Muscovite ambassadors." Now when was this? Let us see what Pepys and Evelyn can do for us in this emergency:—
"29 Dec., 1662.—Saw the audience of the Muscovite Ambassr which was with extraordinary state, his retinue being numerous, all clad in vests of several colours, with buskins after ye Eastern manners: their caps of furr; tunicks richly embrodred with gold and pearls made a glorious show."—Evelyn.
"5 Jany. 1662-3.—To the King's Chamber, whither by and by the Russian Ambassadors come."—Pepys.
The arrival of the Muscovite ambassadors, though not the particular audience, thus satisfactorily settled, the next event in the same chapter is the period when the Countess of Chesterfield (the heroine of the Memoirs) was sent into the country by her jealous-pated husband, as the wits and gallants of the court chose to call a courageous earl, unwilling to wink at the dishonour of his wife. The cause of the Countess of Chesterfield's retirement was her open and very indiscreet conduct with the Duke of York.
"3 Nov. 1662.—He [Pierce] tells me how the Duke of York is smitten in love with my Lady Chesterfield; and so much that the Duchess of York hath complained to the King and her father about it, and my Lady Chesterfield is gone into the country for it."— Pepys.
This was, perhaps, only a temporary banishment; for if Hamilton's narrative is correct, and there is no
