eve his fallen fortunes by means of lucrative posts
from which the laws excluded him. [50] To the same party belonged an
intriguing pushing Irishman named White, who had been much abroad, who
had served the House of Austria as something between an envoy and a spy,
and who had been rewarded for his services with the title of Marquess of
Albeville. [51]

Soon after the prorogation this reckless faction was strengthened by an
important reinforcement. Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnel, the fiercest
and most uncompromising of all those who hated the liberties and
religion of England, arrived at court from Dublin.

Talbot was descended from an old Norman family which had been long
settled in Leinster, which had there sunk into degeneracy, which had
adopted the manners of the Celts, which had, like the Celts, adhered
to the old religion, and which had taken part with the Celts in the
rebellion of 1641. In his youth he had been one of the most noted
sharpers and bullies of London. He had been introduced to Charles and
James when they were exiles in Flanders, as a man fit and ready for
the infamous service of assassinating the Protector. Soon after the
Restoration, Talbot attempted to obtain the favour of the royal family
by a service more infamous still. A plea was wanted which might justify
the Duke of York in breaking that promise of marriage by which he had
obtained from Anne Hyde the last proof of female affection. Such a plea
Talbot, in concert with some of his dissolute companions, undertook
to furnish. They agreed to describe the poor young lady as a creature
without virtue, shame, or delicacy, and made up long romances about
tender interviews and stolen favours. Talbot in particular related how,
in one of his secret visits to her, he had unluckily overturned the
Chancellor's inkstand upon a pile of papers, and how cleverly she had
averted a discovery by laying the blame of the accident on her monkey.
These stories, which, if they had been true, would never have passed the
lips of any but the basest of mankind, were pure inventions. Talbot was
soon forced to own that they were so; and he owned it without a blush.
The injured lady became Duchess of York. Had her husband been a man
really upright and honourable, he would have driven from his presence
with indignation and contempt the wretches who had slandered her. But
one of the peculiarities of James's character was that no act, however
wicked and shameful, which had be