Descendants of the Stuarts

296 THE DESCENDANTS
determine how far her convictions were sincere, and
to what extent she was actuated by worldly motives ;
but from what can be gathered of her proceedings,
coupled with her romantic and poetical tempera-
ment, we should be inclined to give her credit for
sincerity; and if such were the case she scarcely
merits condemnation for her course of procedure.
The fact is, that even from childhood Louisa's
mind had been vividly impressed by the gorgeous
ceremonies of the Romish church : she had often
attended its service with her aunt, Queen Henrietta
Maria, and this practice, most deleterious in its
tendencies to one of so susceptible a nature, had been
continued unknown to her mother. The consequences
might have been foreseen. On the evening of the
ninth of December, 1657, with the cognizance only
of a female friend, Louisa left the maternal roof,
and getting into a boat, which was lying in readiness
for her, proceeded to Delftshaven ; from whence she
journeyed to Bergen op Zoom (the residence of
her friend the Princess of Hohenzollern) en route
for Antwerp, where she entered a Carmelite nunnery.
Eor her mother, as the only intimation of her
departure, and the motives which instigated it, she
left the following letter : —
" Madam, — The respect which. I have for your majesty is too great
to permit me to do anything purposely to displease you, and God
knows that no impulse, except that of his Spirit, could ever have
induced me to undertake any action, however reasonable, without
having first communicated it to you; but in this contingency, the
affair being one of heaven, and not of this world, and one in which I