Stewart to have been honest to the last, he says
that the King's keeping in still with my Lady Castlemaine do show
it; for he never was known to keep two mistresses in his life,
and would never have kept to her had he prevailed any thing with
Mrs. Stewart. She is gone yesterday with her Lord to Cobham. He
did tell me of the ridiculous humour of our King and Knights of
the Garter the other day, who, whereas heretofore their robes
were only to be worn during their ceremonies and service, these,
as proud of their coats, did wear them all day till night, and
then rode into the Park with them on. Nay, and he tells me he
did see my Lord Oxford and Duke of Monmouth in a hackney-coach
with two footmen in the Park, with their robes on; which is a
most scandalous thing, so as all gravity may be said to be lost
among us. By and by we discoursed of Sir Thomas Clifford, whom I
took for a very rich and learned man, and of the great family of
that name. He tells me he is only a man of about seven-score
pounds a-year, of little learning more than the law of a justice
of peace; which he knows well; a parson's son, [Collins states,
that Sir Thomas Clifford's father was a Colonel in the King's
Army during the Scotch Rebellion 1639, and died the same year on
his return from the Northern March.
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