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 VIII.
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 person 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 rollicking 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.
This marriage was very popular in Scotland, where, as well as in England, all the festivities and rejoicings customary on such occasions were observed. The groom displayed great ill-humor when the duchess had a son born a couple of days later, because the little fellow would have had the precedency over his wife in the succession, but, as we know, he lived only a few weeks. It made Princess Mary no happier to find herself united to a surly man, and what added to her distress at this time was the illness of her sister Anne, who was suffering from small-pox, and could neither be present at her wedding nor take leave of her when, a week later, she departed for Holland. The