Page:Catherine of Bragança, infanta of Portugal, & queen-consort of England.djvu/409

1683] together with some innocent men — always the case in those circumstances. Monmouth was involved in that part of the plot which desired to draw England into another civil war, and Charles, in spite of the Duchess of Portsmouth's efforts at a reconciliation with his eldest son, still felt anger with him for the part he had taken, through his servants, against Catherine. He was now deeply incensed against him, and it remained for Catherine to beg for his pardon. Charles informed Monmouth that it was only her prayers that had induced him to forgive the offence he was charged with, and Monmouth recorded this in his private diary, found at Sedgemoor after the battle.

It was just after the discovery of the Rye House Plot that Evelyn was one evening supping with Lady Arlington, at that time Groom of the Stole (or Mistress of the Robes) when word was brought that the Queen wished to walk in the park. It was eleven o'clock, but Lady Arlington rose in haste from the table, and hurried away to attend her. Catherine must certainly have been courageous, to take midnight rambles at that juncture.

Alphonzo of Portugal died in October, a release to himself and the nation, since for years he had been a mere imprisoned imbecile. Catherine went into deep mourning, and the City and the Court also mourned with her.

The next year began with the historic severe frost, when the Thames was frozen so that an ox could be roasted on it, in the middle of the great fair held on the ice. Charles and Catherine went together to walk through the booths, and see the strange spectacle. In November Catherine's forty-sixth birthday was celebrated with even greater magnificence than in former years, with fireworks on the Thames before Whitehall windows, where castles and forts, the arms of Charles, and those of Catherine with the five plates representing the five wounds of the Crucifixion, were thrown up in