nciliation, all of which, as they had previously done, proved
ineffectual; and thus month succeeded month; and as the disaffection
grew stronger throughout the realm of Great Britain, and the animosity
of the populace against herself, her daughter, and all who professed
their faith, became more undisguised, she was compelled to admit to
herself that not even the affection of Henriette could longer afford
her a refuge.

The decapitation of the Duc de la Valette, and the death of the Comte de
Soissons, had rendered the Cardinal-Minister more powerful than ever;
while Gaston d'Orleans had, since the birth of the Dauphin, withdrawn
himself from the Court; and although he still conspired, he did so
timidly, as though prematurely assured of defeat; and thus no hope
remained to Marie of a return to France, while she felt that her longer
residence in England was impossible.

Yet still she lingered on, endeavouring by the inoffensiveness of her
deportment to disarm the animosity of the people, and enduring not only
menaces but even insult;[227] being ignorant in what direction to turn
her steps, lest she should throw herself into the power of her
arch-enemy. Her proud heart was bruised; her great name had become a
byword and a scorn; the wife and the mother of kings, before whose frown
the high-born and the powerful had once shrunk, sat shivering in the
vast halls of a foreign palace, shrinking beneath the hoarse cries of a
hostile multitude, and quailing in terror at their brutal threats.

During the popular commotion induced by the impeachment of the Earl of
Strafford, in 1640, the mob, equally incensed against the Romanists,
collected about St. James's Palace, and vociferated the most formidable
menaces against the priests who had accompanied the Queen-mother from
Flanders; while in a short time the crowd augmented so considerably in
number as to create great alarm for her personal safety. The Earl of
Holland, Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex, to whose vigilance she had been
confided, together with her household, immediately ordered out a hundred
musketeers to guard her; but many of these obeyed the command
reluctantly, declaring that they could find better employment than
watching over foreigners. Startled by this demonstration, Lord Holland
laid the case before the House of Peers (the royal authority being no
longer recognized), and generously represented the indignity of such an
insult to so great a Princess, who had, moreov