She inherited her mother's beauty, and was petted by her
parents and the entire court of France.
King Richard II. of England, who was a widower about thirty years old,
was urged to marry again; and, instead of selecting a wife near his
own age, his choice fell upon little Princess Isabella.
"She is much too young," he was told. "Even in five or six years she
will not be old enough to be married." The king, however, thought
this objection too trifling to stand in the way of his marriage, and
saying, "The lady's age is a fault that every day will remedy," he
sent a magnificent embassy to the court of France, headed by the
Archbishop of Dublin, and consisting of earls, marshals, knights, and
squires of honor uncounted, with attendants to the number of five
hundred.
When the embassy reached Paris, and the offer of marriage had been
formally accepted, the archbishop and the earls asked to see the
little princess who was soon to become their queen. At first the
French Council refused, saying so young a child was not prepared to
appear on public occasions, and they could not tell how she might
behave.
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