Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/409

Mary others — because their magistrates were not among the commissioners.

On 30 Sept. 1660 Mary set sail for England. The kindness shown by her to her brothers in exile insured her a hearty welcome in London. But, much to her chagrin, she found that her former maid of honour, Anne Hyde [q. v.], was not only the acknowledged wife of the Duke of York, but mother of a prince of the blood royal. She therefore resolved to curtail her visit. London, moreover, did not agree with her, and she seldom stirred abroad. She attended the public service of Whitehall Chapel, whither all flocked who wished to see her, and gave a private reception at Whitehall to Elias Ashmole [q. v.] for the purpose of seeing some anatomical curiosities. She acknowledged a present of 10,000l. sent her by the parliament in a letter dated 7 Nov., and she asked for her long promised dower of 40,000l.,which had not been paid. The king appointed a commission to report upon the matter. In November 1660, when a general embassy from the United Provinces arrived to obtain a renewal of the alliance between Holland and England, the deputy from Zealand waited upon her with special assurances of respect (cf. her letter, 15 Nov.) A few weeks later the deputies of the United Provinces requested her to use her influence with her mother in removing some difficulties in the completion of their treaty. Mary, who was very unwell, was just able on 14 Dec. to dictate an epistle on the subject to her secretary, Oudart. On 20 Dec. the court was thrown into great alarm by a report that she was dangerously ill of the small-pox. Henrietta Maria, after vainly endeavouring to obtain access to her daughter in order to persuade her to receive in her last moments the rites of the Roman catholic church, insisted that at least her own French physician should be admitted to consultation, and this request was granted, unfortunately as it was afterwards proved, since he was one of the warmest advocates of the blood-letting treatment, under which the princess ultimately sank. Still retaining the perfect possession of her faculties, Mary made her will on the day of her death, 24 Dec. 1660. She was privately interred on the 29th in Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, near her brother Henry, duke of Gloucester [q. v.], as she had wished. Collections of verses upon her death were published by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in 1661. An apparently unfounded report was circulated at the time of Mary's death that she was privately married to Jermyn.

Mary is said to have admired the writings of Jeremy Taylor. In 1660 the bishop dedicated to her his 'Worthy Communicant.'

At Windsor Castle are three portraits of Mary by Vandyck: (1) With her father, mother, and brother Charles; of this picture copies are in the collections of the Duke of Devonshire, the Duke of Northumberland, and the Earl of Clarendon. (2) With her brothers Charles and James, full-length standing figures. (3) With her brothers and sisters, Charles, James, Elizabeth, and Anna, dated 1637. There is also at Windsor a picture by G. Janssens, representing Mary dancing with Charles II at a ball given at the Hague on the eve of the Restoration. Vandyck also admirably commemorated her betrothal to Prince William of Orange, when he painted the two children in a group at full length, formerly at Dalkeith Palace, but now at Amsterdam, the prince holding her hand, on which is an engagement ring. A single portrait of Mary by the same artist, somewhat similar in detail, has been engraved by Faithorne, Van Dalen, Vaillant, Queeboren, H. Hondius, and De Jode. The Earl of Clarendon possesses an early portrait of three-quarters length, which is described by Lady Theresa Lewis in 'Clarendon and his Contemporaries' (iii. 369). Another juvenile portrait of the princess, painted at the age of nine or ten, is at Combe Abbey, Warwickshire, the seat of the Earl of Craven. The Earl of Crawford has a life-size portrait of Mary by Sir Peter Lely; and a fine portrait of her by Hannemann, which was engraved by Faithorne, is at Hampton Court, a duplicate being in the possession of Earl Spencer. About 1644 she was painted at the Hague, with the Prince and Princess of Orange, her husband, and others, by Isackson. The picture was engraved by Persyn, and a copy of this scarce print is in a volume of German ballads on the thirty years' war in the British Museum. Another portrait of her by Honthorst was engraved by Van Queeboren, C. Visscher, and Suyderhoef. There are miniatures of the princess by P. Oliver, by an unknown artist, and by Hoskins, belonging respectively to Mr. Robert Maxwell Witham, the Earl of Galloway, and the Duke of Buccleuch. Engraved portraits of her at various ages were executed by Hollar in the rare volume entitled 'The True Effigies of. . . King Charles,' &c, 4to, London, 1641 (copied by Richardson), by E. Smith, and C. Danckerts. There is also a print of her by De Jode in 'Monarchy Revived,' which was likewise engraved by Cooper.