Languages & literature > Key to the drama

C 165 )
his inclinations, and thereby fecure not
only himfelf, but the powerful connexions
of his family in the court intereft : to
which end Ipropofed, to prevent his being
expofed to the defigning feduXion of
others, to confine him as a fort of ftate
prifoner to the boundaries of my own
houfe, until he fhall arrive to fuch an age
as fhould entitle him to the King’s particu¬
lar notice; and that then the enlargement
fhould appear to him to be the effeX of
royal favour : And it was purely that I
might aX fo confiftently with thefe engage¬
ments of good policy, as not to be liable
to any fufpicions of meaning otherwife,
that made my entertainment of Lorn bear
fo much the appearance of an imprifon-
ment.
‘ However, the number of the late
mercilefs executions, joined to other ap-
prehenfions and jealoufies, difpoled every
nobleman and gentleman, who could do it
with decency, to withdraw themfelves from
the court; fo that in a little time there
were none to be feen about it but a band of
fycophants and cut-throats, who were
ready not only to approve, but to execute,
the moft arbitrary meafures, that the moft
barbarous of Kings had a heart to contrive.
By their means, and the infligations of the
Queen, there was nothing to be heard of