mwell. Vol. I. p. 295.

[93] Commonwealth Mercury. Sep. 2-9, 1658.

CHAPTER XI.

ANNE, AND HENRY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER.

In 1637 a little daughter was born to King Charles the First, at St.
James's Palace. Archbishop Laud christened her privately twelve days
later; and she was named after her aunt, Anne of Austria, Queen of
France.

There were great rejoicings at the baby's birth. The University of
Cambridge alone produced more than one hundred and thirty odes, in which
she and her sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, were compared to Juno, Minerva,
Venus, the Fates, the Graces, the Elder Muses, and many other classic
celebrities. In the face of all these protestations of loyal affection
no one would imagine that within six years Princess Anne's father would
be fighting with his own subjects for his throne and his liberty, and
that two of his children would be in the hands of his enemies.

But little Anne was spared these sad experiences. Very soon after her
birth she was assigned her place in the royal nursery at Richmond, with
her regular suite of attendants, ten in number. From her earliest
infancy she was extremely delicate. "A constant feverish cough showed a
tendency to disease of the lungs;" and before she was four years old she
died of consumption. The short account of her death is most touching:

Being minded by those about her to call upon God even when
the pangs of death were upon her; "I am not able," saith
she, "to say my long prayer" (meaning the Lord's Prayer),
"but I will say my short one: _Lighten mine eyes, O Lord,
lest I sleep the sleep of death._" This done the little lamb
gave up the ghost.[94]

She was buried in the tomb of her great-grandmother, the beautiful Mary,
Queen of Scots, in the South Aisle of Henry the Seventh's Chapel.

[Illustration: The Effigies of the Lady Anna, who was borne ye 17th of
March 1636, buried ye 30th of ye same month in the yeare of our Lord
god--1637]

The curious and very rare engraving, which we are fortunately able to
reproduce, was published a few months after her death. The little
creature, in a close-fitting skull-cap covering her head and fastened
under her chin, stands grasping a rose in her little hand, with a
thoughtful expression on her baby face. Based on the spelling of the
name of the little princess we find the following quaint verse:

Anna is like a circle's endless frame,
For read it forward, backward, 'tis th