The monks of the Convent of Ibourg, to revenge themselves for my having unintentionally betrayed them by telling their Abbot that they had been fishing in a pond under my window, a thing expressly forbidden by the Abbot, once poured out white wine for me instead of water.  I said, “I do not know what is the matter with this water; the more of it I put into my wine the stronger it becomes.”  The monks replied that it was very good wine.  When I got up from the table to go into the garden, I should have fallen into the pond if I had not been held up; I threw myself upon the ground and fell fast asleep immediately.  I was then carried into my chamber and put to bed.  I did not awake until nine o’clock in the evening, when I remembered all that had passed.  It was on a Holy Thursday; I complained to the Abbot of the trick which had been played me by the monks, and they were put into prison.  I have often been laughed at about this Holy Thursday.

My aunt, our dear Electress (of Hanover), being at the Hague, did not visit the Princess Royal;

[Maria-Henrietta Stuart, daughter of Charles I. of England, and of Henriette-Marie of France, married, in 1660, to William of Nassau, Prince of Orange; she lost her husband in 1660, and was left pregnant with William-Henry of Nassau, Prince of Orange, and afterwards, by the Revolution of 1688, King of England.  This Princess was then preceptress of her son, the Stadtholder of Holland.]

but the Queen of Bohemia

     [Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I. of England, widow of
     Frederic V., Duke of Bavaria, Count Palatine of the Rhine, King of
     Bohemia until the year 1621, mother of the Duchess of Hanover.]

did, and took me with her.  Before I set out, my aunt said to me, “Lizette, now take care not to behave as you do in general, and do not wander away so that you cannot be found; follow the Queen step by step, so that she may not have to wait for you.”

I replied, “Oh, aunt, you shall hear how well I will behave myself.”

When we arrived at the Princess Royal’s, whom I did not know, I saw her son, whom I had often played with; after having gazed for a long time at his mother without knowing who she was, I went back to see if I could find any one to tell me what was this lady’s name.  Seeing only the Prince of Orange, I accosted him thus,—­

“Pray, tell me who is that woman with so tremendous a nose?”

He laughed and answered, “That is the Princess Royal, my mother.”

I was quite stupefied.  That I might compose myself, Mademoiselle Heyde took me with the Prince into the Princess’s bedchamber, where we played at all sorts of games.  I had told them to call me when the Queen should be ready to go, and we were rolling upon a Turkey carpet when I was summoned; I arose in great haste and ran into the hall; the Queen was already in the antechamber.  Without losing a moment, I seized the robe of the Princess Royal, and, making her a low curtsey, at the same moment I placed myself directly before her, and followed the Queen step by step to her carriage; everybody was laughing, but I had no notion of what it was at.  When we returned home, the Queen went to find my aunt, and, seating herself upon the bed, burst into a loud laugh.