Descendants of the Stuarts

264 THE DESCENDANTS
viously, during her father's lifetime, so that when
the affair came to be again mooted, it was soon
settled by the persons principally concerned. The
Princess Mary had originally been very handsome
and agreeable, and she was still so in a great
measure, although she had passed those youthful
days which have the special privilege of setting off
all ladies."* Monsieur,! the king's brother, had
once been in love with her, and would have married
her but for his mother's | interference, who im-
prisoned Mary at the Chateau de Vincennes on
the very day Gaston had appointed to meet and
run away with her from France. Monsieur, who
at first was outrageous at his disappointment, was
eventually attracted by a new object, and Marguerite
de Lorraine, daughter of the duke of Lorraine,
and whom he afterwards married, effectually
banished all remembrance of Mary de Gonzague.
"When a hero puts a period to his love at the
first unlucky adventure that befalls him, it is
natural to suppose that the heroine cannot be best
pleased with him, and that the remembrance of it
cannot be very agreeable to her. This passion of
Monsieur's, which at first made a great noise, and
which undoubtedly had an impression on Mary's
heart, was not long-lived ; but the remembrance of
it was bitter when she saw herself neglected, and
* Madame de Motteville's Memoires d'Anne d'Autriche. Mary was
then thirty-one years of age.
t Gaston, Duke of Orleans.
J Mary de Medici.