was a very pretty boy," to which Catherine answered, "Nay, if he be like you he is a very pretty boy indeed, and I should be very well pleased with it." On another occasion her first words on waking were, "How are the children?" Had the poor queen indeed become a mother, her affectionate heart might have received, in the exercise of her maternal duties, some consolation for the neglect of Charles and the insolence of his mistresses. The queen's illness, however, called forth a latent tenderness in the king, for which Catherine was so grateful that it seemed to compensate for all her sufferings; indeed to the tenderness Charles showed, her recovery was mainly attributable. Waller has thus alluded to the tears shed by the king during his attendance on Catherine,-her case being then considered hopeless : He that was never known to mourn So many kingdoms from him torn; His tears reserved for you, more dear, More prized than all those kingdoms were. For when no healing art avail'd, When cordials and elixirs fail'd, On your pale cheek he dropp'd the shower, Another of Waller's poems is called, "Tea commanded by her Majesty ;" and he wrote an epigram, "Upon a card which her Majesty tore at ombre," which, however, has not much point in it. Catherine never interfered in politics nor aimed at forming any party in her own behalf; indeed, the mere fact of her favouring any individual was sure to call forth the king's displeasure, from his natural love of contradiction. Edward Montague, son of Lord Manchester was disgraced and turned out of court simply because he had obtained the queen's notice; for though Charles had no fears of Catherine's indiscretion or dereliction of duty in any case, he would not allow her to acquire any influence. The profligate Buckingham desiring to give some excuse for a divorce, that Charles might be able to marry Miss Stewart, offered to carry off Catherine, but the king with much honour rejected the proposal saying, "It was a wicked thing to make a poor lady miserable, only because she was his wife and had no children, which was not her fault." The conduct of Catherine indeed placed her above suspicion even in this the most dissolute court in Europe, and the only subjects on which she was open to satire from enemies, were her Papist education and inordinate love of dancing. One of the poetical productions referring to this taste of Catherine, called "The Queen's Ball," by Andrew Marvel, was excessively ill-natured, and makes allusion to a habit of putting jewels in her mouth. After accusing poor Catherine of bad dancing, and observing on the king himself, who would have his wife to have his crown, the rhymes run politely on with the remark See in her mouth a sparkling diamond shine, The first good thing that e'er came from that mine! Catherine, though she might give occasion to much satire, never incurred blame, and when a divorce was seriously agitated it was the voice of Charles himself that put a stop to the affair, though it had even been discussed in the House of Lords, by saying, that "if his conscience would allow him to divorce the queen, it would suffer him to despatch her out of the world." He however tried without success to induce her to enter a nunnery. Again Charles took the part of his unoffending queen when she was accused by the wretches Oates and Bedloe of a conspiracy against his life. Catherine was actually arraigned on a charge of high treason at the bar of the House of Commons by Oates, but the stories invented against her, and the blunders of the accuser, not only failed, but saved the life of Sir George Wakeman, the queen's physician, who was tried on the charge of accepting a bribe of 15,000l. to poison Charles. Moreover, when the Commons petitioned the king to remove Catherine from Whitehall, and send her attendants from the country, he simply observed, "They think I have a mind for a new wife; but, for all that, I will not stand by and see an innocent woman abused." These facts afford evidence of some redeeming points even in the profligate Charles the Second. The death of the Earl of Ossory, who had succeeded Don Francisco de Melo, in 1676, as Lord Chamberlain to the queen, called forth the following amiable letter from Catherine, addressed by her own hand to the Duke of Ormond, father of the earl. The letter is yet preserved among the Ormond papers, endorsed, "Received, 3rd September, 1681." MY LORD DUKE OF ORMOND, I do not think any thing I can say will lessen your trouble for the death of my Lord Ossory, who is so greate a loss to the King and the publicke, as well as to my own particular service, that I know not how to express it; but every day will teach me, by shewing me the want I shall find of so true a friend. But I must have so much pity upon you as to say but little on so sad a subject, conjuring you to believe that I am, My Lord Duke of Ormond, Your very affectionate friend, "CATHARINA REGINA." When Charles, who had been struck with apoplexy, was on his death-bed, February 1685, the queen sent to request permission to attend him, and to implore forgiveness for any offences which she had from ignorance committed against him. An affectionate answer was returned by Charles, who said he had nothing to forgive but had to demand her pardon for the many wrongs he had done her. Catherine was admitted to the bedside of her husband, but was soon compelled to retire by the presence of the notorious Duchess of Portsmouth. The grief of Catherine, the reality of which might perhaps have been doubted at the dissolution of such a tie as this, was visible to those who attended to condole with her on the mournful occasion, and who were received by the widowed queen in an apartment lighted only with