r England!'"

For a time both court and town seemed to forget the trouble and strife
which beset them. Bonfires blazed in the streets, bells rang from church
towers, the populace cheered lustily; whilst at Whitehall there were
many brilliant entertainments. These terminated with a magnificent ball,
held on the 15th instant, the queen's birthday; at the conclusion of
this festivity the bride and bridegroom were to embark in their yacht,
which was to set sail next morning for Holland. For this ball the
princess had "attired herself very richly with all her jewels;" but
her whole appearance betrayed a sadness she could not suppress in the
present, and which the future did not promise to dispel. For already the
bridegroom, whom the maids of honour had dubbed the "Dutch monster" and
"Caliban," had commenced to reveal glimpses of his unhandsome character;
"and the court began to whisper of his sullennesse or clownishnesse,
that he took no notice of his princess at the playe and balle, nor came
to see her at St. James', the day preceding that designed for their
departure."

The wind being easterly, they were detained in England until the 19th,
when, accompanied by the king, the Duke of York, and several persons of
quality, they went in barges from Whitehall to Greenwich. The princess
was sorely grieved, and wept unceasingly. When her tutor "kneeled down
and kissed her gown" at parting, she could not find words to speak, but
turned her back that she might hide her tears; and, later on, when
the queen "would have comforted her with the consideration of her own
condition when she came into England, and had never till then seen the
king, her highness replied, 'But, madam, you came into England; but I am
going out of England.'"

CHAPTER XVII.

The threatened storm bursts.--History of Titus Oates and Dr. Tonge.--A
dark scheme concocted.--The king is warned of danger.--The narrative of
a horrid plot laid before the treasurer.--Forged letters.--Titus Oates
before the council.--His blunders.--A mysterious murder.--Terror of the
citizens.--Lord Shaftesbury's schemes.--Papists are banished from the
capital.--Catholic peers committed to the Tower.--Oates is encouraged.

The marriage of the Lady Mary, though agreeable to the public mind, by
no means served to distract it from the turmoil by which it was beset.
Hatred of catholicism, fear of the Duke of York, and distrust of the
king, disturbed the nation to its core. R