Rupert Prince Palatine Part 30

{283}

CHAPTER XVI

RESTORATION OF CHARLES LOUIS TO THE PALATINATE. FLIGHT OF THE PRINCESS LOUISE FROM THE HAGUE. RUPERT'S DEMAND FOR AN APPANAGE. QUARREL WITH THE ELECTOR

The Peace of Munster, concluded October 24th, 1648, between Austria, France and Sweden, had terminated the long exile of the Palatines. By it Charles Louis was recognised as Elector Palatine, ranking henceforth as last among the Electors, instead of first, as his ancestors had done; and he was also restored to the Lower Palatinate, though still excluded from the upper. He immediately took up his residence at Heidelberg, and his mother expected, not unreasonably, that his restoration would, at least, ameliorate her sufferings. But Charles Louis entered upon a country exhausted by war, and grievously in need of cheris.h.i.+ng care. He had, of course, no money to spare, and he was far too selfish to forego any of his schemes, or to sacrifice himself for the sake of his unhappy mother. He went so far as to invite his two sisters, Elizabeth and Sophie, to Heidelberg, thereby relieving his mother of the burden of their support, but the coming of the Queen herself he carefully discouraged. Worse still, he refused to send her even a portion of her jointure. "The next week I shall have no food to eat, having no money nor credit for any; and this week, if there be none found, I shall neither have meat, nor bread, nor candles," she complained to Lord Craven.[1] That faithful friend was quite unable to a.s.sist her, having been himself ruined by his services rendered {284} to the Stuarts; and how the hapless Queen existed it is hard to say, until, in 1657, the States generously granted her a pension of 10,000 livres per month.

Nor were her poverty and the callous indifference of of her favourite son her only troubles. Her third daughter, the fair Henriette, had died, after a three months' marriage with the Prince of Transylvania, and the eldest and youngest having departed to Heidelberg, she was left alone with the artist, Louise. Next to the Elector, Louise had been her mother's favourite child, and great was the shock to Elizabeth when this last remaining daughter suddenly professed herself a Roman Catholic, and fled secretly to France. For several days no one knew what had become of her; and the mother, sufficiently distracted by her daughter's abrupt desertion, found her grief enhanced by the circulation of scandalous rumours. The escapade was well calculated to produce them, for the Princess had fled from the Hague alone, and on foot, at seven o'clock on a December morning. Not till the day following, was the letter which she had pinned to her toilet table discovered; and its contents were not very consolatory to Elizabeth.

From it she learnt that Louise, being convinced that the Roman was the one true Church, had acted thus strangely because she dared not attend the Anglican Celebration of the Holy Communion on Christmas Day.[2]

Rupert, who seems to have been much moved by his mother's distress, wrote to the States of Holland, begging their care and consideration for the Queen, and demanding "the satisfaction that is due to us in regard of the slanders that so greatly augment the injury;" and he added a pa.s.sionate protest of grat.i.tude for all that the States had done for his family.[3] They complied with his request by depriving the Princess of Hohenzollern, the supposed perverter of Louise, of all her privileges at Bergen. But {285} though the Princess of Hohenzollern bore the blame, the responsibility probably belonged as much to Louise's brother Edward as to any one else. "Ned is so wilful!" complained his mother, in reference to his conduct in this affair.[4] He came to meet his sister at Antwerp, where she had taken refuge in a Carmelite convent, and conducted her thence to Paris. She was, of course, kindly received by the French Court, and the joy of Henrietta Maria over the repenting heretic was very great. The English Queen wrote to Elizabeth that she would care for Louise as her own daughter, and begged forgiveness for her. "But," said Elizabeth to Rupert, "I excused it, as handsomely as I could, and entreated her only to think what she would do, if she had had the same misfortune."[5] It was not long before Henrietta had a somewhat similar misfortune, in her failure to convert her youngest son, Henry of Gloucester. The boy took refuge in Holland, and Elizabeth had a pleasing revenge in receiving her young nephew. King Charles and his sister, Mary of Orange, both visited Louise, and reproached her for her "unhandsome" flight from her mother; but she only answered that, though sorry for Elizabeth's displeasure, she was "very well satisfied" with her change of faith.[6]

Subsequently she entered a convent and became abbess of Maubuisson, where she lived long enough to see the second exile of the Stuarts, of whom she was ever a warm partisan.

