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

1692.] BIKTH OF LOUISA MARY STUART. 333
cellor of France, the President of the Parliament of Paris,
the Archbishop of Paris, the Danish ambassador's wife,
all the French Princesses of the blood, as well as the
noble English ladies of the court of St. Germains.
The morbid melancholy which had oppressed King
James's mind yielded to paternal rapture at the sight
of the infant Princess. He had confidently expected
a son, but he received his new-born daughter with the
tenderest caresses and a burst of joy. When she was
dressed, he presented her to the Queen with these words :
11 See what Heaven has sent us to be our comforter in
the land of exile."
She was baptized with great pomp in the chapel royal
of St. Germains. Louis XIV. returned from the siege
of Mons, in time to act in person, as her sponsor. He and
his sister-in-law, Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orleans,
held her at the baptismal fomt, and gave her the names
of Louisa Mary.
The French ladies were astonished at seeing the little
Princess, who was then only a month old, dressed in robes
of state, and with shoes and stockings on her tiny feet.
Her brother had only completed his fourth year,
eighteen days previous to her birth, and they became
fondly attached to each other. As soon as they were old
enough to understand the sufferings of the Jacobite families,
who had sacrificed their lands and livings, for the sake of
King James, they devoted all their pocket-money to their
relief. The Princess paid, from a very tender age, for the
education of several of the daughters of the British
emigrants, Protestants as well as Catholics. Nothing-
could induce her to diminish her little funds by the
purchase of toys for herself. Her natural vivacity was
softened and subdued by the scenes of sorrow and distress,
amidst which she was reared ; and while yet a child