Descendants of the Stuarts

294 THE DESCENDANTS
X.
THE PEINCESS PALATINE LOUISA.
Louisa HoUandina, the second daughter of Ered-
erick Y., and Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, was born
in Holland on the eighteenth day of April, 1622. She
was excluded from the British throne, as a Boman
Catholic, by the passing of the Act of Succession ; al-
though never actually denuded of her rights, as she died
before her cousin Queen Anne, after whom alone she
could have ascended it. Louisa was celebrated no less
for her beauty, which stood instantaneously revealed
to all beholders, than for her proficiency in the fine
arts, and under the guidance of Gerard Honthorst
her paintings attained such excellence as to rank
her among the artists of the age, even if they did not
excel the productions of the great master himself.
It had been originally intended to match Louisa
with her cousin, Erederick William of Prussia, and
for some time there appeared every prospect of
the desired alliance taking place. The young
Prince, who was afterwards known as Erederick
William the Great, visited his cousin at the Hague,
and was much smitten with the beauty of the bloom-
ing girl of seventeen. Unfortunately, Erederick
William's father, instigated by his ministers, who
represented the poverty and lack of influence of
Louisa's family as insuperable obstacles to the
match, determined to withdraw his consent, and