JAMES THE SECOND.

105

The prospect -which lay before Monmouth was not a bright ciup.one. There was no probability that he would be recalled i68s.from banishment. On. the Continent his life could no longerbe passed amidst the splendour and festivity of a court. Hiscousins at the Hague seem to have really regarded him withkindness; but they could no longer countenance him openlywithout serious risk of producing a rupture between Englandand Holland. William offered a kind and judicious sugges-tion. The war which was then raging in Hungary, betweenthe Emperor and the Turks, was watched by all Europe withinterest almost as great as that which the Crusades had ex-cited five hundred years earlier. Many gallant gentlemen,both Protestant and Catholic, were fighting as volunteers inthe common cause of Christendom. The Prince advisedMonmouth to repair to the imperial camp, and assured himthat, if he would do so, he should not want the means ofmaking an appearance befitting an English nobleman. * Thiscounsel was excellent: but the Duke could not make up hismind. He retired to Brussels accompanied by HenriettaWentworth, Baroness Wentworth of Nettlestede, a damselof high rank and ample fortune, who loved him passionately,who had sacrificed for his sake her maiden honour and thehope of a splendid alliance, who had followed him into exile,and whom he believed to be his wife in the sight of heaven.Under he soothing influence of female friendship, his la-cerated mind healed fast. He seemed to have found happi-ness in obscurity and repose, and to have forgotten that hehad been the ornament of a splendid court and the head of agreat party, that he had commanded armies, and that he hadaspired to a throne.

But he was not suffered to remain quiet. Ferguson em-ployed all his powers of temptation. Grey, who knew notwhere to turn for a pistole, and was ready for any under-

* The History of King William the Third, 2d edition, 1103, vol. i. 100.