, and cost L8,000, being
a present made by the States of Holland, when his majesty returned, and
had formerly been given by them to our king's sister, ye Princess of
Orange, and being bought of her againe, was now presented to ye king."
Around this noble residence, where the court was wont to tarry in summer
months, stretched broad and flowerful gardens, with wide parterres,
noble statues, sparkling fountains, and marble vases; and beyond lay the
park, planted "with swete rows of lime-trees."

And here all day long, in the fair summer time of this year, pleasure
held boundless sway. Sauntering in balmy gardens, or seeking shelter
from sun-rays in green glades and leafy groves, their majesties,
surrounded by their brilliant court, chased bright hours away in frolic
and pleasantry from noon till night. Then revelry, gaining new life,
began once more, when courtly figures danced graceful measures to sounds
of mirthful strains, under the lustre of innumerable lights.

For a while it seemed as if a brave prospect of happiness was in store
for the young queen. Her love for her husband, her delight in his
affection, her pride in his accomplishments, together with her
simplicity, innocence, and naivete, completely won his heart. These
claims to his affection were, moreover, strengthened by the charms of
her person. Lord Chesterfield, a man whom experience of the sex had
made critical, writes that she "was exactly shaped, has lovely hands,
excellent eyes, a good countenance, a pleasing voice, fine hair, and,
in a word, what an understanding man would wish for in a wife."
Notwithstanding the attractions of her majesty's person which he
enumerates, he adds his fears that "all these will hardly make things
run in the right channel; but, if it should, our court will require a
new modelling." In this note of alarm he forebodes danger to come. A man
of his majesty's character, witty and careless, weak and voluptuous, was
not likely to reconstruct his court, or reclaim it from ways he loved.
Nor was his union calculated to exercise a lasting impression on him.
The affection he bore his wife in the first weeks of their married
life was due to the novelty he found in her society, together with the
absence of temptation in the shape of his mistress. Constancy to the
marriage vow was scarcely to be expected from a man whose morals had
never been shackled by restraint; yet faithlessness to a bride was
scarcely to be anticipated ere the hon