Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/408

Mary Holland, and George Villiers, second duke of Buckingham [q. v.], had been dismissed her court there on account of the unbecoming importunity of his appeals to her. Unfounded rumours of a liaison with Henry Jermyn, first baron Dover [q. v.], were at one time in circulation. At Paris Charles Emmanuel II, duke of Savoy, Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Luneburg, and George William, duke of Brunswick, were said to have offered her marriage, while Cardinal Mazarin showed her especial favour. She left Paris on 21 Nov., and after staying at Bruges for two months at the court of Charles II, she returned to the Hague on 2 Feb. 1657, after nearly a year's absence. The Dutch still credited her with political aims in behalf of her son and brother. A proposal secretly made to Charles by Amelia, the princess-dowager, that he should marry her daughter Henrietta, was discovered and warmly resented by Mary. A temporary reconciliation took place when brother and sister met at Breda in October 1659. Next month, when she and the Princess-dowager Amelia took the young Prince of Orange to Leyden to commence his studies there, they were accorded an enthusiastic welcome. The new year (1660) was initiated by the performance in his honour of a tragi-comedy, entitled 'The Amorous Fantasm,' written by Sir William Lower [q. v.], and dedicated in flattering terms to the princess royal.

Meanwhile, in August 1658, Mary, who had attained her full majority, twenty-five years of age, in November 1657, had been acknowledged by the parliament of Orange sole regent for her son, according to the terms of her husband's will. Count Dona, nephew of the Princess-dowager Amelia, who was governor of the town of Orange, warmly opposed this formal recognition of Mary, and threatened to dissolve the parliament of the province by force. The Princess Amelia and the elector of Brandenburg sided with Dona, but Mary firmly asserted her rights (November 1658), and obtained through Queen Henrietta Maria assurances of support from Cardinal Mazarin and Louis XIV. The French king sent a war frigate to cruise in the Rhine to prevent Dona from levying tolls due to Mary on vessels passing down the river, and Dona fitted out gunboats to chase the frigate. Amid these disorders, Mary laid before the States-General a long statement of her claims, to which the Princess Amelia prepared a reply, and Mary another rejoinder. At length, in October 1659, the States-General addressed a remonstrance to Louis XIV, complaining of Mary's action, and requesting that Louis would appoint judges who should compose the strife. To a request that she should accept an accommodation Mary returned an evasive answer. But Louis's suggestion that Dona should deliver Orange into his hands, coupled with the threats of her opponents in Orange to deprive her of her dower, reduced her to a more compliant mood. She made an offer (although she afterwards refused to confirm it) of fifty thousand florins to Dona if he would relinquish the government of Orange, and undertook to send a special messenger to induce Louis to desist from his projected attack. She was too late. The citadel capitulated to Louis's forces on 25 March 1660. Mary tried hard to justify herself in having called in French interference, and laid the blame on Dona.

But relief from her troubles was found in the restoration of her brother to the throne. Charles with his two brothers had joined Mary at Breda, and the young Prince of Orange was sent for by his mother to see his uncle. On 14 May 1660 Mary informed the States-General officially of the invitation to Charles from the English parliament, and she took part in the festivities which followed at the Hague, and accompanied Charles to Scheveling, whence he sailed for England.

Henceforth Mary and her son, now fifth in succession to the crown of England, were accorded in Holland royal honours. On 29 May she celebrated at the Hague the birthday of her brother; and in the evening bonfires were lighted throughout the city. In June she and her son were elaborately entertained for four days at Amsterdam, and left under an escort of armed citizens. Similar honours awaited them at Haarlem, which they visited by special invitation on 18 June. On the 22nd they left for Leyden, and on the 25th departed for the Hague, where they also had a state reception. Mary availed herself of these manifestations of loyalty to open negotiations with some of the leading men in Holland for the reinstatement of her son in his father's dignities when he should come of age. The states of Zealand, Friesland, and Over-Yssel viewed the proposal with favour; Holland required further time for deliberation. But on 25 Sept. 1660 the states of Holland and West Friesland accepted the charge of William's education, and immediately settled upon him a pension of forty thousand florins, and promised to proceed at once to consider the question of his reinstatement. At Mary's request the pensioner of Holland and the principal magistrates of certain towns which she named were appointed to watch over his education; but offence was given to several towns which were attached to his interests—Leyden among