the Duke of Ormond,
"for she is always there, and goes abrode in the coach. But the queen
tells me that the king promised her, on condition she would use her as
she doth others, that she should never live in court; yet lodgings I
hear she hath." Lodgings the countess certainly had provided for her in
that block of the palace of Whitehall, separated from the main buildings
by the old roadway running between Westminster and the city.

A few days after their majesties' arrival at Whitehall, the queen mother
returned to town, and established her court at Somerset House, which had
been prepared for her future abode. She had arrived in England before
the king and queen left Hampton Court, and had taken up her residence
at Greenwich Palace. The avowed object of her visit was to congratulate
them upon their marriage. Charles and his bride therefore took barge to
Greenwich, one bright July day, followed by a brilliant and illustrious
train, that they might wait upon her majesty. And she, being made aware
of their approach, met them at the portal of the palace. There Catherine
would have gone down upon her knees to this gracious lady--the survivor
of great sorrows--but she took the young queen in her arms, and calling
her beloved daughter, kissed her many times. Then she greeted her sons
Charles and James, likewise the Duchess of York, and led them to the
presence-chamber, followed by the whole court. And presently when
Catherine would, through her interpreter, have expressed her gratitude
and affection, the elder queen besought her to lay aside all ceremony,
for she "should never have come to England again except for the pleasure
of seeing her, to love her as her daughter, and serve her as her queen."
At these sweet words the young wife, now in the first days of her
grief, was almost overcome by a sense of thankfulness, and could scarce
restrain her tears; but she answered bravely, "Believe me, madam, that
in love and obedience neither the king nor any of your children shall
exceed me."

The court of the merry monarch and that of the queen mother being now
settled in town, a period of vast brilliancy ensued, during which great
festivity and much scandal obtained, by reason of intrigues in which the
king and his friends indulged. Whitehall, the scene of so much gaiety
and gallantry, was a palace by no means befitting the luxurious Charles.
It consisted of a series of irregular houses built for different
purposes at various peri