The next day, Friday the 13th, the Queen, to whom Sancy had, of course, reported the unfavourable reception which his overtures on her behalf had received, sent for Bassompierre to come to her; but the Ambassador, who was determined to bring her Majesty to reason, begged to be excused. His refusal had the desired effect, for on the Saturday “the Earl of Carlisle came to visit him for the purpose of reconciling him with the Queen,” and peace was re-established.
On the 15th, to celebrate the amicable termination of Bassompierre’s mission, Buckingham gave a magnificent fête in the Ambassador’s honour at York House, which the King and Queen graced with their presence:—
“I went to meet the King at Houaithall [Whitehall], who placed me in his barge and brought me to the duke at Iorchaus [York House], who entertained me to the most superb banquet that I ever saw in my life. The King supped with the Queen and myself at a table which was served by complete ballets at each course, and there were divers representations, changes of scenery, tables and music. The duke attended upon the King at table, the Earl of Carlisle upon the Queen, and the Earl of Holland upon me. After supper they conducted the King and us into another room, where the company assembled; they entered by a turnstile, as in monasteries, without any confusion. Here took place a superb ballet, which the duke danced, and afterwards we danced country-dances[94] until four hours after midnight. Then we were conducted into vaulted apartments,[95] where there were five different collations.”[96]
On the following day the King, who with the Queen had spent the night at York House, sent to invite Bassompierre to return there to hear a concert given by the Queen’s musicians. The concert was followed by a ball, and the ball by a play, at the conclusion of which the Ambassador, who had been dancing until the small hours of the morning, must have experienced considerable difficulty in remaining awake.
During the next fortnight Bassompierre appears to have entertained, or been entertained by, all the distinguished persons of the Court. At one dinner-party which he gave his guests were: Buckingham, Carlisle, Holland, Theophilus Howard, Earl of Suffolk, Carleton, Walter Montague, Goring, Orazio Gentileschi, the celebrated painter, Thomas Cary, son of the Earl of Monmouth, and a poet of some note in his time, and Saint-Antoine, the King’s French equerry, who is depicted by Vandyck holding his royal master’s helmet in the magnificent picture of Charles I mounted on a white horse; while after dinner William Cecil, Earl of Exeter, and Edward Montague, Lord Mandeville, afterwards Earl of Manchester, joined the party. Seldom can a more interesting company have been gathered round one table.
On November 29 he began to make his adieux:
“The Earl of Carlisle and Lucnar [Lewkenor] came to fetch me with the King’s coaches, to bring me to take leave of their Majesties, who gave me public audience in the great hall of Houaithall [Whitehall]. I then returned with him [the King] into his bedchamber, into which he made me enter; and afterwards I went to sup in the chamber of the Earl of Carlisle, who entertained me superbly. Lucnar came to bring me from the King a very valuable present of four diamonds in the form of a lozenge, with a big pearl at the end. The same evening, the King sent for me to come and hear an excellent English play.[97]
“Monday, the 30th.—I went to take leave of the millord Montague, President of the Council, the Earls of Pembroch and Montgomery, of the Earl of Exeter, of the countess his wife, of the Countess of Oxfort, his daughter, and of the millord Carleton. Thence I went to have a private audience of the Queen.”
The following day was occupied in further farewell visits, and in the evening—the last which he was to spend in London—the Countess of Exeter gave in his honour “a magnificent banquet, followed by a ball.”