tributed more to the general interests of society and mankind." That William, indeed, in the cause of freedom, did laudable service, -not only for his native country, but for Europe at large, is a fact we are free to admit. In considering, however, the amount of gratitude for which England is individually his debtor, we cannot altogether dismiss from the question how far William was actuated by motives of self-interest, when he became her champion in the hour of need. On this subject we have already had occasion to dwell. After all, England derived but scanty and doubtful benefit from his administration. Admitting the merit which he deserves, no small one, indeed, in those days, of having been the staunch champion of religious toleration; his remaining services were confined to his having established the Bank of England on its present basis, and to the support which he extended to the East India Company. On the other hand, he laid the foundation of the national debt; he was the cause of a standing army being established in England, and, moreover, burdened the nation with expensive wars, and forced her into the most unfortunate connexions with foreign powers. The misfortunes which William is presumed to have entailed on England are thus recapitulated in a contemporary poem, written on the occasion of his death: In sable weeds your beaus and belles appear, Mourn for your own misfortunes,-not the King's. The education of William had unfortunately been miserably neglected in his youth, and consequently his accomplishments were almost entirely confined to a knowledge of mathematics and the rudiments of war. He was gifted, however, with an excellent memory, and was not only intimately acquainted with the English, French, German, and Dutch languages, but had also some knowledge of the Latin, Spanish, and Italian. The manners of William, as we have already mentioned, were cold and ungracious, and his * The King's favourite residence in Holland. The horse on which William was mounted when he met with his fatal accident. キ "The Mourners," State Poems, vol. ii. p. 320. VOL. I. N address was singularly inelegant. He was seldom seen to laugh but when he had outwitted others, and then it was in the most ungraceful manner. His conversation rarely rose above a disagreeable dryness, and he was never known to be cheerful but with a chosen few. His person was scarcely more prepossessing than his manners. In stature he was of the middle height; thin and illshaped; his shoulders somewhat round; his hair of a light brown; his forehead large, and his nose aquiline. His eyes, however, were sparkling and agreeable, and, when lighted up, gave a not unpleasant expression to his countenance. King William died at Kensington Palace, on the 8th of March, 1702, in the fifty-second year of his age, and the thirteenth of his reign over England. His body, having been previously embalmed and laid in state, was interred on the 12th of April in a vault beneath Henry the Seventh's Chapel at Westminster. The funeral, which Burnet speaks of as "scarce decent," was conducted in an almost private manner. As an excuse for omitting the customary solemnities, it was affirmed that the expensive war, in which the country was on the point of embarking, would have rendered magnificence alike impolitic and indecent. The true reason seems to have been the want in his successor of affection for him when living, and of respect for his memory when dead. 179 MARY, QUEEN OF WILLIAM III. Mary's birth in 1662-Eldest daughter of James the Second, by Anne Hyde, daughter of Lord Clarendon.-Married to William, Prince of Orange in 1677.-Anecdote of Mary related by the Duchess of Orleans.-Curious letter from James the Second to his son-in-law. - Mary warmly espouses the cause of her husband.-Displays a total want of sympathy for her father's sufferings.-Evelyn's account of her behaviour on her arrival in England.-Severely handled in the lampoons of the period.-Cutting reproof administered to Mary by Archbishop Sancroft.-Anecdote of her coronation. - Her dislike to hear ber father maligned by the Courtiers.—Her affection for her husband.-Decency and propriety of her Court. Horace Walpole's sarcasm against her.- Curious extract from a letter written by the Earl of Nottingham.Mary's attachment to the Duke of Shrewsbury. - Anecdote illustrative of Mary's partiality for Shrewsbury. Her affectionate letters to her husband when on his Irish campaign.— Ill-treated by William.-His distress on her death attested by Calamy and Burnet.-The latter's account of Mary's last illness.-Archbishop of Canterbury's funeral sermon.-James the Second's notice of Mary's death in his Diary. - Memoranda found among her papers.- Her obsequies performed with the greatest magnificence. Extract from Pomfret's Elegy on her Death. THIS uninteresting Princess was the eldest daughter of James the Second, by Anne Hyde, daughter of the great chancellor, Lord Clarendon. She was born at St. James's Palace on the 30th of April, 1662, and passed the first years of her life at the residence of her celebrated grandfather at Twickenham. The mansion in question, which bore the name of York House, (probably from the circumstance of one or two of the Duke of York's children having been nursed there,) was usually the retreat of Lord Clarendon on the occasions of Charles the Second residing at the neighbouring palace of Hampton Court.* Horace Walpole, in a poetical trifle entitled "The Parish Register of Twickenham," alludes to the Chancellor's residence in this classical village, Twickenham, where Hyde, majestic sage, While his vast soul was hung on tenters, Of the early history of the Princess Mary,of her infantine foibles or early virtues,-little appears to be known. The report, however, of her character was sufficiently satisfactory to the Prince of Orange; and accordingly, when she was but fifteen, he caused a formal application to be made to the English court for her hand. His overtures having been favourably received, they * Granger's Letters, p. 168. + Walpole's Works, vol. iv. p. 382. |