Page:Catherine of Bragança, infanta of Portugal, & queen-consort of England.djvu/246

210 she would not take another son into her household without being quite certain that old Lord Montague desired it. She told Clarendon that if this were the case, he might speak carefully to the King on the subject, and say all he could to recommend young Montague, which she thought a mere reparation to the brother, who had lost his life in the King's service. Clarendon took the request in the Duchess's name, and diplomatically mentioned that the Queen entirely referred it to him. Charles at once said he would never recommend any one to the Queen unless it should be "very agreeable to her," and that it would seem hard to deny one brother to succeed another who had been killed in the country's service. Lord Crofts had already begged for the post for Mr. Robert Spencer, the Lord Treasurer's nephew, and Southampton quarrelled bitterly with Clarendon for having presented another candidate. Clarendon meanly now tried to undermine his own candidate's chances, and it was only the Duke of York's strong partisanship for young Montague that got him the post in the end. This little instance of the strings and counter-strings tugged for the smallest appointment gives an educa- tional view of Court life at the time. Lord Chester- field now gave up his place in the household of Catherine. He too had been a victim of "The Lady," and found it hopeless to keep his place between two mistresses. Catherine begged him to continue a member of her council, in gratitude for his valuable services. Huysmann painted Catherine twice in 1664. In fact Walpole declares she was his model for every Madonna and Venus he ever painted. She shows to far greater advantage, however, in her portraits by Lely. Her most becoming costume was black velvet, but this summer she and her ladies all adopted the fashion of silver lace gowns, in which they flashed and shimmered in the sunshine in the Tour and St. James's Park. When she went to the chapel at