Theresa Marchmont | Page 8

I need not
relate the events which rendered my youth equally eventful and
distinguished. My early life was passed so entirely in the immediate
service of my sovereign, and in participation of the troubles and
dangers which disastrous times and a rebellious people heaped upon his
head, that the tenor of my life has been as public as his own.
"Yet Helen, forgive me for saying that I cannot even now, in this my
day of humiliation, but glory in the happy fortune which crowned with
success my efforts in the royal cause, both in the field and in the
cabinet, and won for me at once the affection of my king, and the
approbation of my fellow-countrymen, when I remember that to these
flattering testimonies I owe not only the friendship of your father, but
the first affections of his child. How frequently have you owned to me,
in our early days of joy and love, that long before we met, my public
reputation had excited the strongest interest in your mind--those days,
those happy days, when I was rich alike in the warmest devotion of
popular favour, and the approval of--but I must not permit myself to
indulge in fond retrospections; I must steel my heart, and calmly and
coldly relate the progress of my misery and guilt, and of its present
remorse and punishment.
"You have heard that soon after the restoration of Charles Stuart to the
throne of his ancestors, I was sent on a mission of great public moment
to the Hague, where I remained for nearly two years, and having
succeeded in the object of government, I returned home shortly after
the union of the king with the princess of Portugal. I was warmly
received by his majesty, and presented by him to the young queen, as
one whom he regarded equally as an affectionate friend, and as one of
the most faithful servants of the crown. Thus introduced to her notice, it
is not wonderful that my homage was most graciously received, and
that I was frequently invited to renew it by admission into the evening
circle at Whitehall. The very night after my arrival in London, I was
called upon to assist at a masque given on the anniversary of the royal

nuptials, at which their majesties alone, and their immediate attendants,
were unmasqued. The latter, indeed, were habited in character; but
among the splendidly-attired group of the maids of honour, I was
surprised at perceiving one, in a costume of deep mourning. Her
extreme beauty and the grace of her demeanour excited an immediate
interest in her favour; and her sable suit only served to render yet more
brilliant, the exquisite fairness and purity of her complexion.
"It was not so much the regular cast of her features as their sweet and
pensive expression which produced so strong an effect on the feelings.
At the moment I was first struck by her appearance, I happened to be
conversing with His Majesty who was making the tour of the apartment,
graciously leaning on my arm; and my attention was so completely
captivated by her surpassing loveliness, that the king could not fail to
perceive my absence of mind. 'How now, Charles, how now,' said he
kindly, 'twenty-four hours in the capital, and beauty- struck already?
which among our simple English maidens hath the merit of thus
gaining the approval of thy travelled eyes?--what Venus hath bribed the
purer taste of our new Paris? Ha! let me see--Lady Joscelyn? Lady--No!
by heaven,' said he following my looks, 'it is as I could wish, Theresa
Marchmont herself. How, man--knowest thou not the daughter of our
old comrade, who fell at my side in the unfortunate affair at
Worcester?'
"The king took on an early opportunity of making my admiration
known to Her Majesty; and of requesting her permission for my
introduction to Miss Marchmont; who, although born of a family
distinguished only by its loyalty to the house of Stuart, having been
recommended to the royal attention from the loss of her only surviving
parent in its cause, had sufficiently won the good will of the monarch,
by her beauty and elegant accomplishments, to obtain a distinguished
post about the person of the new Queen.
"From this period, admitted as I was into the domestic circle of the
Royal household, I had frequent opportunities afforded me of
improving my acquaintance with Theresa; whose gentle and interesting
manners more than completed the conquest which her beauty had

begun. Helen, I had visited many foreign courts, and had been
familiarized with the reigning beauties of our own, at that time
eminently distinguished by the brilliancy of female beauty, but never in
any station of life did I behold a being so lovely in the expressive
sadness of her