Elizabeth, thus left alone in her poverty, seems to have turned to Rupert with more affection than she had ever before shown him. She wrote him long letters, full of Hague gossip, of complaints of the Elector, and professions of affection for himself. "I love you ever, my dear Rupert," or, "I pray G.o.d bless you, whatever you resolve to do."[7] {286} Occasionally she relapsed into her old jesting manner.

Thus, she told him of a present of oranges forwarded to him from Spain: "My Lord Fraser sent you a letter from Portugal from Robert Cortez. He sends you two cases of Portugal oranges, two for the King, and two for me.... I believe my Lord Craven will tell you how much ado he has had to save your part from me. I made him believe I would take your cases for my niece and the Prince of Orange. I did it to vex him."[8] She was still of her "humour to be merry," though she had more cause than ever for sadness.

Philip had fallen in 1650 at the siege of Rhetel, fighting for France against Spain, but no allusion to his death from the hand of his mother or brothers has been preserved. Edward, who lived nominally in France, but was generally to be found at the Hague and at Heidelberg, was on friendly terms with Rupert, though he could not be to him as Maurice had been. From time to time disquieting rumours of Maurice's reappearance were afloat, and in 1654 the story was very circ.u.mstantial. "Here is news of Prince Maurice, who was believed to be drowned and perished, that he is a slave in Africa. For, being constrained at that time that he parted from Prince Rupert to run as far as Hispaniola in the West Indies, he was coming back thence in a barque laden with a great quant.i.ty of silver, and was taken by a pirate of Algiers. The Queen, his mother, hath spoken to the Amba.s.sador of France, to the end that he may write on his behalf, to the Great Turk."[9] Rupert, personally, was convinced that his brother had perished in the hurricane, but he would lose no chance of recovering him, however slight, and he urged the Elector to investigate the matter with all speed. "Concerning my brother Maurice," wrote Charles Louis to his mother, "my brother Rupert, who is now here, thinks the way by the {287} Emperor's agent at Constantinople too far about for his liberty, if the news be true, and that from Ma.r.s.eilles we may best know the certainty, as also the way of his releas.e.m.e.nt."[10] But the news was not true, and Rupert's inquiries left him more hopeless than ever.

The Prince deprived at once of his chief companion and of his occupation, now bethought him of marrying and settling down. But in order to do this, it was necessary to have some visible means of subsistence, and therefore, in June 1654, he required a grant of land, as a younger brother's portion, from the Elector. He was, at that time, the guest of his brother at Heidelberg. The brothers had not met for eight years, and had parted last in England, when their relations, all things considered, cannot have been very cordial. Now they appeared to have buried the past, and were perfectly friendly. Even Rupert's modest claim to some few miles of land was not abruptly rejected by the Elector, and it was confidently reported in England, that Prince Rupert would "settle on his plantation, his brother having given him lands to the quant.i.ty of twenty English miles in compa.s.s."[11] But this grant was never finally completed. During Rupert's absence in Vienna the affair seemed to be progressing favourably, and his agent, Job Holder, wrote to him from Heidelberg: "This day Valentine Pyne made an end of measuring the Cloysture and Langessel. The circ.u.mference which is given to the Elector, is ten English miles,--reckoning 1,000 paces to the mile,--and go paces. This morning I waited upon Mr. Leslie from Langessel to Heidelberg, who gave H. H. the Elector an account of what was done, and desired H. H. to confirm those lands upon your Highness, with the full freedom and prerogatives thereof. But His Highness defers it until the draught thereof be finished; it will be, I believe, next Tuesday before a further account can be had from {288} hence. Mr. Leslie says there is a necessity of having the house speedily repaired; after two months winter comes on, which will be unseasonable for the purpose. In the meantime he intends to go on with the Paddock, in observance of Your Highness's commands, and to make it as large as the highways will permit. Her Highness, the Princess Elizabeth, commanded me to write that my Lady Herbert was coming to the Hague with 30 English gentlemen."[12] But a couple of months later the Elector declared himself dissatisfied with the management of Leslie, and desired Rupert to have no more to do with him.[13]

