shall never be seen about him, as the King of France hath always that the King would fain have some of the same gang to be Lord Treasurer, which would be yet worse, for now some delays are put to the getting gifts of the King, as Lady Byron,' who had been, as he called it, the King's seventeenth mistress abroad, did not leave him till she had got him to give her an order for 4000l. worth of plate to be made for her; but by delays, thanks be to God! she died before she had it. He tells me mighty stories of the King of France, how great a prince he is. He hath made a code to shorten the law; he hath put out all the ancient commanders of castles that were become hereditary; he hath made all the fryers subject to the bishops, which before were only subject to Rome, and so were hardly the King's subjects, and that none shall become religieux but at such an age, which he thinks will in a few years ruin the Pope, and bring France into a patriarchate. He confirmed to me the business of the want of paper at the Counciltable the other day, which I have observed; Wooly being to have found it, and did, being called, tell the King to his face the reason of it; and Mr. Evelyn tells me of several of the menial servants of the Court lacking bread, that have not received a farthing wages since the King's coming in. He tells me the King of France hath his mistresses, but laughs at the foolery of our King, that makes his bastards princes, and loses his revenue upon them, and makes his mistresses his masters: and the King of France did never grant Lavalliere any thing to bestow on others, and gives

4

Eleanor, daughter of Robert Needham, Viscount Kilmurrey, and widow of Peter Warburton, became, in 1644, the second wife of John Byron, first Lord Byron. Ob. 1663.

2 All these assertions respecting the King of France must be received cautiously. Pepys was very ignorant of foreign matters, and very credulous.

3 Louis made his own bastards dukes and princes, and legitimatized them as much as he could, connecting them also by marriage with the real blood-royal.

Louise Françoise de la Baume le Blanc de la Vallière had four children by Louis XIV., of whom only two survived-Marie Anne Bourbon, called Mademoiselle de Blois, born in 1666, afterwards married to the Prince de Conti, and the Comte de Vermandois, born in 1667. In that year (the very year in which Evelyn was giving this account to

a little subsistence, but no more, to his bastards. He told me the whole story of Mrs. Stewart's going away from Court, he knowing her well; and believes her, up to her Leaving the Court, to be as virtuous as any woman in the world; and told me, from a Lord that she told it to but yesterday, with her own mouth, and a sober man, that when the Duke of Richmond did nake love to her, she did ask the King, and he did the like also; and that the King did not deny it, and [she] told this Lord that she was come to that pass as to have resolved to have married any gentleman of 15007. a-year that would have had her in honour; for it was come to that pass, that she could not longer continue at Court without prostituting herself to the King,' whom she had so long kept off, though he had liberty more than any other had, or he ought to have, as to dalliance.' She told this Lord that she had reflected upon the occasion she had given the world to think her a bad woman, and that she had no way but to marry and leave the Court, rather in this way of discontent than otherwise, that the world might see that she sought not any thing but her honour; and that she will never come to live at Court more than when she comes to town to kiss the Queen her Mistress's hand: and hopes, though she hath little reason to hope, she can please her Lord so as to reclaim him, that they may yet live comfortably in the country on his estate. She told this Lord that all the jewells she ever had given her at Court, or any other presents, more than the King's allowance of 7001. per annum out of the Privy-purse for her clothes, were, at her first coming the King did give her a necklace of pearl of about 11007., and afterwards, about seven months since, when the King had hopes to have obtained some courtesy

Pepys), the Duchy of Vaujour and two Baronies were created in favour of La Vallière and her daughter, who, in the deed of creation, was legitimatized, and styled Princess.

1 Even at a much later time, Mrs. Godolphin well resolved "not to talk foolishly to men, more especially THE KING,"-" be sure never to talk to THE KING." Life by Evelyn. These expressions speak volumes as to Charles's character.

2 Evelyn evidently believed the Duchess of Richmond to be innocent; and his testimony, coupled with her own declaration, ought to weigh down all the scandal which Pepys reports from other sources. 3 Which she returned to the King.

VOL. III.

I

of her, the King did give her some jewells, I have forgot what, and I think a pair of pendants. The Duke of York, being once her Valentine, did give her a jewell of about 8007.; and my Lord Mandeville, her Valentine this year, a ring of about 3007.; and the King of France would have had her mother,' who, he says, is one of the most cunning women in the world, to have let her stay in France, saying that he loved her not as a mistress, but as one that he could marry as well as any lady in France; and that, if she might stay, for the honour of his Court he would take care she should not repent. But her mother, by command of the Queen-mother, thought rather to bring her into England; and the King of France did give her a jewell: so that Evelyn believes she may be worth in jewells about 60007., and that, that is all she hath in the world: and a worthy woman; and in this hath done as great an act of honour as ever was done by woman. That now the Countess Castlemaine do carry all before her and among other arguments to prove Mrs. Stewart to have been honest to the last, he says that the King's keeping in still with my Lady Castlemaine do show it; for he never was known to keep two mistresses in his life, and would never have kept to had he prevailed any thing with Mrs. Stewart. She is gone yesterday with her Lord to Cobham. He did tell me of the ridiculous humour of our King and Knights of the Garter the other day, who, whereas heretofore their robes were only to be worn during their ceremonies and service, these, as proud of their coats, did wear them all day till

1 This lady's name nowhere appears. She was the wife of the Hon. Walter Stuart, M.D., third son of Walter, first Lord Blantyre. The Duchess of Richmond, Frances Teresa, was her elder daughter. The younger, Sophia, married the Hon. Henry Bulkeley, master of the household to Charles II. and James II.

2 Cobham Hall, in Kent, after the attainder of Henry Brooke, Lord Cobham, was granted by James I. to Ludovic Stuart, Duke of Lennox, and his brother George, Lord Aubigney, from whom it descended to Charles Stuart, Duke of Richmond and Lennox, in 1660. This Duke dying, s. p., in 1672, when Ambassador to Denmark, the estates, together with the English barony of Clifton, passed, through his sister, Lady Catherine O'Brien, to the ancestor of the Earl of Darnley, the present possessor. Lady Catherine O'Brien married Sir Joseph Williamson, who re-purchased the Cobham estates, when sold, and pre served them to the family.