Excerpt from Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia's letter to Sir Edward Nicholas, dated August 21/31 (New Style), 1654

Source:

Memoirs of John Evelyn, volume 2, pages 193/194 to 196, published by William Bray, 1827

https://archive.org/details/memoirsofjohneve05evel/page/194/mode/2up?q=Sweden

The letter excerpt:

Mr. Secretarie, ... Dr. Morley has made a verie good description of the Queene of Sweden: she gaue an assignation to the French Ambassadour to meet her at Breda, whither he went, and so did the Prince and Princess of Tarente and most of our French gallants, who came all sneaking home againe, for her greefe was so great for the beating of the Spanish armie before Arras as she would not go to Breda. She sent another account than that to the Ambassadour as you may imagin, but the Landgrave writt the truth to his neece the Princess of Tarente. We haue yet heere no particullars of this defeat, but in generall it is a verie great one. ... You will heare by Mris Howards letter howe great a scape my little Nephue escaped yesterday vpon the bridge at the Princess of Orange's house, but God be thanked there was no hurt onelie the coache broken: I tooke him into my coache and brought him home. The Princess of Orange went from hence vpon Saterday, and you will haue our Baron shortlie with you at Aix, he will tell you the second part of the Queene of Sweden, for he comes from her to your Court. ...
Your most affectionat frend,
ELIZABETH.
Hage, Aug. 31. ...

With modernised spelling:

Mr. Secretary,
... Dr. Morley has made a very good description of the Queen of Sweden. She gave an assignation to the French ambassador to meet her at Breda, whither he went, and so did the Prince and Princess of Tarente and most of our French gallants, who came all sneaking home again, for her grief was so great for the beating of the Spanish army before Arras as she would not go to Breda. She sent another account than that to the ambassador, as you may imagine, but the Landgrave writ the truth to his niece the Princess of Tarente. We have yet here no particulars of this defeat, but in general it is a very great one. ...

You will hear by Mistress Howard's letter how great a scape my little Nephew escaped yesterday upon the bridge at the Princess of Orange's house, but, God be thanked, there was no hurt, only the coach broken; I took him into my coach and brought him home. The Princess of Orange went from hence upon Saturday, and you will have our Baron shortly with you at Aix, he will tell you the second part of the Queen of Sweden, for he comes from her to your court. ...
Your most affectionate friend,
Elizabeth.
Haag, August 31. ...

French translation (my own):

Monsieur le secrétaire,
... Le docteur Morley a fait une très bonne description de la reine de Suède. Elle donna mission à l'ambassadeur de France de la rencontrer à Bréda, où il se rendit, ainsi que le prince et la princesse de Tarente et la plupart de nos vaillants français, qui revinrent tous en douce chez eux, car son chagrin était si grand de la défaite de l'armée espagnole devant Arras qu'elle ne voulait pas se rendre à Bréda. Elle envoya un autre récit à l'ambassadeur, comme vous pouvez l'imaginer, mais le landgrave écrivit la vérité à sa nièce, la princesse de Tarente. Nous n'avons pas encore ici de particularités sur cette défaite, mais en général elle est très grande. ...

Vous apprendrez par la lettre de Madame Howard quelle grande évasion mon petit Neveu a échappé hier sur le pont de la maison de la princesse d'Orange, mais, grâce à Dieu, il n'a pas été blessé, seul le carrosse a été casse; je l'ai emmené dans mon carrosse et l'ai ramené chez moi. La princesse d'Orange est partie d'ici samedi, et vous aurez bientôt notre baron avec vous à Aix, il vous racontera la seconde partie de la reine de Suède, car il vient d'elle à votre Cour. ...
Votre très affectionnée amie
Élisabeth.
La Haye, le 31 août.

Czech translation (my own):

Pane sekretáři,
... Doktor Morley velmi dobře popsal královnu Švédska. Pověřila francouzského velvyslance, aby se s ní setkal v Bredě, kam odjel, stejně jako princ a princezna z Tarente a většina našich francouzských galantů, kteří se všichni znovu plížili domů, protože její zármutek byl z porážky tak velký španělské armády před Arrasem, že nechtěla jít do Bredy. Poslala velvyslanci jiný účet, jak si dovedete představit, ale lankrabě napsal pravdu své neteři, princezně z Tarente. Zde ještě nemáme žádné podrobnosti o této porážce, ale obecně je to velmi velká porážka. ...

Z dopisu paní Howardové uslyšíte, jak skvělý útěk můj malý Synovec včera utekl na mostě v domě princezny z Orange, ale díky Bohu se nezranil, jen se rozbil kočár; vzala jsem ho do svého kočáru a přivedla domů. Princezna Oranžská odsud odešla v sobotu a našeho barona budete mít brzy u sebe v Aix, poví vám druhou část o švédské královně, protože od ní přichází na váš dvůr. ...
Vaše nejmilejší přítelkyně
Alžběta.
Haag, 31. srpna.

Swedish translation (my own):

Min herr sekreterare,
... Doktor Morley har gjort en mycket god beskrivning av Sveriges drottning. Hon gav den franske ambassadören i uppdrag att träffa henne i Breda, dit han reste, och det gjorde också prinsparet av Tarente och de flesta av våra franska galanter, som alla kom hem smygande igen, ty hennes sorg var så stor över nederlaget av den spanska armén framför Arras att hon inte ville åka till Breda. Hon skickade en annan redogörelse än den till ambassadören, som Ni kanske föreställer Er, men lantgreven skrev sanningen till sin niece, prinsessan av Tarente. Vi här har ännu inga detaljer om detta nederlag, men i allmänhet är det mycket stort. ...

Ni kommer att få höra av fru Howards brev hur stor en flykt min lille Nevö rymde i går på bron vid prinsessan av Oranges hus, men tack och lov blev han inte skadad, bara vagnen gick sönder; jag tog med honom till min tränare och tog hem honom. Prinsessan av Orange reste härifrån i lördags, och Ni kommer snart att ha vår baron med Er i Aix, han skall berätta för Er andra delen om Sveriges drottning, ty han kommer från henne till Ert hov. ...
Er tillgivnaste vän
Elizabeth.
Haag, den 31 augusti.

Above: Kristina.

Above: Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia.

Above: Sir Edward Nicholas.

Notes: "The far-famed Christina. It was in this year [1654] that she abdicated the Throne. There were several personal squabbles between the Ex-Queen of Sweden and the Ex-Queen of Bohemia; and the former felt a considerable jealousy of Elizabeth, who at this period was the correspondent of Des Cartes and of William Penn. Christina, even after her abdication, still attempted to mingle in politics. She even affected to treat and negociate with Cromwell. She also offered several personal slights to the Queen of Bohemia: which may account for the manner in which she is spoken of upon several occasions."

"Her Majesty's spleen against Christina seems to have affected her feelings even towards her own relations; for Emilia, Princess of Tarente, was the daughter of William, Elector of Hesse Cassel, whilst Charles, the Elector Palatine, son to the Queen, was married to Charlotte, another daughter of the Hessian Elector. The Prince was Henry Charles de la Tremouille, then in the service of the States, and in command of the Hessian cavalry. His connexion with these august families procured him to be chosen a Knight of the Garter in 1653, along with the young Duke of Gloucester."

"her greefe was so great for the beating of the Spanish armie before Arras" = "Allusive to the defeat of the Spaniards by the French on St. Louis's day, when their lines were forced, whilst besieging Arras, with great slaughter."

The Princess of Orange = Mary Henrietta Stuart.