conversation, she
saw that only a creative imagination could connect it with her
deliverer.

Winter now interrupted the operations of the King's armies in most
quarters. But the brave Lord Newcastle had to contend at once with
English and Scotch rebels. The hardy frames of the latter enabling them
to defy the severest season, they passed the boundaries of their own
country, and, fixing a label, importing their attachment to the "bloody
covenant," in their hats, began the work of desolation in the northern
counties, while the mountainous barrier which divides them from the
plains of Yorkshire, then covered with snow, reflected the horrible
beams of hostile fires. And in Wales, a body of forces, sent to the
relief of Ireland, had been recalled by the King, whose urgent
necessities compelled him to employ them to support the loyal Welsh,
who, with this aid, surprised several Parliamentary holds, and for some
time operated as a diversion to the army of Fairfax, preventing him from
joining the Scotch to crush the noble Newcastle. The King's cause at
this time wore a fair aspect; and no better proof could be given of his
having a chance of ultimate success, and of the divisions among his
opponents, than that the Lords Bedford and Holland, and other noblemen,
who had distinguished themselves as partizans of the Parliament, sought
shelter within the royal lines, and even presumed to attempt regaining
the confidence of their injured Sovereign.

Lord Holland, who had stood high in the Queen's favour, building upon
the prejudices she was known to entertain against many of the King's
most faithful adherents, imagined himself secure of regaining the office
he had once held through her influence, notwithstanding the unbleached
stains of his former treasons. Beauty is too apt to exert a peremptory
claim to absolute dominion; and, not content with conjugal affection,
requires obsequious dotage. The Queen's views being all limited to the
routine of a court, unhappily indisposed her from acting the part of a
faithful wife in this critical emergency, and induced her to use all her
power to make the King depend more for advice upon herself and her
favourites, than on those sages who presided at the council board, or
those warriors who contended in the field; in other words, to prefer
shallow courtiers, known only for polished manners, habits of
dissipation, and an excessive regard to their own interest, to men who
knew the strength and