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

96 MAEY, TEINCESS-EOYAL. [1656.
Orange. The Court of the Queen-mother of England was
always well attended. I was in a place the best iu the
world to receive such company, for Chilly is a very beau-
tiful, large, and magnificent house. I led the Queen,
my aunt, and her daughters, through the great hall, the
antechamber, and the cabinet to the gallery, the Avhole
suitably furnished and decorated. The Queen of Eng-
land seated herself on a sofa, and her circle was larger
than it had ever been : all the princesses and duchesses
in Paris were there. She dined in the room below, and it
may be supposed that I regaled her and her family
sumptuously. Those only dined with her, who came with
her in her coach, excepting Madame de Bethune and
Madame de Thianges.
" When she returned upstairs from dinner, the large
circle, of which I spake, surrounded her. Then the
Princess-royal, Mary of Orange, talked to me without
ceasing, saying ' how desirous she had been to see me,
and how sorry she should have been to have left France
without having accomplished the desire, for the King her
brother, Charles II., had talked of me with so much
affection, that she had loved me before she saw me.'
" I asked her," pursues La Grande Mademoiselle,* " how
she liked the Court of France ?"
" The Princess of Orange replied, ' She was indeed well-
pleased with it — the more so because she had a great aver-
sion to that of Holland ; and that as soon as her brother
Charles was settled in any place, she should go and live
with him.'
" ' I have not heard my daughter of Orange,' said the
Queen, ' converse so much since she has been in France.
You seem to possess great influence over her, and if you
were ever much together, she would be entirely guided
* ' Memoires de Montpensier,' vol. ii.