spoken of in the court in the highest strains of flattery. It was said, this would not only give us the entire command of the Mediterranean trade, but it would be a place of safety for a squadron to be always kept there, for securing our West and East India trade. And such mighty things were said of it, as if it had been reserved for the king's reign, to make it as glorious abroad, as it was happy at home: though since that time we have never been able, neither by force nor treaty, to get ground enough round the town from the Moors to maintain the garrison. But every man that was employed there studied only his own interest, and how to rob the king. If the money, that was laid out in the mole at different times, had been raised all in a succession, as fast as the work could be carried on, it might have been made a very valuable place. But there were so many discontinuings, and so many new undertakings, that after an immense charge the court grew weary of 174 it and in the year 1683 they sent a squadron of ships to bring away the garrison, and to destroy all the works.

To end this matter of the king's marriage with

1661. the infanta of Portugal all at once: it was at last concluded. The earl of Sandwich went for her, and was the king's proxy in the nuptial ceremony. The king communicated the matter both to the parliament of England and Scotland. And so strangely were people changed, that though they all had seen the mischievous effects of a popish queen in the former reign, yet not one person moved against it in either parliament, except the earl of Cassilis in Scotland; who moved for an address to the king to marry a protestant. He had but one to second him: so entirely were men run from one extreme to another.

1662. The man

ner of the

riage.

When the queen was brought over, the king met her at Winchester in summer 1662. The archbiking's mar- shop of Canterbury came to perform the ceremony: but the queen was bigoted to such a degree, that she would not say the words of matrimony, nor bear the sight of the archbishop. The king said the words hastily: and the archbishop pronounced them married persons. Upon this some thought afterwards to have dissolved the marriage, as a marriage only de facto, in which no consent had been given. But the duke of York told me, they were married by the lord Aubigny according to the Roman ritual, and that he himself was one of the witnesses: and he added, that, a few days before he told me this, the queen had said to him, that she heard some intended to call her marriage in question; and that, if that was done, she must call on him, as one of her witnesses, to prove it. I saw the letter that the king writ to the earl of Clarendon the day after their marriage, by which it appeared very plainly, [if not too

plainly,] that the marriage was consummated, and 1662. that the king was well pleased with her P, [which convinced me of the falsehood of the reports that had been set about; that I was once persuaded of them, that she was not fit for marriage.] The king himself told me, she had been with child: and Willis, the great physician, told doctor Lloyd, from whom I had it, that she had once miscarried of a child, which was so far advanced, that, if it had been carefully looked to, the sex might have been distinguished. But she proved a barren wife, and was a woman of a mean appearance, and of no agreeable temper: so that the king never considered her much. And she made ever after but a very mean figure. For some time the king carried things de- The king cently, and did not visit his mistress openly. But avowed he grew weary of that restraint; and shook it off so lewdness. entirely, that he had ever after that mistresses to the end of his life, to the great scandal of the world, and to the particular reproach of all that served 175 about him in the church. He usually came from his mistress's lodgings to church, even on sacrament days. He held as it were a court in them: and all his ministers made applications to them. Only the earls of Clarendon and Southampton would never so much as make a visit to any of them, which was maintaining the decencies of virtue in a very solemn manner. The lord Clarendon put the justice of the

P Before he was married, he told old colonel Legge (who he knew had never approved of the match,) that he thought they had brought him a bat, instead of a woman; but it was too late to find fault, and he must make the best he could of

a bad matter. She was very
short and broad, of a swarthy
complexion, one of her fore
teeth stood out, which held up
her upper lip; had some very
nauseous distempers, besides ex-
cessively proud and ill-humour-
ed. D.

lived in an

course of

1662. nation in very good hands; and employed some who had been on the bench in Cromwell's time, the famous sir Matthew Hale in particular.

1660. The settlement of

Ireland.

The business of Ireland was a harder province. The Irish that had been in the rebellion had made a treaty with the duke of Ormond, then acting in the king's name, though he had no legal power under the great seal, the king being then a prisoner. But the queen-mother got, as they give out, the crown of France to become the guarantee for the performance. By the treaty they were to furnish him with an army, to adhere to the king's interests, and serve under the duke of Ormond: and for this they were to be pardoned all that was past, to have the open exercise of their religion, and a free admittance into all employments, and to have a free parliament without the curb of Poyning's law. But after the misfortune at Dublin, they set up a supreme council again, and refused to obey the duke of Ormond; in which the pope's nuncio conducted them. After some disputes, and that the duke of Ormond saw he could not prevail with them to be commanded by him any more, he left Ireland. And Cromwell came over, and reduced the whole country, and made a settlement of the confiscated estates, for the pay of the undertakers for the Irish war, and of the officers that had served in it. The king had, in his declaration from Breda, promised to confirm the settlement of Ireland. So now a great debate arose between the native Irish and the English settled in Ireland. The former claimed the articles that the duke of Ormond had granted them. He in answer to this said, they had broken first on

their part, and so had forfeited their claim to them. 1660. They seemed to rely much on the court of France, and on the whole popish party abroad, of which they were the most considerable branch at home. But England did naturally incline to support the English interests. And, as that interest in Ireland had gone in very unanimously to the design of the king's restoration, and had merited much on that account, so they drew over the duke of Ormond to join with them, in order to an act confirming Cromwell's settlement. Only a court of claims was set up, to examine the pretensions of some of the Irish, who had special excuses for themselves, why they 176 should not be included in the general forfeiture of the nation. Some were under age: others were travelling, or serving abroad: and many had distinguished themselves in the king's service, when he was in Flanders; chiefly under the duke of York, who pleaded much for them, and was always depended on by them, as their chief patron. It was thought most equitable, to send over men from England, who were not concerned in the interests or passions of the parties of that kingdom, to try those claims. Their proceedings were much cried out on for it was said, that every man's claim, who could support it with a good present, was found good, and that all the members of that court came back very rich. So that, though the Irish thought they had not justice enough done them, the English said they had too much. When any thing was to be proved by witnesses, sets of them were hired, to depose according to the instructions given them. This was then cried out on, as a new scene of wickedness, that was then opened, and which must in

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