The business remained unfinished, but the Elector's letters to his brother were still in a most friendly and affectionate strain; addressed always to his "tres-cher Frere," and signed "tres-cher frere, votre tres affectionne, et fidele frere et serviteur," they are full of good-will, and wishes for "une prompte et bonne expedition" in Rupert's affairs. Occasionally they a.s.sume the old tone of jesting familiarity; in one letter Charles laments that the poems--"nos poesies"--forwarded to his brother have miscarried; and in another, remarks, in the true polyglot style of the Palatines, "Le Duc de Simmeren nous a vu a Hort, en pa.s.sant pour etre au bapteme d'un fils de Madame la Landgrave de Ca.s.sel, ou je suis prie aussi; but I do not love to go a-gossipping."[14] In August he antic.i.p.ated a petty war with the Bishop of Speyer, but he hastily declined Rupert's prompt offer of a.s.sistance. "I am deeply obliged for the offer you make me, but I should be desolated to think that you neglected your own more pressing business for a dispute of so little consequence."[15] In truth, the less his brother interfered in Palatine politics, the better pleased was the Elector. Rupert, he once wrote to his sister Sophie, {289} might suit very well with those who cared "to propagate the gospel by the sword," but he, for his part, loved "peace and concord."[16]

His concord with Rupert was not of long duration, and this time the causa belli was a woman. The Elector had married, in 1650, Charlotte of Hesse Ca.s.sel, but the marriage was not a happy one. The Electress was of a violent temper, jealous and unreasonable to the last degree, and Charles Louis, wearying of his attempts to win her affections, permitted his wandering fancy to dwell on a certain Louise Von Degenfeldt, a girl not only beautiful, but clever enough to write her love-letters in Latin. Most unfortunately, the Baroness Louise also fascinated--quite unconsciously--the Elector's brother Rupert. At the same time the Electress conceived a violent admiration for her gallant brother-in-law, and the situation was, as may well be imagined, somewhat critical. The explosion was caused by a letter which Rupert wrote to Louise, complaining bitterly of her coldness towards him. The letter, which was without superscription, fell into the hands of the Electress, who, believing it intended for herself, received it with delight. It was her chief desire, just then, to appear to Rupert the most fascinating person in her court, and, encouraged by his letter, she a.s.sured him publicly that he had no cause to complain of lack of affection on her part. Rupert, who had evidently not learnt to command his countenance, was overcome with confusion, and blushed so furiously as to show the Electress her mistake. Thenceforth the Electress abused and persecuted Louise for having endeavoured to win the Prince's love, of which crime, at least, she was perfectly innocent.[17]

The affair came to the Elector's ears, and jealousy sprang up between the brothers. The Elector's manner changed; {290} he refused the promised appanage, he treated Rupert with marked coldness, and finally retired to Alzei, where there was little accommodation for his court.

Rupert followed him thither, and was denied a sufficiency of rooms for himself and his servants; then, as usual, he lost his temper.[18] There was a quarrel, and the younger brother departed in a rage, taking with him all his movables--which cannot have been many.[19] He went first to Heidelberg, but the Elector, either wishful to insult him, or really fearful of his violence, wrote, ordering that he should be refused admittance to the city. To his surprise and indignation, Rupert found the gates closed against him. He demanded to see the order by which this thing was done. The order was shown him, written in the Elector's own hand. It was too much! Then and there Rupert raised his hat from his head, and swore, with tears in his eyes, that he would never more set foot in the Palatinate.[20] Twenty years later, when it seemed to the Elector that his race was about to die out, he would have given much to recall his ill-used brother. But all the entreaties which he lavished on Rupert, produced but one answer: "Ich habe auf Euer Liebden Veranla.s.sung ein feierliches Gelubde zu Gott gethan, die Pfalz nie wieder zu betreten; und will, bei dem wenn auch bedauerlich beschwornen Vorsatze beharren." "Your Belovedness,"--a curious Palatine subst.i.tute for Your Highness,--"has caused me to take a solemn oath to G.o.d that I will never more set foot in the Palatinate; and my sworn, if regretable, oath I will keep."[21] Rupert, like his father before him, was "a Prince religious of his word."

After his quarrel with his brother, Rupert wandered back to Vienna, and is said to have served in the wars in Pomerania and Hungary. In 1657 it was stated in England {291} that "Prince Rupert hath command of 8,000 men, under the King of Hungary, who will owe his empirate to his sword."[22] And a German authority describes him as leading in the capture of the Swedish entrenchments at Warnemunde, 1660.[23] But the truth of these reports is very doubtful, and he seems to have resided between 1657 and 1660 chiefly with his friend the Elector of Mainz. At Mainz he lived in tranquillity, but in great poverty. "He looks exceedingly poverty-stricken," wrote Sophie of another Cavalier, "and I fear that Rupert will soon do the same, judging by his menage."[24]

