[Frances, Duchess of Richmond, daughter of Walter Stewart, son of
Walter, Baron of Blantyre, and wife of Charles Stewart, Duke of
Richmond and Lennox: a lady of exquisite beauty, if justly
represented in a puncheon made by Roettiere, his majesty's engraver
of the mint, in order to strike a medal of her, which exhibits the
finest face that perhaps was ever seen. The king was supposed to be
desperately in love with her; and it became common discourse, that
there was a design on foot to get him divorced from the queen, in
order to marry this lady. Lord Clarendon was thought to have
promoted the match with the Duke of Richmond, thereby to prevent the
other design, which he imagined would hurt the king's character,
embroil his affairs at present, and entail all the evils of a
disputed succession on the nation. Whether he actually encouraged
the Duke of Richmond's marriage, doth not appear; but it is certain
that he was so strongly possessed of the king's inclination to a
divorce, that, even after his disgrace, he was persuaded the Duke of
Buckingham had under taken to carry that matter through the
parliament. It is certain too that the king considered him as the
chief promoter of Miss Stewart's marriage, and resented it in the
highest degree. (See Pepys' Diaries. Ed.) The ceremony took place
privately, and it was publicly declared in April, 1667. From one of
Sir Robert Southwell's dispatches, dated Lisbon, December ?/12,
1667, it appears that the report of the queen's intended divorce had
not then subsided in her native country.--History of the Revolutions
of Portugal, 1740, p. 352. The duchess became a widow in 1672, and
died October 15, 1702. See Burnet's History, Ludlow's Memoirs, and
Carte's Life of the Duke of Ormond. A figure in wax of this duchess
is still to be seen in Westminster-abbey.]

The Countess of Castlemaine perceived that the king paid attention to