THE INTERREGNUM.
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path of duty, been deeply dejected. To him, as toherspi- chap.ritual guide, she afterwards explained her conduct. William —■
had written to inform her that some of those who had tried toseparate her interest from his still continued their machi-nations: they gave it out that she thought herself wronged;and, if she wore a gloomy countenance, the report would heconfirmed. He therefore intreated her to make her first ap-pearance with an air of cheerfulness. Her heart, she said,was far indeed from cheerful; but she had done her best; and,as she was afraid of not sustaining well a part which was un-congenial to her feelings, she had overacted it. Her deport-ment was the subject of reams of scurrility in prose and verse:it lowered her in the opinion of some whose esteem shevalued; nor did the world know, till she was beyond the reachof praise and censure, that the conduct which had brought onher the reproach of levity and insensibility was really a signalinstance of that perfect disinterestedness and self-devotion ofwhich man seems to be incapable, but which is sometimesfound in woman.*
On the morning of Wednesday, the thirteenth of February, Tenderthe court of Whitehall and all the neighbouring streets were ceptancefilled with gazers. The magnificent Banqueting House, the “ r f 0 l ^ n °masterpiece of Inigo, embellished by masterpieces of Rubens,bad been prepared for a great ceremony. The walls werelined by the yeomen of the guard. Near the northern door,on the right hand, a large number of Peers had assembled.
On the left were the Commons with their Speaker, attendedby the mace. The southern door opened: and the Prince andPrincess of Orange, side by side, entered, and took theirplace under the canopy of state.
Both Houses approached bowing low. William and Maryadvanced a few steps. Halifax on the right, andPowleonthe left, stood forth; and Halifax spoke. The Convention,he said, had agreed to a resolution which he prayed TheirHighnesses to hear. They signified their assent; and theclerk of the House of Lords read, in a loud voice, theDe-
* Duchess ofMarlborough’s Vindicalion; Review of Ihe Vindication;
Burnet, i. 181. 825, and Dartmouth’s note; Evelyn's Diary, Feb, 21.168|.