sorely troubled for her loss, and declared he
should never have a public mistress again.

CHAPTER IX.

Court life under the merry monarch.--Riding in Hyde Park.--Sailing on
the Thames.--Ball at Whitehall.--Petit soupers.--What happened at
Lady Gerrard's.--Lady Castlemaine quarrels with the king.--Flight to
Richmond.--The queen falls ill.--The king's grief and remorse.--Her
majesty speaks.--Her secret sorrow finds voice in delirium.--Frances
Stuart has hopes.--The queen recovers.

Views of court life during the first years of the merry monarch's
reign, obtainable from works of his contemporaries, present a series of
brilliant, changeful, and interesting pictures. Scarce a day passed
that their majesties, attended by a goodly throng of courtiers, went
not abroad, to the vast delight of the town: and rarely a night sped by
unmarked by some magnificent entertainment, to the great satisfaction of
the court. At noon it was a custom of the king and queen, surrounded by
maids of honour and gentlemen in waiting, the whole forming a gladsome
and gallant crowd, to ride in coaches or on horseback in Hyde Park:
which place has been described as "a field near the town, used by the
king and nobility for the freshness of the air, and goodly prospect."

Here in a railed-off circle, known as the ring, and situated in the
northern half of the park, the whole world of fashion and beauty
diverted itself. Noble gallants wearing broad-brimmed hats and waving
plumes, doublets of velvet, and ruffles of rich lace; and fair women
with flowing locks and dainty patches, attired in satin gowns, and
cloaks wrought with embroidery, drove round and round, exchanging
salutations and smiles as they passed. Here it was good Mr. Pepys saw
the Countess of Castlemaine, among many fine ladies, lying "impudently
upon her back in her coach asleep, with her mouth wide open." And on
another occasion the same ingenious gentleman observed the king and
my lady pass and repass in their respective coaches, they greeting one
another at every turn.

But Mr. Pepys gives us another picture, in which he shows us the king
riding right gallantly beside his queen, and therefore presents him to
better advantage. This excellent gossip, sauntering down Pall Mall one
bright summer day, it being the middle of July, in the year 1663, met
the queen mother walking there, led by her supposed husband, the Earl of
St. Albans. And, hearing the king and queen rode ab