them of the person
and character of the different candidates. The choice, too, is very
much influenced by political considerations, and is always more or
less embarrassed by negotiations with other courts, whose ministers
make objections to this or that alliance, on account of its supposed
interference with some of their own political schemes.

As it is very inconvenient, moreover, for a king to leave his
dominions, the marriage ceremony is usually performed at the court
where the bride resides, without the presence of the bridegroom, he
sending an embassador to act as his representative. This is called
being married by proxy. The bride then comes to her royal husband's
dominions, accompanied by a great escort. He meets her usually on the
frontiers; and there she sees him for the first time, after having
been married to him some weeks by proxy. It is true, indeed, that she
has generally seen his _picture_, that being usually sent to her
before the marriage contract is made. This, however, is not a matter
of much consequence, as the personal predilections of a princess have
generally very little to do with the question of her marriage.

Now King James had concluded to propose for the oldest daughter of the
King of Denmark and he entered into negotiations for this purpose.
This plan, however, did not please the government of England, and
Elizabeth, who was then the English queen, managed so to embarrass and
interfere with the scheme, that the King of Denmark gave his daughter
to another claimant. James was a man of very mild and quiet
temperament, easily counteracted and thwarted in his plans; but this
disappointment aroused his energies, and he sent a splendid embassy
into Denmark to demand the king's second daughter, whose name was
Anne. He prosecuted this suit so vigorously that the marriage articles
were soon agreed to and signed. Anne embarked and set sail for
Scotland. The king remained there, waiting for her arrival with great
impatience. At length, instead of his bride, the news came that the
fleet in which Anne had sailed had been dispersed and driven back by a
storm, and that Anne herself had landed on the coast of Norway.

James immediately conceived the design of going himself in pursuit of
her. But knowing very well that all his ministers and the officers of
his government would make endless objections to his going out of the
country on such an errand, he kept his plan a profound secret from
them all. He o