When the irascible temper of the Duchess of Cleveland became too intolerable to be borne, the king's excitable fancy was adroitly directed by the Duke of Buckingham, English envoy to the court of France, to Mademoiselle de Quéroualle, whom he planned to set up as a rival to her in the king's affections, and thus to further his own ambitious ends, which were antagonized by the duchess. Thus to place in control of the king's volatile sentiments the seductive French woman, who would represent the duke's interests, seemed a veritable stroke of masterful politics of a character not unworthy of Machiavel himself. It was not difficult to persuade Louis that such a sentimental alliance would cement Charles to the French interests; and as the project would save her from a French convent, mademoiselle was not found intractable. A decorous invitation, so worded as to spare the blush of the lady's modesty, was sent from the English court, and she was forthwith despatched to the court of Charles to fulfil the double rôles of courtesan and diplomat, which were so often combined in the person of astute females. Her appearance at court was hailed by Dryden, the court poet, in some complimentary stanzas of indifferent worth. Evelyn recorded in his _Diary_ that he had seen "that famous beauty, the new French Maid of Honor"; but adds: "In my opinion, she is of a childish, simple, and baby face." After the birth of a son to the king, who was created Duke of Richmond and Earl of Marsh in England, Mademoiselle de Quéroualle was made Duchess of Portsmouth. At the same time, she was drawing a considerable pension from Louis in recognition of her services to France. The noble-minded English gentleman Evelyn records the extravagant tastes of the duchess, whose control over the king had become unbounded, in these words: "Following his Majesty this morning through the gallery, I went with the few who attended him into the Duchess of Portsmouth's dressing-room, within her bed-chamber, where she was in her loose morning garment, her maids combing her, newly out of her bed, his Majesty and the gallants standing about her; but that which engaged my curiosity was the rich and splendid furniture of this woman's apartment, now twice or thrice pulled down and rebuilt to satisfy her prodigality and expensive pleasures, while her Majesty's does not exceed some gentlemen's wives' in furniture and accommodations. Here I saw the new fabric of French tapestry, for design, tenderness of work, and incomparable imitation of the best paintings, beyond anything I had ever beheld. Some pieces had Versailles, St. Germaines, and other places of the French king, with huntings, figures, and landscapes, exotic fowls, and all to the life rarely done. Then the Japan cabinets, screens, pendule clocks, great vases of wrought plate, tables, stands, chimney furniture, sconces, branches, brasures, and all of massive silver, and out of number; besides of his Majesty's best paintings. Surfeiting of this,