Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/376

Mary of Modena eagerly recommended by Rizzini, who had been purchased by Louis XIV (, iv. 269), and whose advice the king and queen preferred to that of Dartmouth and Terriesi (ib. pp. 251-3). The flaw in Louis's calculation was the uncertainty whether James would adhere to the understanding that he would quickly follow the queen, without which she could not have been induced to fly (, Life of James II, ii. 252). It is even doubtful whether she felt quite sure that he would follow her instead of recalling her to him (, ii. 416). In any case James before long justified the calculations of his ally.

On the stormy night of 9-10 Dec. the aueen and prince, who had been fetched from Portsmouth, accompanied only by two nurses, Lauzun, Louis XIV's agent, and the Italian Riva (by his own account the real manager of the enterprise), left Whitehall and crossed the river at Horseferry ; thence they pursued their journey in a coach-and-six, lent by Terriesi, to Gravesend, while the queen's esquire, Leybourn, and St. Victor, a gentleman of Avignon, rode by the side. At Gravesend they were joined by Lord and Lady Powis, Madame Davia-Montecuculi, Lady Strickland, the queen's sub-governess, her faithful bedchamber-woman, Pellegrina Turini, who had been the confidante of an earlier scheme of flight, and others, and they entered a yacht officered by three Irish captains. A favourable wind blew it out to sea (ib. ii. 381-413; see also Clarke, Life of James II, ii. 246; Dalrymple, ii. 212; Dangeau, i. 253seqq.; Madame de Sevigne, viii. 351-5; Madame de La Fayette, pp. 192-5; Klopp, iv. 267-80: Macaulay, ii. 544-5).

After a woful crossing the queen landed safely at Calais on 11 Dec. (Miss Strickland, ix. 262). In England she had actually been reported to have landed at Ostend (Ellis, Original Letters, 2nd ser. iv. 177). Her first act was to attend mass at the Capuchin convent. From Calais she wrote the letter, preserved in the British Museum, to Louis XIV signed ' the Queen of England,' and appeal- ing, with a rhetorical phraseology hardly her own, to his protection on behalf of her son. Every attention was shown to her by the governor, the Due deCharost, notwithstanding her wish to avoid publicity; and the Bishop of Beauvais was equally courteous (, pp. 195 seqq.) When her husband failed to join her as she had hoped at Calais (, Life of James II, ii. 247), she went on to Boulogne. Here she was en- tertained with magnificent hospitality by the governor, the Due d'Aumont ; but James's continued delay filled her with despair ; she wrote letters (one of which was intercepted, Dalrymple, ii. 225) entreating him to follow her (Burnet, iii. 363 ; Madamb de Sevigne, viii. 359 ; Campana di Cavelu, ii. 428-9), and when at last informed of his arrest at Feversham, formed a design of rejoining him in England (Dangeau, i. 256). No sooner, however, had J *ouis XIV become aware of x his project, through D'Aumont and Lauzun, than the latter was instructed to use every endeavour to induce her to proceed on her journey inland. The roads were put under repair, and a splendid equipage and retinue despatched for her use; while Beringhen, the king's master of the horse, received orders, in the event of the queen being required by James II to return to England, to conduct her to Vincennes, where preparations were made for her reception (Campana di Cavelli, ii. 450-454, 413). Soon, however, St. Germains was substituted, and hither the queen pursued her journey, receiving at Beaumont the news of her husband's landing at Ambleteuse, On 28 Dec. Louis XIV met her at Chatou, within a league of St. Germains, accompained by his court in one hundred carriages-and-six (, viii. 309; cf. Mme. de La Fayette, pp. 205 seqq.), and accompanied her to the palace assigned by his munificence to her and her husband, whom he brought to her on the following day (Dangeau, i. 261-7).

Mary Beatrice bore herself in her new position with a consistent dignity which called forth warm and frequent praises from Louis, whose courtesies to her set the tongues of the gossips wagging, and were said to have aroused the jealousy of Madame de Maintenon, whom the queen was most anxious to please (Mme. de La Fayette, p. 253; cf. Dangeau, i. passim). In marked contrast to her husband, she made a most favourable' impression upon the society of the French court at large (Mme. de Sevigne, viii. 444). In the political designs and efforts of the exiled king she at first took an active part. Restless, and eager for a speedy restoration (ib. p. 448), she for a time cherished the delusion that the throne which had been lost in a religious cause might be regained by a religious war. Not only did she apply to Louis for aid towards an invasion of England (, iv. 464), but she built hopes upon the goodwill of Innocent XI, whom she desired to reconcile with the French king (, ii. 510-12, 504-565). She even called for a league of all catholic princes in support of the sacred cause, and complained passionately to the general 'of the Jesuits of the indifference of some among them (ib''. pp. 492-4). She shared the