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

268 THE PRINCESS HENRIETTA ANNE. [1GG9.
steps, on winch rested a bier, covered with black
velvet, having the armorial bearings of the late Queen,
Henrietta Maria, daughter of France and Queen of
England, worked in gold at the four corners. A wax
effigy, exactly resembling her, reposed thereon, under a
stately black canopy.
Monsieur and Madame, having taken their places, the
late Queen's almoner, Montagu, commenced the service,
and the eloquent Bossuet delivered a most pathetic
historical sermon, on the life and vicissitudes of the
deceased Queen ; but in the midst of his grand funeral
oration, after describing the perils which environed her
at the birth of her youngest daughter, at Exeter, he
electrified the congregation, by diverging from the late
Queen, and addressing the following impassioned sentences
to the Princess, her daughter, in allusion to the perils of
her unconscious infancy.
" Princess ! whose destiny is so great and glorious, were
you then on the eve of being rendered a captive to the
enemies of your royal house? O Eternal, watch over
her ! Holy angels, rank around her cradle your invisible
squadrons, for she is destined to our valiant Philip,*
of all the princes of Erance most worthy of her, as she
is most worthy of him. Gentlemen of France, God did in
truth protect her. Lady Morton, two years afterwards,
withdrew this precious infant from the hands of the rebels.
Unconscious of her captivity, but feeling her high birth
too powerfully to conceal it, the royal child refused to own
any name or rank, but her own, and persisted that she was
no other than the Princess. At last she was brought to
the arms of her mother, to console her for all her sorrows,
and finally to contribute to the happiness of a great
Prince."
* Bossuct's ' Oraison Funebre.'