are many," replied king William with a sigh, "there are as many men of high honour in this country as in any other, perhaps more; but, my lord Portland, they are not my friends." 2 This conviction did not prevent king William from disgracing himself by the patronage he afforded to the noxious wretch, Titus Oates. The parliament reversed the just sentence of the law against the perjurer; and William and Mary not only pensioned him with 4007. per annum, but, what was far worse, rewarded him for his deeds with two rich livings in the church of England. Titus likewise wrote a most libellous book against James II., and was impudent enough to present it in full levee to the king and queen! Evelyn mentions with disgust, that his work contrived to insult the grandfather as well as the father of the queen, being entitled, "Eikon Basilike, or a picture of the late king James." It was a vulgar parody on the beautiful work of Charles I. The patronage of this foul character occasioned horror, but king William was supposed to be in his power on account of former political intrigues. The queen was observed by her courtiers to put on a statue-like coldness whenever she communed with her sister, who was glad to retreat to her old dwelling, the Cockpit, from the coveted Portsmouth apartments, which were in near vicinity to those of her majesty. The queen's side of the ancient palace of Whitehall seems to have been on the site of the range of buildings now called Whitehall Terrace, while 1 Lord Dartmouth's Notes: Portland told the anecdote to Dartmouth's father. 2 The parliament relieved Titus Oates from the cruel continuance of his punishment, but, at the same time, positively refused to remove from him the stigma of the murderous false-witness, by which he had earned those inflictions. (Parliamentary Journals.) What would be thought in these days of any clergyman being inducted into rich pluralities, whose oath was inadmissible as a convicted false-witness? * Conduct, by the duchess of Marlborough. the residence of the princess, the Cockpit, was on the other side of the Holbein gateway, and opened into St. James's park. The Portsmouth-apartments were occupied by the infant duke of Gloucester as his nursery, whenever he was in town; and the queen could at times approach her adopted son without always meeting the mother, and assuming the austere frown with which she usually beheld her. This arrangement, though really contrived by Anne in an evident spirit of conciliation, was made the means of insults to her of a description as absurd as they were annoying. Of course, the princess, who was a tender mother, passed much of her time in the nursery of her heir. Whenever the queen heard that her sister was there, she forbore to enter the room, but would send an inquiry or a message to her infant nephew-" a compliment," as it was called, in the phraseology of the day. The set speech used to be delivered by the queen's official in formal terms to the unconscious infant, as he laid on his nurse's knee ;' and then the courtly messenger would depart, without taking the slightest notice of the princess Anne, although she sat by her child. Sometimes, queen Mary sent her nephew rattles or balls, or other toys, all which were chronicled in the Gazette with great solemnity; but every attention shown to the little Gloucester was attended with some signal impertinence to his mother.2 Early in the spring of 1690, king William completed the purchase of lord Nottingham's lease3 of Kensington house, and determined to build there a palace which would be conveniently contiguous to London for councils, and yet 1 Conduct, by the duchess of Marlborough. 2 Ibid. 3 Kensington, as the name implies, had always been a demesne of the crown, from the Saxon era. It was the nursery palace of the Tudors, when the court was at Chelsea, in the reign of Henry VIII.; it had been granted in leases from one courtier to another, until, from the Heneages, it had merged in their descendant, Daniel Finch, earl of Nottingham. out of the reach of its smoky atmosphere, which often aggravated his constitutional disease of asthma to agony. The earl of Nottingham's ground at Kensington consisted of only twenty-five acres, being the angle between the present conservatory and Kensington-town, and the whole demesne in king William's occupation never exceeded it. Hyde Park then came up to the great walk,' which now reaches from Bayswater to Kensington, extending in front of the palace. A wild gravel pit occupied the ground between the north of the palace and the Bayswater road,2 afterwards enclosed by queen Anne. A straight avenue of trees and a formal carriage-drive led across the park to William III.'s suburban palace; the round pond did not then exist, therefore the present features of the scene are essentially different. The king wished the buildings he planned at Kensington to be finished against he returned from his Irish campaign, as he meant to take the field against his uncle in the ensuing spring. Among the important avocations deputed to the queen's management, the superintendence of the erection of Kensington palace was not the least in her estimation, as will be presently shown by her letters. It was in this spot that queen Mary displayed that extraordinary taste in gardening, which, twenty years afterwards, was mirthfully discussed by Addison and Steele in "The Spectator." Notwithstanding their lively satire, the vegetable whimsies in which her majesty's Dutch predilections delighted, continued prevalent for a century. Let the reader give a glance at the black groups of yews and hollies which rear their odd outlines over the private garden wall at Kensington Palace, near the chapel; those queer contorted trees were once the cherished ornaments of queen Mary's private garden; they were then and there clipped 1 Knight's "London." 2 Ibid. into the forms of lions and unicorns, ducks and drakes, cocks and hens, dragons, tigers, and basilisks, by the ingenious shears of her majesty's gardeners, London and Wise. These worthies and their royal mistress once effected the formation of the vegetable statues of Adam and Eve, and the Tree of Knowledge, but the serpent long defied the utmost efforts of their skill. There are some odd black, dwarfish yew-trees among the now delightful gardens at Hampton Court, on which her majesty and her favourite gardeners once exercised their peculiar taste. MARY II. QUEEN REGNANT OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. CHAPTER VI. The reins of government consigned to queen Mary-Plan to seize her fatherDeparture of William III. to Ireland-With the husband of princess AnneSeries of the queen's letters-She describes to her husband her quarrel with the queen-dowager-Arrest of her uncle-Enmity against him— Her sabbath laws-Her want of money for building-Her regnal troubles -Her annoyance from lord Monmouth-She orders the fleet to fight-Loss of the battle of Beachy Head-Her letter on it-She writes to the Dutch admiral-Her affliction-Has not time to weep-Letter on the king's wound-On the battle of the Boyne-Mentions her father-Her meeting with lord Lincoln-Visit to the privy council-Her troubles concerning it -She is mentioned in Jacobite songs-She pleads for education in Ireland -Horrors inflicted there by her husband-Queen reviews militia-Letters to the king-Her disgust at Burnet and his sermon-Unwilling to print it-Her discussions in council-Urged to seize power-Her fidelity to her spouse-Harassed with naval matters-Calmness in stormy debate -Offers command to admiral Russell-Tormented with cabinet factions -Expects the king home-Apologies regarding Kensington-palace and Hampton-Court-Cannot finish buildings-Dreads her husband's angerFears for his capture at sea-Plagued by factions-Beset by a mad lordHarassed with regnal perplexities-Has the vapours. QUEEN MARY was brought by William III. to council, June 3, 1690, an act of parliament having previously passed, investing her with full regnal powers of governing solely during the king's absence. William proceeded to appoint and declare, in her presence, the junta of nine |