Now, however, his anxiety for
the union was made plain to the king, who quickly agreed to his
desires. "Nephew," said he to the sturdy Dutchman, "it is not
good for man to be alone, and I will give you a help meet for
you; and so," continues Burnet, "he told him he would bestow his
niece on him."
The same afternoon the monarch informed his council that "the
Prince of Orange, desiring a more strict alliance with England by
marriage with the Lady Mary, he had consented to it, as a thing
he looked on as very proper to unite the family, and which he
believed would be agreeable to his people, and show them the care
he had of religion, for which reason he thought it the best
alliance he could make." When his majesty had concluded this
speech, the Duke of York stepped forward, and declared his
consent to the marriage. He hoped "he had now given a sufficient
testimony of his right intentions for the public good, and that
people would no more say he designed altering the government in
church or state; for whatever his opinion on religion might be,
all that he desired was, that men might not be molested merely
for conscience' sake."
The duke then dined at Whitehall with, the king, the Prince of
Orange, and a noble company; after which he returned to St.
James's, where he then resided. Dr. Edward Luke, at this time
tutor to the Lady Mary, and subsequently Archdeacon of Exeter, in
his interesting manuscript diary, informs us that on reaching the
palace, the duke, with great tenderness and fatherly affection,
took his daughter aside, "and told her of the marriage designed
between her and the Prince of Orange; whereupon her highness wept
all that afternoon and the following day.
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