MARGARET GODOLPHIN, and indulgent father, who died six months after he saw his beloved sovereign restored. The King, grateful for his faithful attachment, had made him Colonel of a regiment, and Governor of Yarmouth and Landguard Fort, Harwich, testifying his remem- brance of his loyalty by shewing him many kind- nesses. He died November 14, 1660, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, leaving his widow in difficult circumstances ; but she managed to discharge his numerous debts, and even to secure a tolerable competency to each of her four girls - Henrietta Maria, Dorothy, Mary, and Margaret. Of Margaret's sisters little mention is made. Henrietta, the eldest, was a totally different charac- ter from the thoughtful, innocent Margaret, being foolish, heedless, and intolerably vain, although her appearance is described by Count Hamilton in terms which charm us but slightly. " Her shape," he says, " was neither good nor bad ; there was some- thing extremely silly in her countenance, and her complexion was dull, with two little sunk eyes enriched with eyelashes as long as one's finger. With these charms she placed herself in ambush to surprise unwary hearts." The Duchess of York evidently took a strong interest in the sisters ; and on her marriagebeing acknowledged, when she was permitted to hold her Court in state at St. James's, as first Princess of the blood and wife of the heir- presumptive, she selected Henrietta for one of her maids of honour. In addition to Henrietta, her 8
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