, the very thing that had almost deprived me of
my senses: she knew very well that she herself was the person I was
describing: we were alone, as you may imagine, when I told her this
story; and my eyes did their utmost to persuade her that it was herself
whom I drew. I perceived that she was not in the least offended at
knowing this; nor was her modesty in the least alarmed at the relation
of a fiction, which I might have concluded in a manner still less
discreet, if I had thought proper. This patient audience made me plunge
headlong into the ocean of flattering ideas that presented themselves
to my imagination. I then no longer thought of the king, nor how
passionately fond he was of her, nor of the dangers attendant upon such
an engagement: in short, I know not what the devil I was thinking of;
but I am very certain that, if you had not been thinking for me, I might
have found my ruin in the midst of these distracted visions."

Not long after, the court returned to London; and from that time, some
malevolent star having gained the ascendant, every thing went cross in
the empire of Love: vexation, suspicions, or jealousies, first entered
the field, to set all hearts at variance; next, false reports, slander,
and disputes, completed the ruin of all.

The Duchess of Cleveland had been brought to bed while the court was at
Bristol; and never before had she recovered from her lying-in with such
a profusion of charms. This made her believe that she was in a proper
state to retrieve her ancient rights over the king's heart, if she had
an opportunity of appearing before him with this increased splendour.
Her friends being of the same opinion, her equipage was prepared for
this expedition; but the very evening before the day she had fixed on to
set out, she saw young Churchill, and was at once seized with a disease,
which had more than once opposed her projects, and which she could never
completely get the better of.

[Churchill--Afterwards the celebrated Duke of Marlborough. He was
born midsummer-day, 1650, and died June 16, 1722. Bishop Burnet
takes notice of the discovery of this intrigue. "The Duchess of
Cleveland finding that she had lost the king, abandoned herself to
great disorders; one of which, by the artifice of the Duke of
Buckingham, was discovered by the king in person, the party
concerned leaping out of the window."--History of his own Times,
vol. i. p. 370. This was in 1668. A very pa