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

376 THE PKINCESS LOUISA MARY. [1712.
have been so much obliged, does not forget to relate the
following particulars of the costly brocade petticoat, or
court train, which the Chevalier de J3t. George had pre-
sented to his sister. It had never been worn by her for
whom it had been purchased ; the mourning for the
elder Dauphin not having expired, when both courts were
plunged into grief and gloom by the unexpected deaths
of the Duke of Burgundy, and his consort Adelaide of
Savoy, and their eldest son, followed only two months
afterwards by that of the young, lovely flower of St.
Germains. The belle jupe after the decease of the Princess,
became the perquisite of her governess, the Countess of
Middleton; but the royal mother, regarding it as a
memorial of the affection of her son for her beloved
daughter, did not wish it to be worn by any other person
than her, for whom it had been intended, or put to a
meaner use than the decoration of the church, where her
daughter's heart was deposited. On her return to St.
Germains she asked Lady Middleton what she intended to
do with it.
" To present it to the conventual church of Chaillot, out
of respect to my lamented royal pupil," replied Lady Mid-
dleton. The Queen told her, that having a wish to present
it herself, she would buy it of her ; and Lady Middleton,
to humour her royal mistress, consented to receive a small
sum for it, that it might be called the Queen of England's,
gift.
The remains of the last princess of the royal house of
Stuart remained unburied in the aisle of St. Jacques
beside those of the king her father, for upwards of a
century.
The storm of the first revolution had burst over Paris,
and the. last male heir of the royal house of Stuart had