tapers, and the walls of which were hung with funereal black from the ceiling to the floor. Indeed, although Catherine survived her husband twenty-one years, she continued devotedly attached to his memory. The king's last request had been "Let not poor Nelly starve," and no greater proof of attachment could have been given by the queen than that of allowing the Duke of St. Albans, son of Nell Gwynne, an annual pension of 2000l. out of her own income. This circumstance, if true, tells much in favour of Catherine. Somerset House was the residence of Catherine after her husband's death, and during the summer months she spent some part of her time at her villa at Hammersmith, where she resided in much privacy, and with great economy, if we except the splendid concerts which she gave at stated periods, music being one of her favourite pursuits. She was much respected by James the Second, and by the whole court during the seven years she resided in England after Charles's death. In 1692, the queen dowager returned to Lisbon, to pass the residue of her days in her native land, carrying with her whatever she had amassed by the prudent management of her income and some valuable pictures which formed part of the payment of a debt which she claimed from the crown. On her homeward way she was invited by Louis the Fourteenth to visit the French court, but she was too anxious to behold the home of her youth to accept the invitation. After an illness on the road which detained her for a time, she entered Lisbon, January 20th, 1693, being triumphantly attended by her brother Don Pedro, then the reigning monarch, and a large train of his nobility who had hastened forth to welcome her on her return. Although she quitted England, Catherine provided for her English household to the day of her death; the Countess of Fingall and her daughters attended her to Portugal, but at the end of eight years returned to their own country by permission of their royal mistress. Catherine continued to be treated with the greatest respect and attention in Portugal. The last years of her life were passed at Bemposta, where she built a new palace, chapel, and quinta, and whence occasional visits were made to the court by the express desire of her brother the king. In 1704, Catherine being ill and unable to quit Bemposta, the court repaired to her palace there to receive a visit from the Archduke Charles, then a candidate for the Spanish crown, and who was supported in his claims by England and Portugal. In 1705, Catherine, who had been neglected and despised by the wits of England as a person of no capacity, was in consequence of the tact she exhibited in governing during a short season when her brother required her services, made Queen Regent of Portugal during his severe illness, and as such she conducted a war against Philip of Anjou, King of Spain, with so much ability, that the Portuguese armies were crowned with complete success. Little more remains to be said of Catherine: she had proved herself not only to be endowed with the noblest affections of the heart but with superior mental qualifications. Her death was sudden, from an attack of cholic, December 31st, 1705, she being rather more than sixty-seven years of age at the time. Her will, dated February 14th, 1699, made her brother Don Pedro her heir, and she not only richly endowed her relatives, but left many charitable bequests. By her own request her remains were removed to the monastery of Belem, and her obsequies were conducted with the greatest possible solemnity and grandeur by order of Don Pedro, who directed a suspension of all public business for eight days, and a general mourning during the space of a whole year, to testify his respect and that of the nation to the memory of the royal deceased. MARY BEATRICE OF MODENA, QUEEN OF JAMES THE SECOND. THE parents of Mary Beatrice were Alphonso d'Esté, Duke of Modena and Laura Martinozzi, a Roman lady. She was a seven months' child, their eldest offspring, born October 5th, 1658. Her father reigned but four years in his duchy, dying in the prime of life, and leaving his two surviving children, Mary Beatrice and Francis the Second, under the guardianship and regency of the duchess. Her mother exercised great severity in their education, both as regards morals and religion, and the princess later in life used to recall passages in the stern discipline of her childhood with marked disapprobation. She was sent to finish her education in a convent of Carmelite nuns, and at a very early age conceived the idea of taking the veil. So innocent, but it must be said, so ignorant also, in the very groundwork of education was she, that when at the age of fifteen overtures of marriage were made to her on the part of the Duke of York, afterwards James the Second, she neither knew who he was nor where England might be. She was then tall and considered very handsome, could read and write Latin and French, and had a genius and a passion for music. But her earnest desire to be a nun remained, after all the brilliancy of this offer had been explained to her. When she learnt that he was verging on forty years of age, she entreated that her youngest aunt might marry him instead. The negotiations were very troublesome, and she finally acceded only in obedience to the commands of her mother and amidst floods of tears. Nothing, indeed, could pacify her until it was settled that her mother should accompany her to England, which she did, and remained there with her six weeks. The Duke of York met her upon the sands at Dover, and the nuptials were solemnised at that place. The honours of the Duke of York had already, before the date of this marriage with a Roman Catholic princess, begun to lose their |