have been one of those persons who, under happier circumstances, might have passed irreproachably, and even worthily, through life, but who, wanting a vital principle of religion to support them against adversity or injustice, take up with pleasure as a substitute for happiness, and thus lay up for themselves an inheritance of misery and reproach. Her disposition in many respects resembled the king's; and with her temper and talents she might have acquired a hold upon his affections which Catharine never possessed. Few royal marriages, by which no succession was conveyed, have been so important in their political consequences as that of Charles II. with the Infanta of Portugal. It preserved that country as an independent kingdom, and it laid the foundation of our Indian empire. The latter consequence was not within the scope of human foresight: the former was plainly seen to depend upon this alliance, and therefore more diplomatic intrigues were employed to prevent or further it, than were ever put in motion, before or since, on any similar occasion. The fullest account of them is to be found in Lord Clarendon's life; but we happen to possess a relation drawn up at the time by the Portugueze ambassador, for his own government, which explains some things that Clarendon himself knew not how to account for, and contains some facts not unimportant to English history. The ambassador, Francisco de Mello e Torres, Conde da Ponte, and Marques de Sande, was not very scrupulous in his orthography of English names; he, or his transcriber, writes Poomar for Palmer, Oar for Howard, and Aonello for O'Neil; and he speaks of the Counts of Serosboy, Piter Darou, and Mortorbolon; but he was an able man, as well as a true Portugueze, thoroughly devoted to his country.

why the Queen Duke of York's whenever that

Lord Clarendon was at a loss to understand Mother, who was so violently incensed at the marriage with his daughter as to declare that woman should be brought into Whitehall by one door, she would go out of it by another, and never come into it again,' should on a sudden have been reconciled to the marriage, and have courted also a reconciliation with him. He was not the dupe of this, being well acquainted with the arts of her court, of which, he says, dissimulation was the rule. Nevertheless he was inclined to believe what the Abbot Montague told him, that Cardinal Mazarine had written to warn her, she could not expect a welcome in France if she left her son in her displeasure, and professed an animosity against those ministers who were most trusted by the king.' Clarendon adds that he little understood from what fountain this good will of the Cardinal proceeded, who had never been propitious to him.' The Portugueze ambassador

states

states what was the real cause. Though France had abandoned Portugal at the treaty of the Pyrenees, it was not her interest that that kingdom should be re-united to Spain. But the Queen Mother of France retained all her Castilian feelings, and the Cardinal, statesman as he was, regarded any state-interest as a secon dary concern compared with the aggrandizement of his family. His heart was set upon bringing about that marriage for his niece, to which, in the pride of his heart, and in his contempt for the fallen fortunes of the exiled king, he had refused his consent. They had engaged Mountague and the Earl of St. Albans to promote this object, the influence of the latter being as great with Henrietta, as that of Mazarine with his royal mistress. His services, according to the Portugueze ambassador, were secured by the promise of a sum large enough to excite the cupidity of one who through life cared for nothing but himself. The queen-mother at this time was passionately bent upon making the Duke of York cast off his wife; the disposition which at one time he manifested to do so, is the most dishonourable part of his whole life, for James had some good qualities, and some great ones. It was, however, perceived that the arguments which she urged with her natural vehemence against the marriage, on the ground of the disparagement of such an alliance, and the disgrace it was to the royal family, applied with equal or greater force to that which was proposed for the king with Hortensia Mancini. She was induced therefore to desist from that topic; to acknowledge the duchess for her daughterin-law, and to court a reconciliation with Clarendon, who, it was expected, would, in return for the signal advantage thus obtained by his family, unite his interests with those of the queen and her party, and join with them to break off the treaty with Portugal. But it proved otherwise, says the ambassador; for it was actually found that the chancellor regarded nothing but the service of his prince. Mazarine then ceased to pursue a design which he perceived to be impracticable; but he felt the disappointment keenly, and was said to observe upon the occasion, they say I am a great politician; the Chancellor of England is a great one; he has known how to wed his daughter with the Duke of York, and, what is more, to wed himself with the king.'

While the duke was hesitating whether to ratify or break his marriage, the Portugueze Infanta was proposed to him, at the cars dinal's suggestion; he had acquired considerable military reputa tion, and Mazarine thought a command in Portugal would suit his inclinations, and that, under this cover, France and England might secretly assist the Portugueze, without coming to an open rupture with Spain. James was well disposed to give his consent, and the Portugueze ambassador was not a little embarrassed when he was

applied

"

7

applied to upon the subject by St. Albans and by the French ambassador Rouvigny. When this embarrassment was over he had to contend with the Catholic party in England, with Bristol at their head, a man whose surpassing talents were rendered useless, and even prejudicial to himself and others, by want of judgement in the earlier part of his life, and by a more lamentable want of principle in the latter. He had grown up with a Spanish feeling, and the favour with which he had been received at Madrid for his father's sake, had completely hispaniolized him. That word was in common use when the English Romanists maintained a treasonable communication with Spain, in the hope of overthrowing the Protestant government by aid of a Spanish force. The predilection continued long after that abominable project had been abandoned; the Spanish monarchy, though it had long been on the wane, was still looked up to as the head of Catholic Christendom, France being at that time, in point of religion, a divided kingdom; and the Conde da Ponte informs us it was believed that the Roman Catholic religion could not subsist in England, unless the King of Spain had a strong party in the country. The Jesuits, who were employed here, were all of that party; the company had not yet turned to worship the rising fortune of the grand monarque, and they looked apon Portugal as incapable of maintaining a long struggle for its independence. The Catholics, therefore, as a body, were opposed to the Portugueze match, and their opposition in those times made it of course popular.

