# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Mary Beatrice d'Este

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MARY BEATRICE D'ESTE,
Was the daughter of Alphonso, Duke of Modena. She was born, October 6th., 1658. Educated in a convent, she was desirous of becoming a nun; but before she reached her fifteenth year, she was married, against her will, to the Duke of York, afterwards James the Second, who was more than twenty-five years older than herself. Her early repugnance to her husband soon wore off; she became fondly attached to him, and her whole future life marked her devotion to him. James, though a kind and indulgent husband, was an unfaithful one; and it was not till the moral dignity of her character became developed by the force of circumstances, that he learned to admire and respect her as she deserved. The beauty and purity of life of this princess, singular in a court so corrupt as that of Charles the Second, won for her in the early part of her married life, universal regard; but the unpopularity of her husband, whose open profession of the Catholic faith rendered him obnoxious to the English people, was transferred to her. Even before the accession of James to the throne, symptoms of an intention to throw a doubt upon the title of any son borne by Mary, were evident; and when, in 1688, after she became queen, she gave birth to a son, she was openly charged with having imposed a spurious heir upon the nation. As Mary had already been the mother of four children, it is difficult to understand how any people could entertain so absurd a belief, particularly with the powerful evidence to the contrary before them. In this year the rebellion broke out; the Prince of Orange landed in England, and Mary was obliged, to ensure her safety, and that of the young prince, who was then only six months old, to escape with him at midnight, and embark for France. King James soon followed her, and they were received by Louis the Fourteenth in a spirit of noble sympathy and generosity that he never failed to exhibit to the unfortunate exiles during life.
It was in adversity that the virtues of Queen Mary shone in their brightest lustre. Louis the Fourteenth, who appeared greatly struck with her conjugal tenderness, said of her, "She was always a queen in her prosperity, but in her adversity she is an angel."
James himself frankly acknowledged that he had never known what true happiness was, till rendered wise by many sorrows he had learned fully to appreciate the virtues and self-devotion of his queen; and was accustomed to say that, "Like Jacob, he counted his sufferings for nothing, having such a support and companion In them." Four years after the birth of her son, Mary of Modena became the mother of a daughter. She was the solace and comfort of her parents in their sorrows, but was cut off at the early age of nineteen by that grievous scourge, the small-pox. James ​the Second died at St. Germain's in 1701. Henceforward his sorrowing" widow devoted herself to religion; her sole remaining tie to earth being the hope of one day seeing her son—commonly called the Pretender—restored to his birthright. She lived to witness his failure in 1715, and died on the 7th. of May, 1718, in the sixtieth year of her age, and the thirtieth of her exile. The political events connected with the life of Mary of Modena must be sought for in history. Her personal life is related in a narrative of uncommon interest, in Miss Strickland's "Lives of the English Queens." Mary of Modena played an import-ant, rather than a conspicuous part, in the historic drama of the stirring times in which her lot was cast. She evinced, when called upon, a remarkable aptitude for business; but it is in her domestic character, as a devoted wife and mother, and as a practical Christian, that she chiefly recommends herself to our judgment and sympathies.