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

1658.] EEMOVES TO NIEUPORT. ' 111
him one of his daughters in marriage. The alliance was
firmly declined by the young Cavalier, who, in consequence,
underwent three imprisonments. How or in what manner
he had offended his royal patroness is difficult to say.
His letter is so highly venerative, it resembles an old-
fashioned love letter. It is evident that the Princess had
become querulous and odd tempered, under the weight of
all the cares with which she was beset on her return from
Paris. Young Chesterfield says : —
" Madam,
" Having ever had the greatest veneration imagine-
able for your kindness, I was not more surprised than
afflicted to find by the honour of your highness's letter
that the most beauteous as well as the justest Princes,,
(query Princess) in the world, should suspect me of having
been a hindrance to anything that might tend to her
service.
" Madam, permit me to assure your highness that I cannot
accuse myself of so black an ingratitude, which, were I
guilty of, I should never dare to repent, it being
unpardonable, and much less to continu (e) the ambition
of being esteemed more than the rest of mankind."*
After a time the Princess-royal removed to Nieuport, to
be near her brothers. The hostilities between France and
Spain now threatened the Netherlands. The Duke of
York was in the Spanish service, and actively engaged in
opposition to his old master, Turenne, in the art of war.
While the hostile operations of the contending parties
approached nearer and nearer to her, she remained fearless
and quiescent. The following letter, from her to the Duke
of Gloucester, shows the dangers with which she was
* ' Life of Philip, second Earl of Chesterfield.'