Agnes Strickland's Queens of England (32 page)

you were about to tell her a story about a person, she always said : " If it be any ill, I beg you not to relate it to me ; I do not like histories which attack the reputation." It would be well for us who live in a more civilized age to lay this lesson to heart, and emulate the pious example of Mary Beatrice.

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CHAPTER X.

MARY II., QLTEEN-REGENT OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. (A.D. 1662-1695.)

Lady Mary of York, as this queen was styled in her youth, was a person of small importance, so far as any prospect of her ever occupying the throne was concerned, for this reason : She was the daughter of James, Duke of York, second son of Charles L and Henrietta Maria, whose history we have related.

Charles H. succeeded his father and married Catharine of Braganza, just at the time when Lady Mary was born, and everybody supposed that his children would be next in the line of succession. So they would have been if he had ever been blessed with an)', but as he was not, his brother James, the luckless king of whom the last reign contains an account, mounted the throne, and then his daughters attained an importance that would not otherwise have been theirs.

The Duke of York's first wife was Anne Hyde, daughter of Clarendon, the lord chancellor, and as she was not of royal birth, a great deal of discontent was occasioned on all sides. However, the marriage had been secretly solemnized before any engagement was suspected, so it would have been useless for any one to say much against it.

Lady Mary was born at St. James's Palace, only a couple of weeks before her uncle's marriage; so the public mind was occupied with preparations for the reception of the new bride; and the infant came into the world as quietly

as though she had not been of royal blood. She was sent to her grandfather's house at Twickenham, where her nursery was established ; and being a very beautiful, engaging child, she was no doubt indulged and fondled more than was good for her. She had a little brother born when she was not more than a year and a half old; but he died within a short time. Lady Anne of York, the subject of the next reign, was born when Mary was three years of age, and the elder sister stood sponsor at the baptism of the infant.

The Duke of York was so fond of Lady Mary that he kept her in his arms all the time when he was at Twickenham, or when she was taken on a visit at St. James's Palace. Pepys, a literary gentleman, who published a most interesting diary of his times, says: " I was on business with the Duke of York, and with great pleasure saw him play with his little girl just like an ordinary private father." So we can easily imagine the romping and merry sounds that must have enlivened the nursery when the duke made his visits.

Shortly after the birth of Anne, the royal father returned from his first grand naval victory, and found the Great Plague raging to such an extent that he at once removed his wife and children to York. That place had the double advantage of pure air, and of being in the neighborhood of the duke's fleet, that was cruising off the northeast coast to keep an eye on the Dutch ships.

The Duchess of York had everything about her very splendid in her northern home, and was so happy there that when her husband was summoned elsewhere she preferred not to accompany him. No doubt this lady had faults, — who has not ? — but her most prominent one was an excessive love of eating. This would have harmed no one but herself; therefore we should not have recorded it,

if it had not been transmitted to her children. Both of the daughters carried this weakness even further than their mother did, and she was injudicious enough to indulge them. As a natural consequence the children accumulated an unhealthy quantity of fat, and, of course, became victims of indigestion. Anne was a regular rolly-poly as a child ; but as there is a separate chapter devoted to her we must confine the present story, as much as possible, to the elder sister.

Ladies Mary and Anne pursued their education under the direction of Lady Frances Villiers, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk and wife of Sir Edward Villiers. This-lady had six daughters of her own, and must have had her hands full with the care of eight girls. She lived with them at the old palace at Richmond, where Queen Elizabeth died, and her daughters grew up with the princesses, and formed a connection that lasted through life. Being deprived of their mother when they were, respectively, six and nine years of age, Mary and Anne naturally clung to the companions who shared their education and to the lady who superintended it.

[A.D. 1671.] When the Duchess of York died she left four children, two of whom were sons; but they followed her to the grave within the year. By that time the succession of the Princess Mary to the throne'of England began to assume an air of probability, because, as we have said, no children were born to Charles H. The duchess had become a convert to Catholicism, and not very long after her death the duke was suspected of having likewise joined that faith. This made him so unpopular that the services he had performed for his country were all forgotten, and his marriage, rather more than two years afterwards, with the Catholic Princess of Modena, only served to increase the censure he had drawn down on his own head.

Fearing that his nieces might be influenced by their father's faith, King Charles undertook the supervision of their education himself, and engaged Henry Compton, Bishop of London, for their preceptor. This man had been a soldier until he was thirty years old, when he became a clergyman, and was rapidly promoted on account of the loyalty of his family. Compton was good enough as a man, but by no means a well-informed one, consequently the princesses were not taught as they ought to have been. People who have not had advantages of education themselves often know its importance; but this does not seem to have been the case with Compton, for his pupils were allowed to study or not, just as their fancy dictated. The consequence was that the elder sister, having inherited the literary tastes of her parents, studied because it pleased her to do so; while Lady Anne grew up an ignoramus because she did not so please. If the governess. Lady Fran ces Villiers, had done her duty faithfully, this would not have been the case; but her tastes lay in a different direction.

Peter de Laine was the French professor of the princesses, and made Lady Mary so perfect a mistress of that language that she wrote it better than her native tongue. Mr. and Mrs, Gibson gave instruction in drawing. They were a pair of dwarfs, neither being more than three feet six inches in height, and were considered among the best English artists of the day. This little couple had nine full-grown children, and lived to a good old age.

