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

1642.] BRILLIANT KECEPTION AT THE HAGUE. 25
•came to receive and welcome the Queen of Great Britain,
and to bless and embrace the Princess-royal as her
daughter-in-law.* She conducted the Queen, and the
young Princess to their apartments, -which were splendidly
furnished and fitted up for their reception.
Brilliant fetes and rejoicings took place at the Hague, to
celebrate the arrival of the Queen and Princess-royal of
Great Britain. The legend of the fairy Mergellina, among
other pageants, was represented on the lake before the
palace, in her car, drawn by swans. Queen Henrietta
Maria delighted the Dutch populace by venturing into the
•car, and was drawn safely by the swans. f
For more than a month all was pleasure and merriment
at the Hague. Queen Henrietta, after the Princess of
Orange had recovered from her confinement, resigned the
Princess-royal into her hands as the spouse of her son, and
they pursued their education under the same roof.
Before she had been many weeks at the Hague, the
Princess-royal was gladdened by the receipt of the fol-
lowing affectionate letter from her brother, the Prince of
Wales. It was thus superscribed :
"TO THE HANDS OF THE LADY MARIE, PiUNCESS OF
AURIANA, THESE PEESENTS.
**M0ST EOYAL SlSTEE,
" Methinks, although I cannot enjoy that former
happiness which I was wont in the fruition of your society,
feeing barred those joys by the parting waves, yet I cannot
so forget the kindness I owe unto so dear a sister as not to
write ; also expecting the like salutation from you, that
although awhile dissevered, we may reciprocally under-
* ' Memoirs of Frederic, Prince of Orange,' by Bernard Pisart.
Amsterdam edition, p. 306. 'Holland News' and 'Gazette de France.'
f ' News of Holland ' and ' Gazette de France.'