6

Baron de Batteville, the Spanish ambassador, seems to have imagined that he succeeded to Gondomar's influence in this country; and this presumption, with the warmth of his temper, gave the Portugueze a great advantage over him, and betrayed him into great improprieties, and even gross misconduct, in the course of the affair. Clarendon, who rarely or never erred in estimating those whom he had an opportunity of observing, characterises him in this sentence: He seemed a rough man, and to have more of the camp, but, in truth, knew the intrigues of a court better than most Spaniards; and, except when his passion surprized him, was wary and cunning in his negociations.' Neither money nor intrigues were spared on his part. It is asserted here that Manchester refused from him a bribe of six thousand pounds, acting honourably on this occasion, as he had always done, even when most fatally erroneous. Mrs. Palmer also was applied to; but for once in her life she had the decency to feel that it did not become her to interfere. Batteville and his friend Bristol had no scruple concerning the means which they employed. They traduced the person of the Portugueze princess, and represented her as incapable of bearing children; they accused Clarendon of seek

ing by this means to secure the succession to the throne for his own grandchildren; they affirmed that Portugal had neither the right nor the ability to perform the conditions which it proposed; and they engaged that Spain would give with the Infanta of Parma, or with any Protestant princess, all that Portugal offered. Such Catholics as valued their religion more than their faction were justly scandalized at this latter proposal, for they well knew how important it was to the interests of the Romish church that the King of England should marry one of its members-a truth of which, the English at that time were not sufficiently sensible. That this might appear less inconsistent, Batteville represented the Braganzan family as heretical; happy indeed had it been for Portugal had they been so, for never did so fair an opportunity present itself for effect+ ing a peaceful and efficient reformation of the superstitions preva lent in that country as the court of Rome at that time offered, by the flagrant injustice with which it acted in subservience to Spani He reported also that in the course of two months the whole of Portugal would be reduced to obedience, and that the queen regent was at that time secretly treating for terms of submission.

On the other hand, the influence of France was now used for promoting the match; and Louis XIV. in explaining to his son the motives upon which he acted, enters into some curious distinctions upon the faith of treaties, not a little important, as showing us, upon the highest authority, with what faith French treaties have too generally been made. The two motives which he assigned were, that he might thus induce England to support the Portugueze, who were otherwise in immediate danger of being subdued; and that he might have better means to assist them himself, if it were ne cessary, notwithstanding the treaty of the Pyrenees, in which he had solemnly engaged not to do so. 'I shall touch here, my son, he says, upon a point more delicate, perhaps, than any other in the conduct of princes. I am far from wishing to teach you bad faith, and I believe that I have lately manifested to all Europe the importance which I attach to my word, in preferring it to my greatest interests. But there is some distinction to be made in these affairs.

'The state of the two crowns of France and Spain is at this time, and long has been such, that the one cannot be raised without depressing the other, which has almost nothing to fear from any other quarter. This creates a jealousy between them which (if I may venture so to express myself) is essential, and a kind of permanent enmity which treaties may cover, but never can extinguish, because the foundation of it always endures; and because the one of these powers in acting against the other, does not think so much of injuring it, as of maintaining and preserving itself, which is so natural a duty that it easily prevails over all others.

'And

"And to speak the truth without disguise, they never enter upon any treaty but in this spirit. Whatever specious clauses may be inserted of union and friendship, and of procuring, respectively, all sorts of advantages, the true sense which each understands perfectly, by the experience of so many ages, is, that they should abstain outwardly from all kinds of hostility, and from all public demonstrations of ill will; but, as for secret infractions, and which make no noise, the one expects them always from the other, from the natural principle which I have spoken of, and promises the contrary only in the same sense in which it is promised to him. Thus, it may be said, that in equally dispensing for themselves with the observance of treaties, in strictness they do not contravene them, because the words of treaties are not understood literally: they are forms of speech which must be used, like forms of compliment in the world, absolutely necessary for those who live in it, and which have a signification far below their sound.' Applying this convenient doctrine to the case in point, he says, 'the clauses by which they bound me not to assist the crown of Portugal, the more extraordinary they were, the more reiterated and accompanied with precautions, the more they proved that it was not believed I ought to abstain from assisting it. And all the respect which I thought myself bound to pay, was not to succour it, except in case of necessity, and then, with moderation, and covertly, which could be more commodiously done through the interposition, and under the name of the King of England, if he were once brother-in-law to the King of Portugal.'

Such was the good faith of the French government!

During the whole negociation, the Portugueze ambassador was in a state of feverish anxiety, believing that the independence of his country depended upon the issue; and when, upon a question concerning the time at which Tangiers should be delivered up, there appeared some danger that it would be broken off, he produced Sanches de Matrimonio before the privy council, to convince them that the king could not, in conscience, marry with any other person after the treaty had proceeded so far. To his infinite satisfaction all points in dispute were finally adjusted; and as the definitive settlement was concluded on the 29th of April, the count, with pious disregard to the difference of styles, exulted in the thought that St. Pedro the martyr, who occupies that day in the Catholic Kalendar, had taken an active part in bringing it to this happy conclusion, in requital for the patronage afforded by the royal family of Portugal to the Holy Office,the said St. Pedro having been an inquisitor in the first days of the Inquisition, and righteously put to death as such by the people.

Lord Clarendon relates that the Spanish ambassador took advantage of the license of the court where no rules or formalities were yet established (and to which the King himself was not enough inclined;)' presuming upon this, he came to the king at all hours, without any ceremony or desiring an audience, according to the

old