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

1656.] PRINCESS AT PARIS. 95
persons, that without flattery it was impossible for it to
be better."
" On Sunday," pursues he, " she is to be at Monsieur's
ball, where there will be the first assembly this Court can
form, and we discern already that she will hold her place
very well."
He goes on to declare that the cardinal has treated, her
with great attention, and displays an inclination of enter-
ing into the interests of her son, which possibly might be
of important advantage to him.
The royal widow of Orange thus suddenly involved in
an intoxicating whirl of pleasure and flattery, saw nothing
of its unreality, but gave herself up to its giddy influence,
and was, for a season, intensely happy amidst the gay
scenes of the gayest court in Europe. Yet the discrowned
Queen, her mother, could have told her of the pinching
cold and hunger, to which she and the little Princess
Henrietta had been exposed, during the civil wars of the
Fronde, when her last loaf had been eaten and the last
faggot burned.
We are indebted to the lively pen of Mademoiselle
de Montpensier, the eldest daughter of Gaston, Due
d'Orleans, uncle to the King of France, and of course of
the widowed Princess of Orange, for the following parti-
culars of her introduction to the latter, whom, in compliance
with her aunt Queen Henrietta's request, she had invited
to her palace at Chilly. " Queen Henrietta showed me her
daughter, the Princess-royal, with the words, 'I present
to you a person who has a great wish to see you.' Mary
then embraced me with great affection, for one who I had
never met before. The Princess Henrietta of England was
also with her, and her brother James, Duke of York.
There were in the carriage, besides her children, the
Queen's first lady, and the first lady of the Princess of