Descendants of the Stuarts

OF THE STUARTS. 49
What says the Duchess of Marlborough ? —
"Queen Mary wanted bowels. Of this she gave
unquestionable proof the first day she came to
Whitehall. She ran about it looking into every
closet and conveniency, and turning up the quilts of
the bed just as people do at an inn, with no sort of
concernin her appearance. Although at the time I was
extremely caressed by her, I thought it very strange
and unbecoming conduct. For whatever necessity
there was of deposing King James, he was still her
father, who had been lately driven from that very
chamber, and from that bed ; and if she felt no tender-
ness, I thought, at least, she might have looked grave,
or even pensively sad, at so melancholy a reverse of
fortune."* Thus even this bold intriguante, whose
husband's desertion had mainly accelerated King
James's deposition, felt more sympathy for him than
his heartless unnatural daughter.
What is the language of Burnet himself, on whose
assertions Macaulay grounds his fiction ? Why this,
"That Mary's conduct on taking possession of her
father's palace elicited universal reprobation ;" — and
he then goes on to say, " I confess I was one of those
who censured her in my thoughts. I thought a
little more seriousness had done as well when she
came into her f^ither's palace, and was to be set on
his throne the next day." And then follows the
groundwork of Macaulay' s elaborate romance. " I
had never seen," he says, " the least indecency in
♦ The Conduct of the Duchess of Marlborough, pp. 26, 27.
E