The ladies Mary and Anne continued to live at Richmond with Lady Villiers and her daughters after their mother's death, and were very religiously trained according to the requirements of the Church of England. One day in the year the Duke of York's entire family always observed as one of deep sorrow, fasting, and prayer; it was

the thirtieth of Januan,', memorable as having been the date of Charles I.'s execution. Each year all matters of business or pleasure were laid aside on that day, and the family appeared in deep mourning garments.

[A.D. 1674.] Mrs. Betterton, the principal actress at the King's Theatre, was engaged to teach the royal sisters a ballet, which they performed at court, and the lessons she also imparted in elocution proved of great service when, as queens, they had speeches to make. Both the princesses were attractive in personal appearance, though they did not resemble each other; for Lady Mary was a Stuart in looks, tall, graceful, slender, with a clear complexion, dark eyes and hair, while Anne had her mother's round face and plump figure. Her hair was dark brown, complexion ruddy, features clear cut and regular, and she had beautiful hands and arms. Being somewhat near-sighted, Princess Anne had a drawn look about the eyes that detracted from her beauty. Perhaps it was this defect that prevented her studying as much as she ought to have done ; but certain it is that she never opened a book when she could avoid it; but she was a good musician and played well on the guitar. At a very early age Anne excelled in card-playing, and, I regret to add, gossip. But this was the fault of King Charles's court, at which both the princesses were introduced when they ought to have been still at school. Lady Mary played cards as well as her sister, and for very high stakes, but, what was worse, she employed Sunday evenings as well as those of the week in this frivolous manner. Nobody tried to correct this bad habit, because gambling was the chief pastime at the English court, and had been so since the time of Henry VHL

[A.D. 1677.] When Lady Mary was fifteen years old King Charles and his councillors began to look about for a husband for her, and decided that her cousin, William

Henry, Prince of Orange, would be the best pergon for her to marry. Then that young man was first consulted on the subject; his mind was so filled with war and exploits on the battle-field that he appeared indifferent almost to rudeness; but later, when he thought that the influence of his uncles, Charles II. and the Duke of York, might be of advantage in a political point of view, he went to England to see what his chances then might be with the presumptive heiress, Mary. This prince was the son of King Charles's sister Mary, who died when her boy was nine years of age, and left him to the care of his grandmother, his father having been killed at sea before he was born. He was an undersized, delicate boy of nineteen the first time he went to England to claim the protection of his uncles, who made some plans by which he was secured the Stadt-holdership of Holland. That was in 1670; he was twenty-six when he returned on his matrimonial expedition, and not much improved either in health or appearance. Prince William had a little plan of his own which prevented his discussing his affairs in a straightforward manner at his first interview with King Charles. He was at war with France, and felt no desire to make peace unless forced to do so. Should he wed the Princess of England, he counted on assistance from her father to pursue hostilities, but he would not commit himself until he had seen the lady; for although he was by no means good-looking himself, he was determined to have a handsome wife.

He was so well pleased with the Princess Mary that after his introduction to her by King Charles, he immediately asked her hand in marriage. It was granted on condition that the terms of a peace with France should first be agreed upon. The prince excused himself, and declared " that he must end his marriage before he began his peace treaty;" then added " that his allies would be apt to believe

that he had made his match at their cost, and for his part, he would never sell his honor for a wife."

But the king remained obstinate for three or four days; then Sir William Temple sought his presence and repeated this message sent to his majesty by the Prince of Orange, who was in a very bad humor. It was: " That he repented ever coming to England, and that after two days he would go back home if the king continued in the mind he was of treating of the peace before his marriage, and that the king must choose whether they were to live afterwards as the greatest friends or the greatest enemies, for it must be one or the other."

The easy-going Charles, who was always for letting everybody have his own way, replied : " Well, I never yet was deceived in judging of a man's honesty by his looks ; and if I am not deceived in the prince's face, he is the honestest man in the world. I will trust him — he shall have his wife. You go, Sir William Temple, and tell my brother that I have resolved it shall be so."

The Duke of York was surprised at the suddenness of the message, but replied : " The king shall be obeyed, and I would be glad if all his subjects would learn of me to obey him. I tell him my opinion very freely upon all things; but when I know his positive pleasure on a point I obey."

The Prince of Orange was delighted at his uncle Charles's decision, and that very evening the match was announced at the cabinet council. After having dined at Whitehall Palace, the Duke of York returned to St. James's, where he was then living with his family, and leading his daughter Mary into a private room, told her how it was arranged that she was to marry Prince William of Orange. The poor girl burst into tears and felt very unhappy, but no one cared anything about that; and although her heart was very heavy

she had to stand by her betrothed for several succeeding days to receive deputations from the city officials, law students, commercial companies, and others who came to offer congratulations. A grand banquet was given by the citizens of London to evince their pleasure at this Protestant marriage, and on the same day the Princess Mary, with her sister Anne, and her stepmother, Mary of Modena, sat under a canopy of state and witnessed a fine procession.

The marriage was solemnized on the fourth of November in the bride's bed-chamber at St. James's Palace, only the members of the royal family being present. King Charles tried to draw attention from his niece's excessive sadness by rolicking gayety, quite out of place on so solemn an occasion; and when the Prince of Orange endowed his bride with all his earthly goods, placing a handful of gold and silver coins on the open book, the king told his niece " to gather it up and put it in her pocket, for 't was all clear gain." After the ceremony the court and foreign ambassadors were admitted to offer congratulations. Next morning Prince William gave his bride a present of jewels to the amount of forty thousand pounds.