commenced by telling the chancellor he felt assured his words
were prompted by the affection in which he held him; and then
having by a pathway of courteous speeches found his way to the
old man's heart, his majesty broached the subject uppermost in
his mind. His conscience and his honour, he said, for he laid
claim to both, led him to repair the ruin he had caused Lady
Castlemaine's reputation by promoting her to the position of a
lady of the bedchamber; and his gratitude prompted him to avow a
friendship for her, "which he owed as well to the memory of her
father as to her own person," and therefore he would not be
restrained from her company and her conversation.

Moreover, he had proceeded so far in the business, that if not
successful Lady Castlemaine would be subjected to all imaginable
contempt, and be exposed to universal ridicule. If, he added,
the queen conformed to his wishes in this regard, it would be the
only hard thing he should ever require of her; and, indeed, she
might make it very easy, for my lady must behave with all
possible respect in her presence, otherwise she should never see
his face again. Then he begged the chancellor to wait upon her
majesty, lay bare his arguments, and urge her to receive the
countess with some show of favour. The chancellor, though not
pleased with his mission, yet in hope of healing private discord
and averting public scandal, undertook to counsel the queen to
obedience, and accordingly waited on her in her private
apartments.

Now her majesty's education had been such as kept her in complete
ignorance of the world's ways. The greater part of her life had
been spent in the peaceful retirement of a convent, which she