All the letters show how much the movements of the exiled King and his sister affected the Hyde household at Breda, and Lady Hyde’s comments betray a certain impatience and irritation at the fact. It is evident that to some extent she resented her husband’s constant periods of absence, and scarcely considered them necessary, though she saw nothing for it but submission.
“June 27.
“I am now doeing a thing I doe not love to doe wh is to acknowledge three of yours in owne and if I had bin alone at Breda would not have forgiven my selfe the neclicing it so long, my Lord’s coming alone would not have kepte me from it but in ernest sence the Kinge and Princesse came so neere Breda, I can safely say I have not had an houre in the day to my selfe, and this minit I have now gott in is by stealing out of a croude wch will not alow me tim enough to ensware every particular of yours. I hope I am wrightly understud by you that I would not impose anything upon my Lady your Mother in wch I writ about the waiteing-woman, it being meerely my owne thoughts, for the person knows nothing of it, and my businesse was only to serve my Lady, if she were willing to undertake the trouble of her. Sence my husband hath found out so easy a way for my Lady I hope she will alow us some time here where I can assure her a reall and harty welcome wch I wish might make up for wt will be wanting in the entertaine her according to my desire to a person I so truly love and honoure. Hary tells me of a third designe to borow our House at Bruges wch wth your timely notes I thinke I shall prevent. I thank you for your prayres wch I still aske from you, though I doubt my Father will not long inioye the benefitte of them here, he weareing every day a way, I may calle it like a lampe. I pray God it may be of no more paine to him then yett it hath bin; now I have tould you this I know you will pitty my conditione that must whether I will or now entertaine and put on a cheere looke. I would say more but Hary calles a waye wch must wth all other faults excuse this hast.”
Her eldest son had returned, and his mother in a letter of 5th August speaks as if his health had been a matter of some anxiety.
“By your last I was in hope you would have bin at Hoochstraet in a very short time but Mr Secretary’s last illnesse makes me doubt all thoughts of that journey are Laid aside and consequently that you will not come to Breda wch in ernest I am sory for. I hope I shall not faile in my next my Husband haveing promised me that I shall come to Bruxelles this winter where I promise my selfe great sattisfactione in your excelant family. I give you many thankes for your great care and kindnesse to Hary of home I will have all the care I can and doe not doubt but he will have much better health now he is like to have more liberty in order to wch his Father hath taken a Secretary wh I beleeve Hary hath allredy tould you, as I am confident he did that he and Lory were to goe into Holand for a weeke wth Mr Bealing. I would not have given you the trouble of this account, but that I know you are Hary’s friend.”
Three days later, on 8th August, Lady Hyde alludes to the great sorrow which has befallen her in the death of her father, Sir Thomas Aylesbury, who died as previously mentioned at the age of eighty-one, surrounded by all the care and affection his daughter could lavish on him.
“I doe acknowledge I am two Letters in your dett the former of wh I had answered longe before this but you know the sad conditione I was in at this time wch is so inst: an excuse and to tell you the truth I am yett unfit for anything else. I had sent you a chalinge while you were at Antwerp for not gitting one day to come to Miss Francesse, who is now al the merth of our house, but in ernest I was in hope then to have seene you, for I knew you were to returne to my Lady when the Kinge did, she being so newly come to a strange place which I have sent Mr Secretary word hath maid his pease for the present. From Hochstraet now is the place I looke for to see you, by wch time I hope my Lady will thinke it fitt to take the Ayre, I can say no more but assure you a harty wellcome.”
The last letter to be transcribed, written on 29th September, is a short one.
“I am a gaine two Letters in your dett but Downings’ disturbance was the cause wch hath kept me from acknowlideing my Lady’s favour and reioycing wth you for Mr Secretary’s recovery, for all wch I hope to make my peace when I come, my husband tells me that shall be so quickely there, that I will say no more tell I come, but intreate you to favour me wth my humble serv’es to Mr Secretarey and my Lady and your brother.”
These letters give a fairly close impression of the exiled Hyde household at the time when that expatriation was drawing to its close. The picture of Frances Hyde, the dutiful daughter, the devoted wife, the affectionate mother, the loyal friend, is a pleasant one, but one singular point must be noted. There is no allusion to the eldest daughter. And yet Anne, in attendance on the Princess, must have been in constant communication with her parents, both in person and by letter.