that he was regarded by the usurper as a dangerous neighbour.
Lewis paid so much regard to Portland's complaints as to intimate
to Middleton a request, equivalent to a command, that the Lords
and gentlemen who formed the retinue of the banished King of
England would not come to Versailles on days on which the
representative of the actual King was expected there. But at
other places there was constant risk of an encounter which might
have produced several duels, if not an European war. James
indeed, far from shunning such encounters, seems to have taken a
perverse pleasure in thwarting his benefactor's wish to keep the
peace, and in placing the Ambassador in embarrassing situations.
One day his Excellency, while drawing on his boots for a run with
the Dauphin's celebrated wolf pack, was informed that King James
meant to be of the party, and was forced to stay at home. Another
day, when his Excellency had set his heart on having some sport
with the royal staghounds, he was informed by the Grand Huntsman
that King James might probably come to the rendezvous without any
notice. Melfort was particularly active in laying traps for the
young noblemen and gentlemen of the Legation. The Prince of Wales
was more than once placed in such a situation that they could
scarcely avoid passing close to him. Were they to salute him?
Were they to stand erect and covered while every body else
saluted him? No Englishman zealous for the Bill of Rights and the
Protestant religion would willingly do any thing which could be
construed into an act of homage to a Popish pretender. Yet no
goodnatured and generous man, however firm in his Whig
principles, would willingly offer any thing which could look like
an affront to an innocent and a most unfortunate child.

Meanwhile other matters of grave importance claimed Portland's