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he had once kissed at Bruges.—«'Ods fish!» exclaimed the King, laughing heartily, and looking at her more attentively in the face,-« sure as fate, it is the very same. Gadzooks! Madam, thou 'rt right welcome to our court; and as I kissed thee in one frolic at Bruges, so will I kiss thee in another at Whitehall.» In pleasant and playful mood his Majesty suited the action to the word, whereat her ladyship simpered and curtsied with an egregious satisfaction, and the spectators indulged their laughter without restraint, complimenting the King upon the acquisition of a new mistress, and even bringing up the Queen to be introduced to her Dutch rival; while banter and raillery flew from mouth to mouth, as the assemblage addressed themselves to her with a mock homage, all parties seeming to enjoy the scene with the highest possible glee. Her ladyship, however, who had not been at the expense of coming up to London for pastime, proceeded immediately to business, by beseeching the King to interfere with the Lord Chancellor, and procure a decision of the longpending Brambletye cause, a favour which his Majesty promised with as much readiness as he forgot to perform it.

Jocelyn was about to retire from this boisterous and uncongenial mirth, of which he knew not the cause, when he was unfortunately recognised by his step-mother, who waddled up to him, almost before he was aware of her purpose, and exclaimed,« Hey, Jocelyn, myn zoon, hoe is het?» at the same time putting her arm round his neck, and giving him a smack that echoed through the hall. A new peal of laughter followed

this hearty though unwelcome embrace, and Jocelyn, who was in no fitting mood to be made the butt of the company, was annoyed almost beyond endurance, by the banter of the courtiers, as well as the irony of the King.« Gramercy! man," cried Charles, « I give thee joy with all my heart, for this is doubtless the Orinda, the Roxalana, the Dulcinea who was rescued from the fire, and about whom thou wert so unhappy. A delicate creature, i' faith! and too well calculated to raise a flame, to be allowed to perish in one. Who would not

mount a ladder for such a kiss as that?»

With great difficulty did he command himself sufficiently to preserve silence and take no notice of the jeerers, as he partly led and partly pulled her ladyship out of the festive hall, and conducted her to his own apartments, where she stated the object of her visit to London, and congratulated herself on her immediate success in having obtained the King's promise of interference. Jocelyn well knew the value of such a pledge; but willing to impress upon her mind that every purpose was now accomplished, he affected to consider it quite conclusive of success, and urged the propriety of her returning as soon as possible, both on account of Sir John's health, and of the great expenses of the metropolis. The latter argument was irresistible, and she professed her readiness to quit London on the following day, if Jocelyn would undertake to procure her a conveyance, which he cheerfully engaged to do. Next morning he accordingly bestirred himself by sunrise, engaged a vehicle, the driver of which made himself responsible for her safe arrival at Brambletye, and had.

the satisfaction of bidding adieu to her ladyship, who departed in high spirits at her imagined success. Most fortunate was it that he had exerted himself with such promptitude, for Rochester, elated at the amusement she had already afforded, had laid a scheme with Killigrew, Etherege, and some others, for letting her loose upon the Chancellor while he was sitting in his own court; and the whole party were not a little mortified at her escape, as they calculated, from the animosity she had expressed against him, that she could hardly content herself with any thing less than the demolition of his lordship's wig.

Restless and uneasy, and anxious to avoid the raillery with which he knew he should be still persecuted, he determined to avoid the court-idlers who were generally lounging about the stone gallery, the matted gallery, or the painted chamber of Whitehall; and he was accordingly going round by the garden of the Palace, when the gate opened, and three figures passed out into the Park, whose apparition almost transfixed him to the spot on which he stood, with utter amazement. It was Julia, gaily and superbly dressed, leaning upon the arm of Lady Castlemaine on one side, and upon that of Mark Walton on the other. She had evidently recognized him, for she blushed deeply, turned aside her head, and walked forward with increased rapidity, leaving Jocelyn in a state of mind that baffles description. Her splendid attire, the character of the woman upon whose arm she was leaning, the power of passing through the privileged gate, which was understood to be reserved for the King and his mistresses; every thing

seemed to attest that she had been secreted about the Palace, as he had always suspected; that she had been unable to resist the attractions of a court, and the solicitations of a royal lover; that she had followed the infamous example set by so many other women of superior station to herself, and that she was in consequence utterly unworthy of his love.

Irritated at once by indignation and disappointment, he hurried back to his own apartments, locked himself up, and devoted the remainder of the day to solitude and the indulgence of his own melancholy thoughts. Even the intervention of a night's rest, which generally sufficed to allay the irritation of his mind, had not at all dissipated the splenetic feelings of the day before: he no sooner arose than he wandered to the water-side, stepped into a boat, and desired to be rowed to the city, intending once more to survey the ruins, a scene which seemed congenial to the desolate state of his own mind. Instead of executing this purpose he made his way, after landing, to Moorfields, which were then covered with a motley encampment of poor houseless sufferers, huddled together under tents, awnings, and rags of every possible description, and surrounded by such goods and chattels as they had been enabled to snatch from the flames. Amidst the misery and squalor of this gypsey scene, stood the gaily-decorated booth of Polichinello, the Italian puppet, whose exhibition, under the magic influence of fashion, drew crowds of visitants from the court end of the town, to startle the surrounding wretchedness with the echoes of their obstreperous mirth.

Little solicitous of mingling with these heartless triflers, he wandered away from the scene, so wrapt in his own sad thoughts, that he scarcely knew what direction he was taking until he found himself in the vicinity of the Tower, when he observed, upon a projecting sign, a head of Merlin, over which was written, « Here lives an astrologer-admittance from twelve till four and under the painting was a quaint and humorous copy of verses. Pleased with the style and talent of this inscription, he resolved, in the hope of dissipating his uneasy reflections, to desire a sample of the wizard's skill; although he had not the smallest confidence in the power of these necromancers. On mounting the stairs, he was ushered into an ante-room filled with company, waiting their turn for an audience, as the wise man only received one at a time. In due course, Jocelyn was admitted into the sanctum sanctorum, where the astrologer sate installed, surrounded with globes, astrolabes, mosaical rods, tables for calculating nativities, and all the customary apparatus and trumpery of his calling.

« What is your purpose?" said the astrologer, as he entered-« do you wish to learn the art of framing sigils and lamens, of erecting a scheme, casting nativities, forming horoscopes, or producing vivification by the divining rod?»

« If with which I came, know not the you purpose how can you know aught else concerning me?” said Jocelyn, willing to puzzle the conjuror.

<< I can know nothing but by my art,» replied the astrologer-« let me consult the stars, and make invo

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