feelings of the queen mother, who
at this juncture set out for England, to prevent what she was pleased
to term "so great a stain and dishonour to the crown." The king regarded
his brother's alliance in a lenient spirit, and not only spoke of it
frequently before the court, but expressed his desire of bringing the
indiscretion to a happy conclusion by a public acknowledgment.

The queen mother, being an ambitious woman, had cherished certain
schemes for extending the power of her family by the respective
marriages of her sons, which the duke's union was, of course, calculated
to curtail. She therefore regarded his wife with the bitterest disdain.
Whenever that woman should be brought into Whitehall by one door, her
majesty declared she would leave it by another and never enter it
again. The marriage was rendered all the more disagreeable to the
queen, because the object of her son's choice was daughter of the lord
chancellor, whose influence over Charles II. had frequently opposed her
plans in the past, and threatened to prevent their realization in the
future. The monarch, however, paid little attention to his mother's
indignation. He was resolved no disgrace which he could hinder should
fall upon the family of one who had served him with disinterested
loyalty; and, by way of proving his friendship towards the chancellor on
the present occasion, he, before setting out to meet his mother on her
arrival at Dover, presented him with twenty thousand pounds, and left
a signed warrant for creating him a baron, which he desired the
attorney-general to have ready to pass the seals at his return.

In the meantime a wicked plot, for the purpose of lessening James's
affection for his wife, and ultimately preventing the acknowledgment of
his marriage, was promoted by the chancellor's enemies and the duke's
friends, principal amongst whom were the Princess of Orange and Sir
Charles Berkley, "a fellow of great wickedness," Sir Charles was his
royal highness's most trusted friend, and was, moreover, devoted to
the service of the princess and her mother. He therefore determined to
hinder the duke from taking a step which he was of opinion would
injure him irretrievably. Accordingly, when James spoke in confidence
concerning his marriage, Sir Charles told him it was wholly invalid,
inasmuch as it had taken place without the king's consent; and that a
union with the daughter of an insignificant lawyer was not to be thought
of by the he