disposition of the enemy, who, by deep researches
into past times, could judge of the present, and were too noble-minded
to build plans of self-aggrandizement on the future. Misled by smooth
flatterers, the Queen manifested a fatal dislike to all those whose
minds were too much occupied to pay her particular court. Opposition to
her opinion, was, in her estimation, high treason. The uxuriousness of
the amiable King towards his fascinating Princess (who to all her sex's
charms united all their foibles), exceeded justifiable attachment to an
engaging and faithful partner. He gave her credit for qualities she did
not possess; and the malice of the Parliamentary leaders against her, on
account of her religion, increased his eagerness to support and defend
her; nor could his most attached friends counteract her fatal influence.
Her fidelity and wishes to serve him were indeed unquestioned; but in
some characters, a forbearance from interfering in our affairs is the
truest test of friendship.

The strange circumstance of noblemen, who had even borne arms against
the King, boasting that they possessed the Queen's confidence, suggested
a fear that further accommodations with individual traitors were on the
tapis, and that Oxford would no longer remain a sacred asylum to a
persecuted court, where unblemished loyalty was sure of safety and
esteem; but a sanctuary to which terrified iniquity might retreat, and,
grasping the horns of the altar, defy justice. The influence that Lady
Bellingham once possessed over the Queen's mind was recollected by Dr.
Beaumont; and, as Her Majesty had given proof that her friendships were
indelible, he could not but apprehend that some project might be formed
by that artful woman to secure her husband a retreat, in case his
reported moderation should really proceed from his secret alienation
from the rebel cause, and from a wish of reconciliation with the King.
The conviction that such an adept in treachery could never really serve
his Prince, determined Dr. Beaumont to act as the representative of the
absent Evellin, request a private audience with his Sovereign, and
reveal the secret history of the house of Neville, at the same time
presenting young Eustace as its true and lineal heir. The affability and
justice of the King prompted him to listen to all his subjects. He
heard, with horror, a narration of the arts by which he had been imposed
on when he was unversed in the intricacies of government