Among the records, few at best, left by time of her who was destined to be the mother of two queens regnant of England, there is one which bears its own pathetic significance. It is a very small book, only about four inches long by three wide, bound in stamped leather from which the gilding is half worn away, with a broken silver clasp, and thick, stiff pages. [1] 1 .   Additional MSS., 15,900 B. M. Was this little book a gift from Edward Hyde to the young daughter whom he dearly loved? Who is t

There is, after all, something to be said for the birth of Anne Hyde. Edward Hyde, the famous Chancellor and historian of the Great Rebellion, though the first peer of his name, could still, quite honestly, boast of long and honourable descent. The Hydes of Norbury, in the county of Cheshire, celebrated by Camden in his “Britannia,” had handed down that possession from father to son since the far-back days before the Norman Conquest, but the first of the race with whom we need concern ourselves

It was at Cranborne Lodge in Windsor Park, the official home of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, that his grandchild, Edward Hyde’s eldest daughter, was born on the 12th March 1637, and baptized by the name of Anne, that of her father’s first wife. It may be mentioned that there is a tradition, though one altogether disproved, that her birthplace was the College Farm at Purton, which is said to have belonged to her paternal grandfather, Henry Hyde. [16] 16 .   “Life of Edward, Lord Clarendon,” by Sir Henry

James , the second son of Charles I. and Henrietta Maria, was born on the 15th of October 1633, being baptized by Laud on the 24th, [49] and like his elder brother was bandied about, hither and thither, during the progress of the great Civil War, in a manner and among associates unlikely to have a satisfactory effect on the character of a boy. 49 .   “Adventures of King James II.,” by the author of the “Life of Sir Kenelm Digby,” introduction by F. A. Gasquet, D.D. It can scarcely be a matter fo

It is difficult, nay impossible, now to fix the exact date of the secret, but definite, understanding between the Duke of York and Anne Hyde. Macpherson places it in 1657. James, he says, “had fallen in love with Anne when the Chancellor and he were on ill terms,” [95] but the probabilities point to the Paris visit already described. This would give a reason for the Prince’s lingering on in the French capital at that time, for he appears then to have been treated by the Court of France with very

It is hard to survey quite dispassionately, or even thoroughly to understand, the attitude of Anne Hyde on safely attaining her new dignity, the dizzy height to which she had climbed by such a thorny path. She seems, unhappily, to have had enemies from the first, but whether they were due to her father’s steadily increasing unpopularity, to her own behaviour, or to envy of her success, easily comprehensible, it is difficult to determine. Probably each of these conditions had something to do with

Whatever might be the consternation of the Chancellor at his elder and favourite daughter’s stolen match, however great his anger and disappointment at the failure of the duty and confidence which he felt she owed him—and there is no reason to doubt the sincerity of the feeling he manifested on the disclosure—it is nevertheless evident that the affectionate terms on which father and daughter lived, suffered but a very short eclipse. The Duke of York himself treated his father-in-law with unvaryi

We come now, in the course of her story, to the most momentous epoch in the life of Anne Hyde, the period, namely, of her conversion to the Church of Rome. And here it must be noted that she was in no respect ignorant, nor uninstructed in the dogmas of her own Communion. It has been shown that in her early youth she was placed by her father under the teaching of Morley, during the time when he lived, an honoured guest, in Hyde’s household in the days of exile at Breda. [240] 240 .   Burnet’s “Hi

As one writes these two simple words “The End” across the heading of this final chapter, one is reminded to pause and reflect upon them. The end—of what? Of a brief but splendid pageant—of a heavy burden of sorrow—of a life of resolute, indomitable pride? Respice finem —Consider the end. Surely, of all who have attained to high places, or have longed after them, Anne Hyde should have taken for her own this motto, should have read and marked and inwardly digested it. And yet, would it have availe