to be altogether agreeable to the haughty favourite, he could not raise
any reasonable objection to it, and was therefore obliged to submit with
the best grace he could.

The two parties were then distributed in the following order by the
King:--On the side of the Duke of Lennox, besides Buckingham himself,
were the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke, and the Lords Clifford and
Mordaunt; and while the King was hesitating as to the seventh, Sir Giles
Mompesson was suggested by the Marquis, and James, willing to oblige his
favourite, adopted the proposition. On the side of Prince Charles were
ranked the Marquis of Hamilton, the Earls of Montgomery, Rutland, and
Dorset, Lord Walden, and, of course, Sir Jocelyn Mounchensey. These
preliminaries being fully adjusted, other topics were started, and the
carouse, which had been in some degree interrupted, was renewed, and
continued, with the entertainments that succeeded it, till past
midnight.

Not a little elated by the high compliment paid to his prowess by the
Spanish Ambassador, and burning to break a lance with Buckingham, Sir
Jocelyn resolved to distinguish himself at the trial. Good luck, of
late, had invariably attended him. Within the last few weeks, he had
been appointed one of the Gentlemen of his Majesty's Bed-chamber; and
this was looked upon as the stepping-stone to some more exalted post.
Supported by the influence of De Gondomar, and upheld by his own
personal merits, which by this time, in spite of all hostility towards
him, had begun to be appreciated; with the King himself most favourably
inclined towards him, and Prince Charles amicably disposed; with many of
the courtiers proffering him service, who were anxious to throw off
their forced allegiance to the overweening favourite, and substitute
another in his stead: with all these advantages, it is not to be