Page:Catherine of Bragança, infanta of Portugal, & queen-consort of England.djvu/254

 N the spring of 1665 uneasiness began to be felt through the kingdom on account of an outbreak of the plague in London. Such epidemics were well known, and there had been several severe visitations of London in earlier times. This one only caused apprehension from the rapidity with which it spread, and the swift death of the victims. The Court was occupied with another interest, just now, in the affair of the Queen-mother's departure from the country. Henrietta Maria had not been well since she returned to London, which had never suited her health. Now she became so unwell that she begged Charles to allow her to pay a visit to the Baths of Bourbon, which had always benefited her. She declared, however, that she would stay in London and die there, unless he promised that the little chapel she had built and used in Somerset House might remain open for the use of London Catholics. Charles willingly consented, and on June 24 Henrietta Maria left London, on her last journey from England. She went down the Thames, and Charles, Catherine, and most of their respective households, rowed down with her to the Nore. The very week that saw her go brought with it such a terrifying increase in the pestilence creeping through London that between four and five thousand