of Don Juan IV. of Portugal, was
unwedded, and to her Charles ultimately addressed himself. Alliance with
her commended itself to the nation from the fact that the late king,
before the troubled times began, had entered into a negotiation with
Portugal concerning the marriage of this same infanta and his present
majesty; and such was the esteem in which the memory of Charles I. was
now held, that compliance with his desires was regarded as a sacred
obligation. The Portuguese ambassador assured the merry monarch that the
princess, by reason of her beauty, person, and age, was most suited to
him. To convince him of this, he showed his majesty a portrait of the
lady, which the king examining, declared "that person could not be
unhandsome." The ambassador, who was of a certainty most anxious for
this union, then said it was true the princess was a catholic, and would
never change her faith; but she was free from "meddling activity;" that
she had been reared by a wise mother, and would only look to the freedom
of practising her own religion without interfering with that of others.
Finally, he added that the princess would have a dowry befitting
her high station, of no less a sum than five hundred thousand pounds
sterling in ready money.

Moreover, by way of addition to this already handsome portion, the Queen
of Portugal was ready to assign over and annex to the English crown,
the Island of Bombay, in the East Indies, and Tangier on the African
coast--a place of strength and importance, which would be of great
benefit and security to British commerce. Nor was this all. Portugal
was likewise willing to grant England free trade in Brazil and the East
Indies, a privilege heretofore denied all other countries. This was
indeed a dower which none of the "dull and foggy" German princesses
could bring the crown. The prospect of obtaining so much ready money
especially commended the alliance to the extravagant taste of his
majesty, who had this year complained to Parliament of his poverty, by
reason of which he "was so much grieved to see many of his friends come
to him at Whitehall, and to think they were obliged to go somewhere else
for a dinner."

The merry monarch was therefore well pleased at the prospect of his
union, as were likewise the chancellor and four or five "competent
considerers of such an affair" whom he consulted. These worthy
counsellors and men of sage repute, who included in their number the
Duke of Ormond and