Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/365

Mary II liam himself spoke to her, very tenderly as she says, on the subject of her marrying again should he fall ; ancl she answered him with effusive affection, ' If she lost him she should not care for an angel ' (Memoirs ap. Countess Bentinck, p. 81).

For a month after "William's departure Mary remained in absolute retirement, only emerging to attend the public prayers in addition to those held in the palace. The extra-ordinary sympathy of which she found herself the object inspired her with fears that the devil (as to whose personality she had a strong conviction) was tempting her with vanity. At last she received, though not from William himself, information of his landing, and began to hold receptions, but declined to play cards. Her pleasure when tidings arrived from his own hand was disturbed by the news of a fresh design against his life. On 30 Dec. she heard of her father's flight, receiving at the same time William's orders to hold herself in readiness for departure (ib. pp. 89-92). Before leaving, however, she had to entertain at the Hague the Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg and his wife, her kinswoman, Sophia Charlotte. Then she returned to her previous solitary ways, distracted by reports, deprived of all political counsel, and dependent for comfort upon her pious thoughts and her bible. In these days she resorted to what became a favourite habit with her — the composition of prayers and meditations — and indited a special prayer on behalf of the contention winch was discussing her future at Westminster (Memoirs ap. Doebner, pp. 4-7, 12, 13). Although there can be little doubt that William purposely delayed her arrival in England, lest she should be in one way or another ' set above him ' (see Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire, Some Account of the Revolution, Works, 1723, ii. 97-8; cf. Dalrymple, ii. 283 ; Macaulay, ii. 636, innocently attributes the delay to the perversity of the weather), yet Mary, even at a distance, seconded her husband's wishes. In opposition to the Williamites, headed by Halifax, another party desired to raise Mary to the throne as sole sovereign, and its leader, Danbv, wrote to her in this sense. In reply she indignantly repudiated any attempt to raise her above her husband, to whom she transmitted the correspondence. It was, as Macaulay conjectures, after receiving it that William — whose views had, however, been already made known through Bentinck — openly refused to reign by his wife's courtesy. Burnet at the same time officiously proclaimed Mary's previous assurances to him on the subject. Thus it was settled that William and Mary should become king- and queen-regnant; that he should administer the government in both their names ; and that the crown should descend in the first instance to the heirs of her body. The section of the church party which had advocated her being made queen in her own right accepted the situation. For herself, she afterwards confessed, she would have preferred her husband to become regent under her father (Burnet, iii. 391 seqq. ; Dalrymple, ii.284 ; Macaulay, ii. 633 seqq.; Memoirs ap. Doebner, p. 11).

On 1 Feb. 1689 Admiral Herbert (afterwards Lord Torrington) arrived with a yacht to fetch Mary home. On 10 Feb. she set sail. In the Thames she had foul weather; but in the afternoon of the 12th she landed at Whitehall Stairs. She describes her pleasure in seeing her husband and her sister again, and the conflict between filial and conjugal duty which still oppressed her. She adds that after this meeting she ' was guilty of a great sin. I let myself go on too much, and the devil immediately took his advantage ; the world filled my mind, and left but little room for good thoughts ' (ib. pp. 10-11 ). After the offer of the crown she seems to have exhibited a mirthfulness which it is difficult to reconcile with her account of her real feeling. Her behaviour was certainly deficient in tact, though the narrative of the Duchess of Marlborough may be as exaggerated as her conclusion that Mary ' wanted bowels,' and Evelyn's that she ' took nothing to heart ' (Account of Conduct, p. 25 ; cf. Vindication of Account, p. 19; cf. Burnet, iii. 406-7, and Dartmouth's note ; Evelyn, Diaiy, ii. 69 ; Macaulay, ii. 652-4).

On 13 Feb. (Ash Wednesday), Mary, seated in state by her husband's side in the presence of the two houses in the banqueting-house at Whitehall, assented to the Declaration of Rights, and William in his and her name accepted the crown of England tendered by Halifax (Macaulay, ii. 654 ; cf. Life of James II, p. 308). Both sovereigns were hereupon instantly proclaimed (Dalrymple, i. 309). Their coronation took place on 11 April in Westminster Abbey, Compton, bishop of London, in the place of the absent primate, performing the ceremony, in most, though not all, points of which Mary as queen-regnant was placed on an equality with the king. Burnet, recently appointed bishop of Salisbury (cf. Own Time, iv. 3), preached the sermon. Among the queen's train-bearers was her cousin, Lady Henrietta Hyde, Rochester's daughter, though Mary had at first resented the conduct of both her uncles as to the succession (Clarendon Correspondence,