But to Rupert poverty was no new thing, and he now enjoyed, for the first time since his captivity in Austria, leisure to devote himself to art, philosophy and science. In these years he first studied the art of engraving, in which he was afterwards so famous. He is popularly supposed to have invented the process of engraving by Mezzotint, the idea of which he is said to have conceived from watching a soldier clean a rusty gun. But the process was, as a matter of fact, communicated to him by a German soldier, Ludwig von Siegen. In 1642 von Siegen had completed his invention, and had sent a portrait, produced by his new process, to the Landgrave of Hesse, with the announcement that he had discovered "a new and singular invention of a kind never hitherto beheld." In 1658 he met Rupert in Vienna, and, finding in him a kindred spirit, disclosed his secret. They agreed only to reveal the process to an appreciative few, and it is probable that, but for Rupert's interest in it, the invention would have died with the inventor.[25] To the Prince belongs the credit of introducing it into England. "This afternoon Prince Rupert shewed me, with his own hands, the new {292} way of engraving," says Evelyn in his diary, March 16, 1661.[26] And in his "Sculptura" he says, after describing the process, "Nor may I without ingrat.i.tude conceal that ill.u.s.trious name which did communicate it to me, nor the obligation which the curious have to that heroic person who was pleased to impart it to the world."[27] Rupert himself worked hard at his engravings, a.s.sisted by the artist, Le Vaillant; and Evelyn refers with enthusiasm to "what Prince Rupert's own hands have contributed to the dignity of that art, performing things in graving comparable to the greatest masters, such a spirit and address appears in all he touches, especially in the Mezzotinto."[28]

While at Mainz, Rupert developed other inventions, among them the curious gla.s.s bubbles known as "Rupert's Drops," which will withstand the hardest blows, but crumble into atoms if the taper end is broken off. He also prepared to write his biography. This he intended as a vindication against all the calumnies which had been a.s.sociated with his name. But long before the vindication was compiled the need for it had vanished. The Restoration of 1660 changed Rupert's fortunes as it changed those of his Stuart cousins. He found himself "in great esteem"[29] with the whole English nation, and he therefore abandoned the idea of writing his history. All that remains of the projected biography are a few fragments relating to his childhood and early career.

[1] Strickland's Elizabeth Stuart, p. 218; also Green's Princesses, VI.

38-41.

[2] Green's Princesses, Vol. VI. 55-58.

[3] Thurloe, VI. p. 803, 24 Feb. 1658.

[4] Bromley Letters, pp. 285-288. Elizabeth to Rupert, March 4, 1658.

[5] Ibid. p. 289.

[6] Bromley, pp. 287-288.

[7] Bromley Letters, pp. 189, 295, Elizabeth to Rupert.

[8] Bromley Letters, p. 286, March 4, 1658.

[9] Thurloe, II. 362, 19 June, 1654.

[10] Bromley, p. 167. Elector to Elizabeth, June 27, 1654.

[11] Thurloe, II. 514, 12 Aug. 1654.

[12] Add. MSS. 18982. Job Holder to Rupert, Aug. 1, 1654.

[13] Ibid. Oct. 14, 1654.

[14] Bromley Letters, pp. 170, 173, 315, 25 Aug., 25 Sept., Oct. 1654.

[15] Bromley Letters, p. 171, 25 Sept. 1654.

[16] Briefwechsel der Herzogin Sophie mit ihrem Bruder Karl Ludwig, p.

309. 5 Jan. 1678. Publication aus der Preussischen Staats Archiven.

[17] Memorien der Herzogin Sophie, p. 57.

[18] Halisser's Reinische Pfalz, II. p. 643.

[19] Thurloe, V. p. 541.

[20] Reiger's Ausgeloschte Simmerischen Linie, ed. 1735. p. 182.

[21] Spruner's Pfalzgraf Ruprecht, p. 134.

[22] Hist. MSS. Com. Rept. V. App. I. p. 152, Sutherland MSS.

[23] Allgemeine Deutsche Biographic, XXIX, 745.

[24] Briefwechsel der Herzogin Sophie, p. 4, 21 Oct 1658.

[25] Challoner Smith. Mezzotint Engraving, Part IV. Div II. pp.

xxvi-x.x.x.

[26] Evelyn's Diary, I. p. 346.

[27] Evelyn's Sculptura, 1662, Chap. VII. p. 145.

[28] Sculptura, p. 147.

[29] Campbell's Admirals, 1785, Vol. II. p. 245.