The fine portraits of Van Dyck had given me such an idea of the beauty of all English ladies, that I was surprised to find the Queen (so beautiful in her picture) a little woman with long lean arms, crooked shoulders, and teeth protruding from her mouth like guns from a fort. Still, after careful inspection, I found she had beautiful eyes, a well-shaped nose, and an admirable complexion. She did me the honor to say that she thought me rather like Mlle. her daughter. So pleased was I, that from that time forward I considered her quite handsome.

I also heard the English milords say to each other that, when grown up, I should eclipse all my sisters. This remark gave me a liking for the whole English nation, so charming is it to be admired when one is young.

My sister, who was called Mme. Elizabeth,13 had black hair, a dazzling complexion, brown sparkling eyes, a well-shaped forehead, beautiful cherry lips, and a sharp aquiline nose, which was rather apt to turn red. She loved study, but all her philosophy could not save her from vexation when her nose was red. At such times she hid herself from the world. I remember that my sister, Princess Louise, who was not so sensitive, asked her on one such unlucky occasion to come upstairs to the Queen, as it was the usual hour for visiting her. Princess Elizabeth said, "Would you have me go with this nose?" The other replied, "Will you wait till you get another?"

Louise 14 was lively and unaffected; Elizabeth very learned -she knew every language and every science under the sun, and corresponded regularly with Descartes. This great learning, however, by making her rather absent-minded, often became the subject of our mirth. Princess Louise was not so handsome, but had, in my opinion, a more amiable disposition. She devoted herself to painting, and so strong was her talent for it that she could take likenesses without seeing the originals. While painting others she neglected herself sadly. One would have said that her clothes had been thrown on her, and this caused Mr. Herinton 15 to compare her in 13 Elizabeth, born 1618. Abbess of Herford, 1667-1680.

14 Louise Hollandine, born 1622. Joined Roman Catholic Church 1658. Abbess of Maubuisson, in France, 1664-1709.

15 Harrington.

his verses to a painter who, failing to paint a horse's foam, threw his brush at the picture in a rage, and by this chance succeeded to perfection.

My sister Henriette 16 bore no resemblance to the other two. She had fair flaxen hair, a complexion, without exaggeration, of lilies and roses, and a nose which, although well shaped, was able to resist the cold. She had soft eyes, black wellarched eyebrows, an admirable contour of face and forehead, a pretty mouth, and hands and arms as perfect as if they had been turned with a lathe. Of her feet and ankles I need say no more than that they resembled those of the rest of her family. Her talents, by which I chiefly profited, lay in the direction of needlework and preserve-making.

I must also mention that, as the Demoiselles de Quat were unable themselves to follow me to the Hague, they wished to provide me with a person after their own hearts as my constant attendant, and for this purpose recommended an old maid called Galen, whom I could not endure, for I thought her very disagreeable, and was not alone in my opinion. Often did I hide behind some bed curtains or a piece of tapestry to give her the trouble of searching the house for me. I took a fancy to an English girl called Carray, who waited on my sister Henriette. She was a modest young creature, not handsome but fresh-looking, with great taste in dress. Her elder sister, one of the Queen's maids of honor, was a person of remarkable prudence and judgment. The younger sister loved me from inclination, the elder from policy as well, for she saw that I was beginning to have influence, and might some day be useful in pushing her fortune. She desired her sister to superintend my dress, and to set me off to the best advantage. The task was an easy one, for youth is in itself the greatest possible ornament.

I had light brown naturally curling hair, a gay and easy manner, a good though not very tall figure, and the bearing of a princess. Other charms, now no longer reflected in my mirror, I do not care to recall. I prefer the pleasure of looking at my portraits taken at that time to the task of describing what is past and gone.

16 Henriette Marie, born 1626. Married Sigismund Rakoczy von Siebenbürgen 1651; died 1651.

Slander just then was very prevalent at the Hague. It had become a kind of fashion for the wits to sit in judgment on everybody's words and actions. My manners and behavior had been so carefully watched over by my two elder sisters that I was even more commended for conduct than for beauty. An old Englishman, Lord Craven (William),17 took an interest in me. There was an idea that I might some day marry the Prince of Wales, who was a year my senior. My friends hoped for success, because the English desired for their prince a wife of his own religion, and at that time there were no Protestant princesses of birth superior to mine for him to choose amongst.

