BORN 1620, DIED 1653.
By Honthorst.
HE was the fourth son of Frederic, Elector Palatine (King of Bohemia), by Elizabeth, Princess of England, daughter of James the First. After the battle of Prague, which wrecked their fortunes, the unhappy ex-King and Queen were driven from their palace at Prague, compelled to fly for their lives by unfrequented roads, and through the blinding snowstorms, which impeded the progress of their coach, and from which the fugitives were obliged to alight, and take horse.
Elizabeth displayed the utmost courage and fortitude, despite the intensity of the weather and the delicacy of her health, and mounted gladly on a pillion behind a young English volunteer of the name of Hopton, who would often speak in after-days with love and veneration of his royal fellow-traveller, the Queen of Hearts, the only sovereignty that was now left her. In their distress the unhappy pair sought about for some place of shelter where Elizabeth might be cared for in her hour of approaching trial and her husband appealed to his brother-in-law, George William of Brandenburg, for the loan of one of his castles, either of Spandau or Custrine. The answer was a grudging permission to inhabit the latter residence, although the owner assured Frederic it was no place for a Queen just fresh from a palace; that it was not commodious or safe from the incursions of their enemies; and, moreover, they would be exposed to cold and famine, as there was no fuel and no food. The fugitives found this account but too true, and even this surly permission would have been withheld but for the intercession of the British Envoy, Wotton. Moreover, their parsimonious host bargained with his needy relatives to defray all expenses, but Elizabeth’s condition allowed of no alternative. Three days after their arrival Prince Maurice was born in this dreary old barrack, with its bare walls and unfurnished interior—a strange contrast to the scene of splendour and festivity which characterised the birth of his brother Rupert. Before the proper time had elapsed that it was advisable for her to travel, the ex-Queen was hurried away, accompanied by little Rupert, to Wolfenbüttel, and afterwards to the Hague, where she found a generous protector and devoted friend in the Stadtholder; the new-born infant being despatched to the care of his widowed grandmother, the Electress Juliana, in Polish Russia. Poor child! he had not the traditional good fortune of one born on Christmas Day. From his earliest childhood he bore his brother Rupert the most devoted affection, and through their lives they were brothers in very truth—brothers in arms and affection; their paths strangely intertwined for soldiers of fortune; they were both prematurely brave, and early initiated into the profession they so much adorned. When together at the siege of Breda, Maurice, waking in the night, heard a noise for which he could not account, so he roused Rupert, and they crept out together in the dark, and were just in time to save the garrison from a surprise. In 1638 Prince Maurice prosecuted his studies at a French University, and in 1642 gained permission to accompany Rupert, who had been appointed to a high command in the army of their uncle, Charles the First. This gallant pair vied with each other in loyalty and devotion to the English King. Their bravery, their exploits, the various commands they filled, the numerous actions in which they fought (frequently side by side), all these incidents belong to the chronicles of the civil wars of the period. In 1646 the brothers left England, Prince Rupert proceeding to St. Germain to join the Queen-mother there in exile, while Prince Maurice embarked for Holland. The subsequent life of this Prince appears to have been almost entirely passed on the decks of the varied vessels which he in turn commanded, for both he and Rupert secured glory and renown on the broad ocean, as they had already done in the battlefield, and their voyages were frequently made in company. In the notice of the elder, we have given the account of a touching episode in the lives of the two brothers, which we therefore omit here. But Maurice was doomed to find a watery grave in the year 1653, in a hurricane which overtook his vessel off the Virgin Islands. The following is a description of the tragic event: ‘In this fatal wreck, besides many great gentlemen and others, the sea, to glut itself, swallowed the Prince, whose fame the mouth of detraction cannot blast. His very enemies bewailed his loss. Many had more power, few more merit; he lived beloved, and died bewailed.’ Two years after his death there was a rumour that he still lived (but the false report soon died away), that he had been captured by a pirate, and was a slave in Africa, but this unlikely tale gained little or no credence.
No. 8. COLONEL WEST.
Black cloak over doublet of same colour. Left hand gloved with white glove and holding the other. Large white cuffs turned back. Hand resting on hip. White deep turned-down collar with tassels.
By Walker.