Buckingham, who was prime mover in this plot, aware of the
king's pride in, and fondness for the Duke of Monmouth, favoured the
scheme of his majesty's admission of a marriage previous to that
which united him with Catherine of Braganza. And according to Burnet,
Buckingham undertook to procure witnesses who would swear they had
been present at the ceremony which united him with the abandoned Lucy
Walters. Moreover, the Earl of Carlisle, who likewise favoured the
contrivance, offered to bring this subject before the House of Lords.
However, the king would not consent to trifle with the succession in
this vile manner, and the idea was promptly abandoned. But though the
project was unsuccessful, it was subsequently the cause of many evils;
for the chances of sovereignty, flashing before the eyes of the Duke
of Monmouth, dazzled him with hopes, in striving to realize which, he,
during the succeeding reign, steeped the country in civil warfare, and
lost his head.

The king's friends, ever active for evil, now sought other methods
by which he might rid himself of the woman who loved him well, and
therefore be enabled to marry again, when, it was trusted, he would have
heirs to the crown. It was suggested his union might, through lack of
some formality, be proved illegal; but as this could not be effected
without open violation of truth and justice, it was likewise forsaken.
The Duke of Buckingham now besought his majesty that he would order a
bill to divorce himself from the queen to be brought into the House of
Commons. The king gave his consent to the suggestion, and the affair
proceeded so far that a date was fixed upon for the motion. However,
three days previous, Charles called Baptist May aside, and told him the
matter must be discontinued.

But even yet my Lord Buckingham did not despair of gaining his wishes.
And, being qualified by his character for the commission of abominable
deeds, and fitted by his experience for undertaking adventurous schemes,
he proposed to his majesty, as Burnet states, that he would give
him leave to abduct the queen, and send her out of the kingdom to a
plantation, where she should be well and carefully looked to, but never
heard of more. Then it could be given out she had deserted him, upon
which grounds he might readily obtain a divorce. But the king, though he
permitted such a proposal to be made him, contemplated it with horror,
declaring "it was a wicked thing to make a poor lady mis