MARY II.

QUEEN REGNANT OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.1

CHAPTER V.

Regnal life of Mary II.-Her position in the sovereignty-Remarkable instances of conjugal submission-Scene of her landing, from a contemporary painting-Arrival at Greenwich-Meeting with her sister AnneEmbarks in the royal barge for Whitehall - Lands at Whitehall StairsUnseemly joy-Censures thereupon of Evelyn, of Lady Churchill, and of Burnet-Proclamation of William III. and Mary II.-Queen sends for Sancroft's blessing-Awful answer-Queen's ill will to her uncles-Her visit to Hampton Court-Exhortation to Burnet and his wife-Coronationmorning-Arrival of her father's letter- His malediction-Coronation of William and Mary-Take their oath as king and queen of ScotlandDissension with the princess Anne-Her pecuniary distress-King's rudeness to her at table-Queen's behaviour at the play-Goes to curiosityshops-To a fortune-teller-Rude reproofs of the king-Severe satire on her and her sister-Life of king and queen at Hampton Court-Birth of the princess Anne's son-Baptised-Proclaimed duke of Gloucester-His delicate health-Anne retires from Hampton Court-Lives at Craven HillQuarrel with the queen-Parliament provides for Anne-Ill will of the queen-Insults to the princess-King prepares for Irish campaign-The queen superintends building at Kensington-palace.

THE Swiftest gales and the most propitious weather that ever speeded a favourite of fortune to the possession of a throne attended Mary, princess of Orange, in her short transit from the port of the Brill to the mouth of her native Thames. She arrived there, glowing in health, and

'The preceding events of the life of Mary II. when princess, have been related in conjunction with those of her sister Anne, in vol. x.

overflowing with an excess of joyous spirits beyond her power to repress. Mary was brilliant in person at this epoch, and had not yet attained her twenty-seventh year.

Mary had been declared joint sovereign with her husband, but was not yet proclaimed, their signatures to the Bill of Rights being expected in return for the election which elevated them to her father's throne. The merely nominal regality to which the convention of 1688-9 had been induced to confine Mary's position in this double sovereignty, would have been more consistent with the ideas the AngloNormans entertained of female royalty than with the era of the next queen-regnant, who was called to the throne after the potent Elizabeth.

Mary brought in her train her domestic rival, Elizabeth Villiers, whom she had neither the power nor the moral courage to expel from her household. William of Orange had not dared to outrage public opinion in England, by making this woman the companion of his expedition against his consort's father. But as he by no means intended to break his connexion with her, Mary was doomed to the mortification of chaperoning her from Holland. Subservient to conjugal authority in all things, Mary submitted even to this degradation. Her compliance prevented the English people from murmuring at witnessing the toleration of her husband's mistress at Whitehall, at the same time holding a responsible situation about her own person. The new queen, perhaps, thought she had gained a great triumph over “the Villiers" by the obligations under which she laid her husband, by the sacrificing to him the power and precedence with which the convention had originally invested her. Mary had even sent to her husband the letters of Danby, urging her to insist on her nearer claims.

The success of William and Mary was not a little accelerated by the publication of an absurd prophecy, which affected to have described the tragic death of Charles I.,

the restoration of Charles II., and ended by declaring, that the next king would go post to Rome; all which was to happen when there were three queens of England at the same time. On the landing of Mary, the three queens were expounded to mean herself, Catherine of Braganza, and Mary Beatrice.'

The scene of Mary's landing in England' on the morning of February 12, 1688-9, strange to say, has never been described by any historian; it is, however, graphically delineated in the second of the contemporary Dutch paintings, which have been recently brought to Hampton Court Palace. The queen appears in the centre of the group of English courtiers, who stand bare-headed on the shore to receive her, and are backing and bowing down before her with demonstrations of profound respect. Her page stands in the back-ground, laden with her large orange cloak, which, with its hanging sleeves and ample draperies, sweeps the ground. Mary has also removed her hood, and shows herself to the people without any covering on her head, or shoulders; her bodice is cut very low, and draped with folds of fine muslin, looped with strings of pearls; her hair is dressed with lofty cornettes of orange ribands and agraffes of pearls. She draws up her purple velvet robe to show an ostentatious-looking orange petticoat. Orange banners are borne before her and about her. Her tall lord chamberlain, hat in hand, is backing before her, and directing her attention to her grand state charger, which is richly caparisoned, with purple velvet saddle, and housings emblazoned with the crown and royal arms of Great Britain, and led by her master of the horse, sir Edward Villiers, who is in full court dress. Her majesty is preceded by females strewing flowers, she is surrounded

1 Lamberty, vol. i. p. 371.

2 The queen embarked at the Brill, Monday, Feb. 10, and was in the Nore in a few hours.

by her officers of state, and attended by her Dutch lady of honour, in lofty stiff head-gear. This lady is, probably, madame Stirum.

If Gravesend were the place of queen Mary's landing, and if the Dutch painter has been correct, Gravesend must have been very different in appearance then, from what it is at present, which is probable, because it had, at that time, ancient towers called block-houses, and other river fortifications still standing. The princess Anne, and prince George of Denmark, with their attendants, received her majesty at Greenwich palace.' The royal sisters met each other "with transports of affection;" says lady Churchill, "which soon fell off, and coldness ensued." But not then; both Mary and Anne were too much elated with their success, to disagree in that hour of joy and exultation-joy so supreme, that Mary could neither dissemble nor contain it, according to the testimony of every one who saw her. The royal barge of her exiled father was waiting for her; and, amidst a chorus of shouts and welcomes from an immense throng of spectators, she entered it with her sister and brother-in-law, and was in a short time brought to Whitehall-stairs, where she landed with them, and took possession of her father's palace. William, for the first time since his invasion, came to Whitehall, but not until Mary had actually arrived there. Mazure attributes to design this remarkable trait in his conduct. "By such artifice," says that historian, "William threw on the daughter of the exiled king the odium of the first occupation of his palace."

994

Four writers, who all profess to be eye-witnesses either of her landing or her demeanour in the palace, have each recorded what they saw; one of them, a philosophical ob

1 Oldmixon, p. 780.

2 Conduct, by the Duchess of Marlborough.

3

Lamberty.

4 Mazure. Revolution d'Angleterre, vol. iii. 365.