And his inclination to his new cupbearer disposed him to administer frequent occasions of discoursing of the court of France, and the transactions there, with which he had been so lately acquainted, that he could pertinently enlarge upon that subject, to the king's great delight, and to the reconciling the esteem and value of all the standers by likewise to him: which was a thing the king was well pleased with. He acted very few weeks upon this stage, when he mounted higher; and, being knighted, without any other qualification, he was at the same time made gentleman of the bedchamber, and knight of the order of the garter; and in a short time (very short for such a prodigious ascent) he was made a baron, a viscount, an earl, a marquis, and became lord high admiral of England, lord warden of the cinque ports, master of the horse, and entirely disposed of all the graces of the king, in conferring all the honours and all the offices of the three kingdoms, without a rival; in dispensing whereof, he was guided more by the rules of appetite than of judgment; and so exalted almost all of his own numerous family and dependants, who had no other virtue or merit than their alliance to him, which equally offended the ancient nobility, and the people of all conditions, who saw the flowers of the crown every day fading and withered; whilst the demesnes and revenue thereof was sacrificed to the enriching a private family, (how well soever originally extracted,) not heard of before ever to the nation; and the expenses of the court so vast and unlimited by the old good rules of economy, that they had a sad prospect of that poverty and necessity, which

afterwards befell the crown, almost to the ruin of it.

Many were of opinion, that king James, before his death, grew weary of his favourite; and that, if he had lived, he would have deprived him at least of his large and unlimited power. And this imagination prevailed with some men, as the lord keeper Lincoln, the earl of Middlesex, lord high treasurer of England, and other gentlemen of name, though not in so high stations, that they had the courage to withdraw from their absolute dependence upon the duke, and to make some other essays, which proved to the ruin of every one of them; there appearing no marks, or evidence, that the king did really lessen his affection to him, to the hour of his death. On the contrary, as he created him duke of Buckingham in his absence, whilst he was with the prince in Spain; so, after his return, he executed the same authority in conferring all favours and graces, and revenging himself upon those, who had manifested any unkindness towards him. And yet, notwithstanding all this, if that king's nature had equally disposed him to pull down, as to build and erect, and if his courage and severity in punishing and reforming had been as great as his generosity and inclination was to oblige, it is not to be doubted, but that he would have withdrawn his affection from the duke entirely, before his death; which those persons, who were admitted to any privacy with [him,] and were not in the confidence of the other, (for before those he knew well how to dissemble,) had reason enough to expect.

For it is not to be doubted, that the king was

never well pleased with the duke, after the prince's going into Spain; which was infinitely against his will, and contrived wholly by the duke: who, out of envy, that the earl of Bristol should have the sole management of so great an affair, (as hitherto that treaty had been wholly managed by him in Spain, where he was now extraordinary ambassador, and all particulars agreed upon,) had one day insinuated to the prince the common misfortune of princes, that in so substantial a part of their happiness in this world, as depended upon their marriage, themselves had never any part, but must receive only an account from others of the nature, and humour, and beauty of the ladies they were to marry; and those reports seldom proceeded from persons totally uninterested, at least uninclined from the parts they had acted towards such preparations. From hence [he] discoursed how gallant and how brave a thing it would be, for his highness to make a journey into Spain, and to fetch home his mistress; that it would put an end presently to all those formalities, which, (though all substantial matters were agreed upon already,) according to the style of that court, and the slow progress in all things of ceremony, might yet long retard the infanta's voyage into England many months; all which would be in a moment removed by his own presence; that it would be such an obligation to the infanta herself, as she could never enough value or requite; and being a respect never paid by any other prince, upon the like addresses, could proceed only from the high regard and reverence he had for her person; that in the great affair that only remained undetermined, and was not entirely

yielded to, though under a very civil deliberation, which was the restoring the palatinate, it was very probable, that the king of Spain himself might choose, in the instant, to gratify his personal interposition, which, in a treaty with an ambassador, might be drawn out in length, or attended with overtures of recompense by some new concessions, which would create new difficulties: however, that the mediation could not but be frankly undertaken by the infanta herself, who would ambitiously make it her work to pay a part of her great debt to the prince; and that he might with her, and by her, present to his majesty the entire peace and restitution of his family, which by no other human means could be brought to pass.

These discourses made so deep impression upon the mind and spirit of the prince, (whose nature was inclined to adventures,) that he was transported with the thought of it, and most impatiently solicitous to bring it to pass. The greatest difficulty that was in view was, how they might procure the king's consent, who was very quicksighted in discerning difficulties and raising objections, and very slow in mastering them, and untying the knots he had made: in a word, he knew not how to wrestle with desperate contingencies, and so abhorred the being entangled in such. This was to be first attempted by the prince himself, by communicating it to the king, as his earnest desire and suit, with this circumstance; that since his doing or not doing what he most desired, depended wholly and entirely upon his majesty's own approbation and command, that he would vouchsafe to promise not to communicate the thing proposed, before he had first taken his

own resolution; and that this condition should be first humbly insisted on, before the substantial point should be communicated; and so, this approach being first made, the success and prosecution was to be left to the duke's credit, dexterity, and cultivation. All things being thus concerted between his highness and the duke, (and this the beginning of an entire confidence between them, after a long time of declared jealousy and displeasure on the prince's part, and occasion enough administered on the other,) they shortly found a fit opportunity (and there were seasons when that king was to be approached more hopefully than in others) to make their address together. And his majesty cheerfully consented to the condition, and being well pleased that all should depend upon his will, frankly promised that he would not, in any degree, communicate to any person the matter, before he had taken, and communicated to them, his own resolution.

The prince then, upon his knees, declared his suit and very importunate request, the duke standing a long time by, without saying a word, and until the king discoursed the whole matter to the prince, with less passion than they expected, and then looked upon the duke, as inclined to hear what he would say; who spoke nothing to the point, whether in point of prudence counsellable, or not; but enlarged upon the infinite obligation his majesty would confer upon the prince, by his concession of the violent passion his highness was transported with; and, after many exalted expressions to that purpose, concluded, that he doubted that his majesty refusing to grant the prince this his humble request would