Page:The Queens of England.djvu/538

MARY THE SECOND, QUEEN OF WILLIAM THE THIRD. Mary, the eldest daughter of James the Second, was born at St. James' Palace, a. d. 1662, during the reign of her uncle, King Charles, her father being then Duke of York, and heir apparent to the throne, which he afterwards filled. Her mother, Anne Hyde, was a daughter of the celebrated Lord Clarendon.' It was fortunate for Mary and for England that her mother was a Protestant, and, perhaps, quite as much so that she at- tracted little public notice, owing to the expectations of a male succession from the marriage of her uncle Charles the Second, which took place about the time of her birth. She was named Mary after her aunt, the Princess of Orange, and Mary Queen of Scots ; and Prince Rupert stood as her godfather. Soon afterwards, she was sent to her grandfather's, the Earl of Clarendon, at Twickenham, to be nursed in a pure air. In fifteen months, a little brother was born — James, Duke of Cambridge — who did not live long ; and in about another such interval of time, her sister Anne. The three children were for the most part brought up at Twickenham and Richmond, till the death of their mother, which took place in 1671, when Mary was about nine years of age. Their governess at Rich- mond was Lady Francis Villiers, daughter of the Earl of Suf- folk ; and the two princesses were constantly associated with Lady Villiers' six daughters ; the whole of whom ever after- wards clung tenaciously to the courts and fortunes of Mary and Anne ; and Elizabeth Villiers, the eldest, became in future years the trouble of Mary's wedded life. Here also were introduced the afterwards celebrated Frances and Sarah Jennings ; and it is curious that Sarah, afterwards the Duchess of Marlborough, attached herself at this early age especially to the Princess Anne, as her playfellow. After the marriage of their father with the Catholic princess, Mary of Modena, the education of the two