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

50 MARY, PRINCESS-ROYAL. [1652.
money, as you may readily imagine ; indeed, he had none
at all, so I was obliged to give him some, and am, in
consequence, in great need myself of more." She writes
from Breda to Lady Stanhope in December : " I have
received the lace you sent me, which is the finest I ever
saw. I shall not fail to send you a note of what I desire.
In the mean time here is the length and breadth "* . . .
of what she requires, suppose the lace. On the 31st of
December she speaks of the cold as most extraordinary
so that she can scarcely hold her pen.j
"I commission Lady Stanhope," writes the Princess,
"to buy the handkerchief, of which she had written
to me. For L the choosing it," she says, " I trust you
as much as myself;" and also commissions her to send
twenty-five pounds of powder.} There is only the date
of the month to this letter, which inclines us to ask, for
what purpose was this large supply of powder required ?
since it was prior to the absurd fashion of wearing powder
in the hair.
The Queen of Bohemia writes indignantly, to com-
municate the ill news of the decree that had passed against
the Princess-royal. Her letter is to her old correspondent,
Sir Charles Cottrell. Her letter is dated 29th of August.
She says : " I send you here a letter for my niece. You
may deliver it to her yourself, and assure her I am very
sorry for the wrong sentence she has had against her, for
I esteem myself so much hers, as I cannot but be sensible
of what toucheth her."
The letter contains an order to Sir Charles Cottrell to
procure her a hanging shelf for her books, and also " a
collar for Holl." §
* Letters of King Charles's family, Bodleian Library, Oxford.
t Ibid. t Ibid.
§ The Princess Hollandina of the Rhine.