My good friends were not alone in lifting their eyes to a prize so tempting. The princess, wife of Prince Henry of Orange, had formed the same plan for one of her own daughters, and also expected to succeed on the score of her religion. I was, as she thought, the only obstacle to her indomitable ambition. She held counsel with her husband on this subject, and determined to do her utmost to destroy my reputation, well knowing that the world is easily deceived by appearances. She resolved that her son, who was already married, should try to compromise me, believing that I would permit, without alarm, the attentions of so distinguished a prince. German valet named Fritz happened to overhear the discussion of this plan, and, being a well-principled youth, was so shocked by its wickedness that he at once informed Streithagen, the minister of my brother, the Elector Palatine,18 of all that he had heard. Time soon proved that he told the truth, for the young prince, by his mother's orders, appeared regularly every evening in my mother's antechamber. It was all, however, labor lost, for whenever he appeared I retired. Driven to seek some other means of setting the world talking, they made the prince arrange a ballet, in which my brother Prince Philip 19 could not refuse to join; neither would he, as they thought, derogate from his rank by practicing it at the court of Orange instead of in his own apartments. But my brother, who saw through this scheme, cir"William, 1st Earl of Craven, has been supposed to have been privately married to Elizabeth Stuart.

18 Charles Louis, born 1617; Elector, 1649; died 1680. 19 Born 1627, died 1655.

cumvented it by declaring that his room was too small; for he easily perceived that their object was simply to gain freer access to our court, so as to make the world talk. They then employed the Rhinegrave,20 who dared to tell me that I might, if I pleased, govern all Holland and follow the example of Mme. de Chevreuse,21 who had gained such power by her charms. I replied that he had better give such advice to his own wife, who was, I believed, far too good to follow it, as she was greatly superior to her husband.

Meanwhile I was much courted by the English nation,22 who took endless trouble to please me, and all for the very shadow of a chance, for the affairs of King Charles I. were in a desperate state. He himself was a prisoner in the Isle of Wight, and the Prince of Wales, for whose sake they made so much of me, had come to take refuge at the Hague. We saw that he was a prince richly endowed by nature, but not sufficiently so by fortune to allow him to think of marriage. Several of the English, however, thought of it for him, even after the terrible death of the King his father, 23 which made him King by succession. A rising also took place against Cromwell, the chiefs of which were in my interest; but, like the King their master, they had the misfortune to be betrayed and beheaded.

Among those who sought their own fortune in my service was the Marquis of Montrose. Being a good general, and a man of great ability, he believed everything to be attainable by his courage and talent, and was certain of reëstablishing the young King if his Majesty would appoint him Viceroy of Scotland, and after so signal a service, bestow on him the hand of my sister, Princess Louise. The commission was granted by the King, notwithstanding the opposition of a hostile Presbyterian faction headed by the Duke of Hamilton and Lord Lauderdale. The Princess of Orange, seeing that they were opposed to Montrose, set them down as my enemies also, plotted to such good effect that the Presbyterians turned against me in favor of her daughter, being persuaded that I 20 Otto von Salm (?).

21 Marie de Bohan. Married, first, the Duc de Luynes; secondly, the Duc de Chevreuse, son of Henri de Guise.

22 Refugees.

23 Jan. 30, 1649.

was no good Presbyterian because I went to "Common Prayer" with the King.

Montrose meanwhile went to Scotland, and the Parliament, dreading his influence and valor, sent deputies to the King at Breda-where I also was with the Queen my mother-offering the crown of Scotland on condition that he gave up Montrose, swore to the Covenant, and acknowledged the Parliament as lawful. The King suffered himself to be persuaded by the enemies of Montrose to grant all this in order to secure the crown for himself. I was deeply shocked; the more so on hearing that the gallant Montrose had been put to a cruel death, as may be read in the history of England.

I had noticed other signs of weakness on the King's part. He and I had always been on the best of terms, as cousins and friends, and he had shown a liking for me with which I was much gratified. One day, however, his friends Lord Gerit and Somerset Fox, being in want of money, persuaded him to pay me compliments on the promenade at Vorhoeit.24 Among other things he told me that I was handsomer than Mrs. Berlo,25 and that he hoped soon to see me in England. I was surprised by this speech, and learned afterwards that Somerset Fox's object was to induce me to ask Lord Craven for money for the King, which he (Somerset Fox) meant to share with his comrade, Lord Gerit. I was highly offended; but the Queen, who had noticed his Majesty's marked attentions, was just as much delighted, and blamed me for not going to the promenade on the following evening. I made the excuse of a corn on my foot, which prevented me from walking. My real reason, however, was to avoid the King, having sense enough to know that the marriages of great kings are not made up by such means. I also remarked that the King, who used to seek my society, avoided it in the presence of the Scottish deputies. All these circumstances combined proved to me that my friends' plan would come to nothing, and that, were I to remain in Holland, I should doubtless be subjected to the mortification of losing the esteem in which I was held; for those persons who now paid court to "Voorhout, in South Holland.

25 Mrs. Barlow, better known as Lucy Walters or Waters. She was mother of the Duke of Monmouth, and is described by Evelyn (Aug. 19, 1649) as "a browne, beautifull, bold, but insipid creature."