by arrangement into solid gold in London.

The ambassador was therefore sorely perplexed, and knew not whether
he should return to England without the bride, or take her and the
merchandise which represented half her dowry on board his ship. He
decided on the latter course, and the queen, with her court and retinue,
set sail for merry England on the 23rd of April, 1662.

CHAPTER VI.

The king's intrigue with Barbara Palmer.--The queen arrives at
Portsmouth.--Visited by the Duke of York.--The king leaves town,--First
interview with his bride.--His letter to the lord chancellor.--Royal
marriage and festivities.--Arrival at Hampton Court Palace.--Prospects
of a happy union.--Lady Castlemaine gives birth to a second child.--The
king's infatuation.--Mistress and wife.--The queen's misery.--The king's
cruelty.--Lord Clarendon's messages.--His majesty resolves to break the
queen's spirit.--End of the domestic quarrel.

Whilst the king conducted the negotiations of his marriage with
Catherine of Braganza, he likewise continued the pursuit of his intrigue
with Barbara Palmer. The unhappy fascination which this vile woman
exercised over his majesty increased with time; and though his ministers
declared a suitable marriage would reform his ways, his courtiers
concluded he had no intention of abandoning his mistress in favour of
his wife. For Barbara Palmer, dreading the loss of her royal lover and
the forfeiture of wealth accruing from this connection, had firmly bound
him in her toils. Moreover, in order that he might continually abide
under her influence, she conceived a scheme which would of necessity
bring her into constant intercourse with him and the young queen.
She therefore demanded he would appoint her one of the ladies of the
bedchamber to her majesty, to which he, heedless of the insult this
would fix upon his wife, readily consented.

In order to qualify Barbara Palmer for such a position, it was necessary
she should be raised to the peerage. This could only be accomplished by
ennobling her husband, unless public decency were wholly ignored,
and she was created a peeress in her own right, whilst he remained a
commoner. After some faint show of hesitation, Roger Palmer accepted the
honours thrust upon him by reason of his wife's infamy. On the 11th of
December, 1661, he was created Earl of Castlemaine, and Baron Limerick
in the peerage of Ireland, when the royal favourite became a countess.