st first bring forward a remarkable and unnoticed document in the
Embassies of Marshal Bassompierre.[205] It is nothing less than a most
solemn obligation contracted with the Pope and her brother the King of
France, to educate her children as Catholics, and only to choose
Catholics to attend them. Had this been known either to Charles or to
the English nation, Henrietta could never have been permitted to ascend
the English throne. The fate of both her sons shows how faithfully she
performed this treasonable contract. This piece of secret history opens
the concealed cause of those deep impressions of that faith which both
monarchs sucked in with their milk; that triumph of the cradle over the
grave which most men experience; Charles the Second died a Catholic,
James the Second lived as one.

When Henrietta was on her way to England, a legate from Rome arrested
her at Amiens, requiring the princess to undergo a penance, which was to
last sixteen days, for marrying Charles without the papal dispensation.
The queen stopped her journey, and wrote to inform the king of the
occasion. Charles, who was then waiting for her at Canterbury, replied,
that if Henrietta did not instantly proceed, he would return alone to
London. Henrietta doubtless sighed for the Pope and the penance, but she
set off the day she received the king's letter. The king, either by his
wisdom or his impatience, detected the aim of the Roman pontiff, who,
had he been permitted to arrest the progress of a Queen of England for
sixteen days in the face of all Europe, would thus have obtained a tacit
supremacy over a British monarch.

When the king arrived at Canterbury, although not at the moment prepared
to receive him, Henrietta flew to meet him, and with all her spontaneous
grace and native vivacity, kneeling at his feet, she kissed his hand,
while the king, bending over her, wrapped her in his arms, and kissed
her with many kisses. This royal and youthful pair, unusual with those
of their rank, met with the eagerness of lovers, and the first words of
Henrietta were those of devotion; _Sire! je suis venue en ce pays de
votre majeste pour etre usee et commandee de vous._[206] It had been
rumoured that she was of a very short stature, but, reaching to the
king's shoulder, his eyes were cast down to her feet, seemingly
observing whether she used art to increase her height. Anticipating his
thoughts, and playfully showing her feet, she declared, that "she stood