n the park, he, on a sudden impulse, ran down the broad steps leading
from his palace gardens to the riverside. Here, entering a boat alone,
he rowed himself adown the placid river now crossed by early shadows,
until he came to Somerset House, where his lady-love dwelt; and finding
the garden-door locked, he, in his impatience to be with her, clambered
over the wall and sought her. Two months after the occurrence of this
incident, the young duchess was appointed a lady of the bedchamber to
the queen, and therefore had apartments at Whitehall. There was little
doubt now entertained she any longer rejected his majesty's love; and in
order to remove all uncertainties on the point which might arise in her
husband's mind, the king one night, when he had taken over much wine,
boasted to the duke of her complaisancy. Lord Dartmouth, who tells this
story, says this happened "at Lord Townshend's, in Norfolk, as my uncle
told me, who was present." Soon after his grace accepted an honourable
exile as ambassador to Denmark, in which country he died.

During the absence of the Duchess of Richmond, my Lady Castlemaine, then
in the uninterrupted possession of power, led his majesty a sorry life.
Her influence, indeed, seemed to increase with time, until her victim
became a laughing-stock to the heartless, and an object of pity to
the wise. Mr. Povy, whose office as a member of the Tangier Commission
brought him into continual contact with the court, and whose love of
gossip made him observant of all that passed around him, in telling of
"the horrid effeminacy of the king," said that "upon any falling out
between my Lady Castlemaine's nurse and her woman, my lady hath often
said she would make the king make them friends, and they would be
friends and be quiet--which the king had been fain to do." Nor did such
condescension on his majesty's part incline his mistress to treat him
with more respect; for in the quarrels which now became frequent betwixt
them she was wont to term him a fool, in reply to the kingly assertion
that she was a jade.

The disturbances which troubled the court were principally caused by her
infidelities to him, and his subsequent jealousies of her. Chief among
those who shared her intrigues at this time was Harry Jermyn, with whom
she renewed her intimacy from time to time, without the knowledge of his
majesty. The risks she frequently encountered in pursuit of her amours
abounded in comedy. Speaking of Harry Jerm