Page:The Queens of England.djvu/536

486 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. the little prince packed like a bundle of linen under her arm, and it was singular that he did not once cry, and that he proved himself, moreover, an excellent sailor. The queen herself was very ill on the voyage, but both arrived safely at Calais on December nth. She was only then in her thirty-first year. Sixteen years before, she had quitted Italy, as she now quitted England, for ever. The attentions of Louis the Fourteenth to Mary Beatrice, from the clay of her landing in his territory, were munificent beyond description. She was his adopted daughter, and well did this powerful friend in her need supply the place of a parent towards her. When joined by her husband, he gave up to the royal pair one of the finest palaces in France, St. Germains, and there they held their court during the remainder of their career. A melancholy separation from her husband, when he departed on his Irish expedition, speedily ensued ; and his fail- ure at the battle of the Boyne might have afflicted her more painfully, had it not brought him back to her side in safety. She collected and advanced sums of money during his absence, and her letters to Jacobites at home, both now and afterwards, displayed considerable talent for business. Religion also much occupied her thoughts ; she had formed an intimacy with the ' inmates of the Convent of Chaillot, which deepened as years of increased misfortune rolled on ; and whatever time she could spare from her husband and his interests, and the tedious ceremonies of the French court, was passed in visiting or cor- responding with them. The destruction of the French fleet by the English, which occurred shortly before the birth of his youngest child, and with it the last hope of James, seemed to have unsettled the royal exile's mind ; for he protracted his ab- sence at La Hogue, despite the queen's earnest solicitations for his return, until almost the period of her accouchement. The birth of the Princess Louisa took place on June 28, 1692. In little more than two years from that date, the death of her brother added one more to the number of her griefs. It was about this time, 1694, that the exiled queen sold her jewels for the support of her numerous faithful followers at St. Germains ; for though Louis allowed a certain sum for their maintenance, her own dower, voted by parliament, was regularly appropriated by William of Orange. At the commencement of 1695, Mary the Second being dead, James's hopes revived in England, and there was another heart- rending parting between him and his doting wife previous to