And now the merry month of May being arrived, the queen was speedily
expected; and on the night of the 13th joyful tidings reached London
that the "Royal Charles," accompanied by the fleet, was in sight of
Portsmouth. At which news there was great rejoicing throughout the town,
church bells ringing merrily, and bonfires blazing brightly; but before
the Countess of Castlemaine's house, where the king, according to his
custom was at supper, there was no fire, though such signs of joy burned
"at all the rest of the doors almost in the streets, which was much
observed."

Next day the fleet arrived in the harbour of Portsmouth, about four in
the afternoon. Heath says the people gathered to receive the bride with
all possible demonstrations of honour, "the nobility and gentry and
multitudes of Londoners, in most rich apparel and in great numbers,
waiting on the shore for her landing; and the mayor and aldermen and
principal persons of that corporation being in their gowns, and with a
present and a speech ready to entertain her; the cannon and small shot,
both from round that town and the whole fleet echoing to one another
the loud proclamations of their joy." These good people were, however,
destined to disappointment; for though the bride was impatient to land,
because suffering from prostration consequent on a rough voyage and
severe illness, she was not, in observance of court etiquette, permitted
to leave the ship until the king arrived. This did not take place
until six days later, Charles being detained in town by reason of some
important bills then passing in Parliament, which it was necessary for
him to sign. He had, however, despatched his royal brother of York, then
Lord High Admiral of England, to meet her at sea, and give her greeting
in his name. Accordingly the duke had encountered the fleet at the Isle
of Wight, and gone on board the queen's ship, when she received him in
her cabin seated under a canopy on a chair of state. His royal highness
expressed his joy at her arrival, presented "his majesty's high respects
and his exceeding affection for her," and paid her many compliments.
Lord Chesterfield, who had been appointed chamberlain to the queen,
tells us: "Although James, in consequence of his near connection with
the sovereign, might have saluted the royal bride, he did not avail
himself of this privilege, out of a delicate regard to his majesty's
feelings, that he might be the first man to offer that compli