Descendants of the Stuarts

48 THE DESCENDANTS
wife's submission to her husband was never intended
to be antagonistic to her other duties. " Obey God
rather than man," is a command as binding on wives
as daughters ; and that upon this " all divines and
publicists are agreed," Macaulay might with truth
have asserted. Macaulay' s zeal in defending Mary
has entirely outstripped his discretion, for he never
could have believed that his statements regarding
her, in direct contravention of all historical evidence,
would be believed by any but the most superficial
reader. It will be seen what Mary's relatives and
contemporaries, some of them too her partisans,
thought of her conduct. They surely were the
best judges of it, and their evidence is strangely
opposed to Macaulay' s fantastic theory. If all agree
in their relation, no doubt, we think, can remain of
their truthfulness.
Hear what Evelyn says : — " Queen Mary came to
Whitehall laughing and jolly as to a wedding, so
as to seem quite transported. She rose early the
next morning, and in her undress, as it is reported,
before her women were up, went about the palace
from room to room to see the convenience of it ;
lay in the same bed and apartment her unfortunate
step-mother had always used, and within a night or
two sat down to play at basset, as that princess had
been accustomed to do. She smiled upon and
talked to everybody, which carriage was censured
by many." *
* Evelyn's Diary, vol. ii. p. 6.