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Northumberland's coach, and soon after ten arrived at Kingston-on-Thames. At the further end of the town he entered a coach of the Earl of Chesterfield, which was in readiness, and, attended by the Duke of York's guard, reached Guildford before twelve; thus performing a distance of thirty-five miles in less than three hours. At Guildford the King passed the night, and after travelling on the following day with the same speed, arrived at Portsmouth at noon.

Of

Catherine, in consequence of being indisposed, was in her own chamber, and in bed, when the King arrived. He was nevertheless admitted to the apartment. their interview he has himself given us an account. The following letter in his own hand-writing, addressed to Lord Clarendon, and indorsed by the Chancellor, is preserved in the British Museum. It contains a graphic picture of the royal bride, and is remarkable for that easy conversational style, so seldom to be found in the epistolary correspondence of the seventeenth century.

"Portsmouth, 21st May, eight in the morning.

"I arrived here yesterday about two in the afternoon, and as soon as I had shifted myself, I went into my wife's chamber, whom I found in bed, by reason of a little cough and some inclination to a fever. I can now give you an account of what I have seen, which, in short, is :-her face is not so exact as to be called a beauty, though her eyes are excellent good, and not anything in her face that in the least degree can shame one; on the contrary, she hath as much agreeableness in her looks as ever I saw, and if I have any skill in physiognomy, which I think I have, she must be as good a woman as ever was born. Her conversation, as much as I can perceive, is very good, for she has wit enough, and a most agreeable

voice. You will wonder to see how well we are acquainted already; in a word, I think myself very happy, for I am confident our two humours will agree very well together. I have not time to say any more. My Lord Lieutenant will give you an account of the rest.

C."

To Clarendon he again writes, four days afterwards :"I cannot easily tell you how happy I think myself; and I must be the worst man living (which I hope I am not) if I be not a good husband: I am confident never two humours were better fitted together than ours are."

Such, at the first days of their married life, was the favourable impression made by Catherine of Braganza on the fickle heart of Charles. In the circle, however, of his gay courtiers, he seems to have subsequently spoken of her in very different language. To Colonel Legge he said, that when he first saw her, "he thought they had brought him a bat instead of a woman." *

The day after the King's arrival, they were marriedprivately in the first instance, and according to the rites of the Romish faith-by Lord Aubigny, almoner to the Queen Dowager. The ceremony took place in Catherine's bed-chamber, in the presence of Philip, afterwards Cardinal Howard, and five of her Portuguese attendants, male and female, who were pledged to the profoundest secresy. Subsequently, Sheldon, Bishop of London, united them publicly according to the ceremonials of the Protestant Church. King James informs us that Catherine refused to be "bedded," till the bishop had pronounced them man and wife. As soon as the ceremony was at an end, a profusion of blue ribbons, with which the bride was decorated, was detached from her dress by the Countess of Suffolk, and distributed among

* Burnet, vol. i. p. 315; Note by Lord Dartmouth.

the scrambling spectators. Charles presented his bride with a gold toilet, valued at four hundred pounds. They remained at Portsmouth till the 27th, and from thence proceeded, by way of Windsor, to Hampton Court, at which latter palace they arrived on Charles's birthday, the 29th of May. In the parish register of St. Thomas à Becket, of Portsmouth, may still be seen an entry recording the ill-assorted marriage of Charles II. and Catherine of Braganza.

We have accounts, from more than one contemporary writer, of Catherine's personal appearance at this period. When Evelyn was first admitted into her presence, he found her surrounded by her Portuguese ladies, remarkable, he tells us, for their olive complexions and "immense fardingales." The Queen, he says, had the same appearance, but was much the handsomest of the party. Though short in stature, her figure was good, and her eyes "languishing and excellent." The only fault the philosopher had to find, was that her teeth projected a little too far; a blemish also remarked by Lord Dartmouth. But the most pleasing portrait of Catherine was drawn by her chamberlain, Lord Chesterfield, who was introduced to her previous to her landing, and who thus describes his first impressions in a letter to a Mr. Bates:-" Now as for the Queen, of whom I know you desire the description, you may credit her being a very extraordinary woman; that is, extremely devout, extremely discreet, very fond of her husband, and the owner of a good understanding. As to her person, she is exactly shaped, and has lovely hands, excellent eyes, a good countenance, a pleasing voice, fine hair, and, in a word, is what an understanding man would wish a wife. Yet, I fear all this will hardly make things run in the right channel; but if it should,

I suppose our Court will require a new modelling, and then the profession of an honest man's friendship will signify more than it does at present, from your very humble servant.” *

Reresby, too, had an early sight of the new Queen :— "She was a very little woman," he says, "with a pretty tolerable face: she, neither in person or manners, had any one article to stand in competition with the charms of the Countess of Castlemaine, since Duchess of Cleveland, the finest woman of her age." Pepys says that, though not very charming, the new Queen had a good, honest, and innocent look. Waller is, as usual, fulsome in her praise. He not only speaks of her "matchless beauty"† at this period, but twenty-one years afterwards, when she was in her forty-fourth year, the old but still courtly poet thus celebrates her charms :—

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She, like the sun, does still the same appear,
Bright as she was at her arrival here."

Waller has especially celebrated the beauty of her eyes. In an ode, addressed to her on her birthday, in 1663, he exclaims:

"An hundred times may you,

With eyes as bright as now,

This welcome day behold!"

And again, "On a card that her Majesty tore at ombre":

"The cards you tear in value rise;

So do the wounded by your eyes;

Who to celestial things aspire,

Are by that passion raised the higher."

The disagreeable portrait, which Lord Dartmouth has

* Letters of Philip, second Earl of Chesterfield, p. 123. Ode to "To the Queen, after her Majesty's happy recovery from a dangerous sickness."

drawn of Catherine in her more advanced years, affords a striking contrast to the encomiums of Waller. "She was very short and broad," he says, "of a swarthy complexion; one of her fore-teeth stood out, which held up her upper lip; had some very nauseous distempers, besides exceedingly proud and ill-favoured." *

The high ruffs and "monstrous fardingales" worn by the Queen and her olive-coloured attendants, as well as the surpassing ugliness of the latter, excited the horror of all the admirers of female beauty, and was a fund of amusement to the wits of the Court. The

poor Queen had been persuaded by her own people that the English ladies would willingly adopt their fantastic attire:

She seemed a medley of all ages,

With a huge farthingale to swell her fustian stuff,
A new commode, a topknot, and a ruff."-SWIFT.

But though our countrywomen have never been famous for their taste in dress, and have usually adopted any ridiculous fashion of their French neighbours, yet the costume of the new-comers was too outrageous even for them. The world, however, had not long reason to complain of the vast circumference of the Queen's hoop nor of the heighth and stiffness of her ruff. Yielding to the entreaties of her husband, she not only conformed to a more becoming attire, but even fell into the opposite extreme. "The Queen of Charles II.," says Mr. D'Israeli, "exposed her breast and shoulders without even the glass of the lightest gauze; and the tucker, instead of standing up on her bosom, is with licentious boldness turned down, and lies upon her stays."

Of the hideous train which accompanied her, De

* Burnet, vol. i. p. 315; Note by Lord Dartmouth.

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