ry, "and looks as little
after his business; which breaks my heart, and makes me and other of
your friends weary of our lives. He seeks for his satisfaction and
delight in other company, which do not love him so well as you and
I do." His days were spent in pursuing love, feasting sumptuously,
interchanging wit, and enjoying all that seemed good to the senses.
Pepys, who never fails to make mention of the court when actual
experience or friendly gossip enables him, throws many pleasant lights
upon the ways of the monarch and his courtiers.

For instance, he tells us that one Lord's day--the same on which this
excellent man had been to Whitehall chapel, and heard a sermon by the
Dean of Ely on returning to the old ways, and, moreover, a most tuneful
anthem sung by Captain Cooke, with symphonies between--whom should he
meet but the great chirurgeon, Mr. Pierce, who carried him to Somerset
House, and into the queen mother's presence-chamber. And there, on the
left hand of Henrietta Maria, sat the young queen, whom Mr. Pepys
had never seen before, and now thought that "though she be not very
charming, yet she hath a good, modest, and innocent look, which is
pleasing." Here, likewise, he saw the king's mistress, and the young
Duke of Monmouth, "who, I perceive," Pepys continues, "do hang much upon
my Lady Castlemaine, and is always with her; and I hear the queenes,
both of them, are mighty kind to him. By-and-by in comes the king, and
anon the duke and his duchesse; so that, they being all together, was
such a sight as I never could almost have happened to see with so much
ease and leisure. They staid till it was dark, and then went away; the
king and his queene, and my Lady Castlemaine and young Crofts, in one
coach, and the rest in other coaches. Here were great stores of great
ladies. The king and queen were very merry; and he would have made the
queene mother believe that the queene was with child, and said that she
said so. And the young queene answered, 'You lye,' which was the first
English word that I ever heard her say, which made the king good sport."

Others besides Mr. Pepys had begun to notice that the young Duke of
Monmouth hung much upon the Countess of Castlemaine, and that her
ladyship lavished caresses upon him. Whether this was to provoke the
uneasiness of his majesty, who she hoped might find employment for
the lad elsewhere, or to express her genuine affection for him, it
is impossible to say. However,