Lives of the last four princesses of the royal house of Stuart

1641.] NUPTIAL BENEDICTION GIVEN. 15
the great lords and ladies of England, the four ambassadors
of the United States, and the distinguished personages who
had attended him to London.
" When the King intimated it was time for him to retire
to another chamber, which had been prepared for his use,
the Prince bade adieu to his little bride, kissing her thrice.
But on leaving the bed one of his pantoufles was missing,
which after a little search was found near the Princess.
" As soon as he had recovered his pantoujle, he knelt to
the King and asked his blessing, and that of the Queen,
and having received the benediction of both, he was
conducted by his majesty to the chamber where he
slept."
The grave Dutch statesman, Baron Sommelsdyck, one
of the two principal ambassadors for the marriage, informs
his sovereign, the Prince of Orange, of a droll incident con-
nected with the juvenile bridegroom losing one of his pan-
toufles, explaining the costume de nuit of the little bride,
and the presence of the Queen's dwarf (Geoffrey Hudson)
in the state chamber.*
The Prince does not allude to the circumstance in the
naive letter in which, in compliance with his father's
desire, he gives the narrative of his marriage to the young
Mary of England.
After the long elaborate account of the heralds and
master of the ceremonies, it is really refreshing to read
the princely bridegroom's confidential and natural relation
of his bridal, t He says : —
" Your highness has ordered me, to tell you all I saw with
the Princess, with whom I am much in love, and therefore I
will tell your highness all about it. At the beginning we
have been a little serious, but now we are very free together.
I think she is far more beautiful than her picture, and love
* ' Archives de la Maison d'Orange,' vol. iii. f Ibid.