, and on that account high in his good graces,
thought it fell within the line of his duty to suggest another scheme
than that on which Christian consulted him. A woman of such exquisite
beauty as Alice was described, he deemed more worthy to be a partaker of
the affections of the merry Monarch, whose taste in female beauty was
so exquisite, than to be made the wife of some worn-out prodigal of
quality. And then, doing perfect justice to his own character, he felt
it would not be one whit impaired, while his fortune would be, in every
respect, greatly amended, if, after sharing the short reign of the
Gwyns, the Davises, the Robertses, and so forth, Alice Bridgenorth
should retire from the state of a royal favourite, into the humble
condition of Mrs. Chiffinch.

After cautiously sounding Christian, and finding that the near prospect
of interest to himself effectually prevented his starting at this
iniquitous scheme, Chiffinch detailed it to him fully, carefully keeping
the final termination out of sight, and talking of the favour to be
acquired by the fair Alice as no passing caprice, but the commencement
of a reign as long and absolute as that of the Duchess of Portsmouth,
of whose avarice and domineering temper Charles was now understood to
be much tired, though the force of habit rendered him unequal to free
himself of her yoke.

Thus chalked out, the scene prepared was no longer the intrigue of a
Court pander, and a villainous resolution for the ruin of an innocent
girl, but became a state intrigue, for the removal of an obnoxious
favourite, and the subsequent change of the King's sentiments upon
various material points, in which he was at present influenced by the
Duchess of Portsmouth. In this light it was exhibited to the Duke of
Buckingham, who, either to sustain his character for daring gallantry,
or in order to gratify some capricious fancy, had at one time made love
to the reigning favourite, and experienced a repulse which he had never
forgiven.

But one scheme was too little to occupy the active and enterprising
spirit of the Duke. An appendix of the Popish Plot was easily so
contrived as to involve the Countess of Derby, who, from character and
religion, was precisely the person whom the credulous part of the public
were inclined to suppose the likely accomplice of such a conspiracy.
Christian and Bridgenorth undertook the perilous commission of attacking
her even in her own little kingdom of Man, and ha