Note 52 — II EARLY WOMANHOOD AND MARRIAGE (HEIDELBERG, 1650-1658)

In 1660 and the following year there is a good deal of talk and solemn banter between Dr. Worthington and his correspondent S. Hartlib as to the expected arrival in England of the Princess Elizabeth with her mother. Dr. (Henry) More is repeatedly referred to as specially interested in the hoped-for event. On May 28th, 1661, however, Hartlib reports a profane piece of gossip: ‘I hear a secret of the Princess Elizabeth that Lord Craven is like to marry her. I wish she were in England, that she might marry Dr. More’s Cartesian notions, which would beget a noble offspring of many excellent and fruitful truths.’ (See Diary and Correspondence of Dr. Worthington, edited by J. R. Crossley for the Chetham Society, Vols. i. and ii.; and cf. Crossley’s note on the Princess in Vol. i. s. d. October 15, 1660. The Princess Elizabeth never came to England.