Between these conflicting opinions, the reader will form his own judgment, as far as these letters enable him to do so, as well as of the nature of that intimacy which existed between Lady Sunderland and Henry Sidney, which, certainly, if there be any truth in the rumours of that day, was of a different kind from that "long and worthy friendship" which existed between her and Evelyn.[1]
- ↑ Both Barillon and Bonrepos, in their letters to Louis, allude to the "commerce de galanterie," which it was generally supposed existed between Henry Sidney and Lady Sunderland. "On leur prit," says Barillon, in July, 1678, "il y a quelque temps des lettres qu'elle (Lady Sunderland) ecrivoit à Mr. Sidney qui est presentement aupres du Prince d'Orange, et fort bien avec lui. Le Roi d'Angleterre a eu connoissance de ces lettres[I 1] que Madame de Sunderland à des-
her in her bedchamber, only one of her dressers with her . . . . . She told me she found the King much disturbed about the preparations that were making in Holland . . . . . She then spoke with great dissatisfaction of my Lord and Lady Sunderland, especially of my Lady Sunderland. I said I was much surprised to find her Royal Highness in this mind towards that Lady, whom all the world thought to have great interest with her, and asked if I might presume to inquire what the matter was. She said she thought her one of the worst women in the world. After a pause, I took the liberty to say that I wished her Royal Highness had not thought so well of her heretofore, that I was sure she had a just caution given her."—Clarendon's Diary, ii. 189.
- ↑ Lady Sunderland, in one of her last letters now published, mentions her suspicions that her letters were opened and read.
