It led the way to Magna Charta, and finally to
our own Declaration of Independence. The boys and girls of
America, therefore, in common with those of England, can look
back with interest and affection upon the romantic story of "Good
Queen Maud," the brave-hearted girl who showed herself wise and
fearless both in the perilous mist at Edinburgh, and, later
still, in the yet greater dangers of "the black lists of
Gloucester."
JACQUELINE OF HOLLAND:
THE GIRL OF THE LAND OF FOGS, A.D. 1414.
Count William of Hainault, of Zealand and Friesland, Duke of
Bavaria and Sovereign Lord of Holland, held his court in the
great, straggling castle which he called his "hunting lodge,"
near to the German Ocean, and since known by the name of "The
Hague."[1]
[1] "The Hague" is a contraction of the Dutch's Gravenhage--the
haag, or "hunting lodge," of the Graf, or count.
Count William was a gallant and courtly knight, learned in all
the ways of chivalry, the model of the younger cavaliers,
handsome in person, noble in bearing, the surest lance in the
tilting-yard, and the stoutest arm in the foray.
Like "Jephtha, Judge of Israel," of whom the mock-mad Hamlet sang
to Polonius, Count William had
"One fair daughter, and no more,
The which he loved passing well";
and, truth to tell, this fair young Jacqueline, the little "Lady
of Holland," as men called her,--but whom Count William, because
of her fearless antics and boyish ways, called "Dame
Jacob,"[1]--loved her knightly father with equal fervor.
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