Descendants of the Stuarts

130 THE DESCENDANTS
less. He wanted a wife, and it was indispensable
for the success of Louis's projects that he should
wed a French princess. Poor Mary Louisa, as the
only marriageable one, was therefore fixed upon;
though neither her own nor her father's feelings were
consulted. Louis declared it was his pleasure that
the alliance should take place, and this settled
it ; for Monsieur was far too obedient a brother to
dispute his sovereign's commands. It was generally
believed at the time that Mary Louisa was pas-
sionately in love with her cousin, the dauphin ; *
and so current was this opinion that it forms the
subject of endless romance with Prench writers, who,
under feigned appellatives, touchingly commemorate
the passion of the youthful pair. On dit that one
day, on Le Grand Monarque remarking to Mary
Louisa, that he could not have done more for his
daughter than make her Queen of Spain, the princess
responded, " Ah ! sire, you might have done more for
your niece." It grieves us to dispute, if not wholly
to deny, the truth of this pretty theory ; but we are
afraid that Mary Louisa's reluctance to the Spanish
match arose more from her unwillingness to leave
the gay court of her childhood, than from any pre-
dilection which she entertained for her cousin. He
certainly was not of a disposition to captivate her
affections, if we may give credence to the testimony
* Vide Madame de Sevigne's Letters. Memoirs of Mademoiselle de
Montpensier. Memoirs of the Marquis de Dangeau. Taylor's House of
Orleans. Memoires du Due de Saint Simon. Pardee's Court of France, &c.