the fancy of better men than themselves. 'He had,' says Burnet, 'no sort
of literature, only he was drawn into chymistry; and for some years he
thought he was very near the finding of the philosopher's stone, which
had the effect that attends on all such men as he was, when they are
drawn in, to lay out for it. He had no principles of religion, virtue,
or friendship; pleasure, frolic, or extravagant diversion, was all he
laid to heart. He was true to nothing; for he was not true to himself.
He had no steadiness nor conduct; he could keep no secret, nor execute
any design without spoiling it; he could never fix his thoughts, nor
govern his estate, though then the greatest in England. He was bred
about the king, and for many years he had a great ascendant over him;
but he spoke of him to all persons with that contempt, that at last he
drew a lasting disgrace upon himself. And he at length ruined both body
and mind, fortune and reputation, equally.'

This was a sad prospect for poor Mary Fairfax, but certainly if in their
choice

----'Weak women go astray,
Their stars are more in fault than they,'

and she was less to blame in her choice than her father, who ought to
have advised her against the marriage. Where and how they met is not
known. Mary was not attractive in person: she was in her youth little,
brown, and thin, but became a 'short fat body,' as De Grammont tells us,
in her early married life; in the later period of her existence she was
described by the Vicomtesse de Longueville as a 'little round crumpled
woman, very fond of finery;' and she adds that, on visiting the duchess
one day, she found her, though in mourning, in a kind of loose robe over
her, all edged and laced with gold. So much for a Puritan's daughter!