manners and conversation, a circumstance which will be thought remarkable when it is remembered that His Majesty was an excellent model and an excellent judge of gentlemanlike deportment, and that Prior had passed his boyhood in drawing corks at a tavern, and his early manhood in the seclusion of a college.  The Secretary did not however carry his politeness so far as to refrain from asserting, on proper occasions, the dignity of his country and of his master.  He looked coldly on the twenty-one celebrated pictures in which Le Brun had represented on the coifing of the gallery of Versailles the exploits of Lewis.  When he was sneeringly asked whether Kensington Palace could boast of such decorations, he answered, with spirit and propriety:  “No, Sir.  The memorials of the great things which my master has done are to be seen in many places; but not in his own house.”

Great as was the success of the embassy, there was one drawback.  James was still at Saint Germains; and round the mock King were gathered a mock Court and Council, a Great Seal and a Privy Seal, a crowd of garters and collars, white staves and gold keys.  Against the pleasure which the marked attentions of the French princes and grandees gave to Portland, was to be set off the vexation which he felt when Middleton crossed his path with the busy look of a real Secretary of State.  But it was with emotions far deeper that the Ambassador saw on the terraces and in the antechambers of Versailles men who had been deeply implicated in plots against the life of his master.  He expressed his indignation loudly and vehemently.  “I hope,” he said, “that there is no design in this; that these wretches are not purposely thrust in my way.  When they come near me all my blood runs back in my veins.”  His words were reported to Lewis.  Lewis employed Boufflers to smooth matters; and Boufflers took occasion to say something on the subject as if from himself.  Portland easily divined that in talking with Boufflers he was really talking with Lewis, and eagerly seized the opportunity of representing the expediency, the absolute necessity, of removing James to a greater distance from England.  “It was not contemplated, Marshal,” he said, “when we arranged the terms of peace in Brabant, that a palace in the suburbs of Paris was to continue to be an asylum for outlaws and murderers.”  “Nay, my Lord,” said Boufflers, uneasy doubtless on his own account, “you will not; I am sure, assert that I gave you any pledge that King James would be required to leave France.  You are too honourable a man, you are too much my friend, to say any such thing.”  “It is true,” answered Portland, “that I did not insist on a positive promise from you; but remember what passed.  I proposed that King James should retire to Rome or Modena.  Then you suggested Avignon; and I assented.  Certainly my regard for you makes me very unwilling to do anything that would give you pain.  But my master’s interests are dearer to me than all the friends that I have in the world put together.  I must tell His Most Christian Majesty all that passed between us; and I hope that, when I tell him, you will be present, and that you will be able to bear witness that I have not put a single word of mine into your mouth.”