en to one, and
to slit his nose with a penknife. Like master, like man. The King's
favourite, the Duke of Buckingham, was strongly suspected of setting on
an assassin to murder the DUKE OF ORMOND as he was returning home from a
dinner; and that Duke's spirited son, LORD OSSORY, was so persuaded of
his guilt, that he said to him at Court, even as he stood beside the
King, 'My lord, I know very well that you are at the bottom of this late
attempt upon my father. But I give you warning, if he ever come to a
violent end, his blood shall be upon you, and wherever I meet you I will
pistol you! I will do so, though I find you standing behind the King's
chair; and I tell you this in his Majesty's presence, that you may be
quite sure of my doing what I threaten.' Those were merry times indeed.

There was a fellow named BLOOD, who was seized for making, with two
companions, an audacious attempt to steal the crown, the globe, and
sceptre, from the place where the jewels were kept in the Tower. This
robber, who was a swaggering ruffian, being taken, declared that he was
the man who had endeavoured to kill the Duke of Ormond, and that he had
meant to kill the King too, but was overawed by the majesty of his
appearance, when he might otherwise have done it, as he was bathing at
Battersea. The King being but an ill-looking fellow, I don't believe a
word of this. Whether he was flattered, or whether he knew that
Buckingham had really set Blood on to murder the Duke, is uncertain. But
it is quite certain that he pardoned this thief, gave him an estate of
five hundred a year in Ireland (which had had the honour of giving him
birth), and presented him at Court to the debauched lords and the
shameless ladies, who made a great deal of him--as I have no doubt they
would have made of the Devil himself, if the King had introduced him.

Infamously pensioned as he was, the King still wanted money, and
consequently was obliged to call Parliaments. In these, the great object
of the Protestants was to thwart the Catholic Duke of York, who married a
second time; his new wife being a young lady only fifteen years old, the
Catholic sister of the DUKE OF MODENA. In this they were seconded by the
Protestant Dissenters, though to their own disadvantage: since, to
exclude Catholics from power, they were even willing to exclude
themselves. The King's object was to pretend to be a Protestant, while
he was really a Catholic; to swear to the bisho