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FURTHER FORTUNES OF PRINCE CHARLES.

(FROM CHAPTER XXX. OF THE HISTORY.)

On his return from Scotland, Charles had been favourably received by Louis; a burst of applause had signalised his first appearance at the opera; and he found that both by King and people his exploits were admired, and his sufferings deplored. For some of his most faithful followers, as Lochiel and Lord Ogilvie, he had obtained commissions in the French service; and a pension of 40,000 livres yearly had been granted him for the relief of the rest; but when he applied for military succours- - urging that a new expedition should be fitted out and placed at his disposal - he found the Court of Versailles turn a deaf ear to his demands. Once, indeed, it was hinted to him by Cardinal Tencin, that the ministers might not be disinclined to meet his views, provided, in case of his success, the kingdom of Ireland should be yielded as a province to the Crown of France. But the high spirit of Charles could ill brook this degrading offer. Scarcely had Tencin concluded, when the Prince, starting from his seat and passionately pacing the room, cried out, NON MONSIEUR LE CARDINAL! TOUT OU RIEN! POINT DE PARTAGE! The Cardinal, alarmed at his demeanour, hastened to assure him that the idea was entirely his own, conceived from his great affection to the Exiled Family, and not at all proceeding from, or known to, King Louis.*

The applications of Charles were not confined to France; early in 1747, he undertook an adventurous journey to Madrid, and obtained an audience of the King and Queen, but found them so much in awe of the British

*Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 568.

CHARLES AGAIN AT PARIS.

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Court, as to allow him only a few hours' stay. He next turned his hopes towards Frederic of Prussia. In April, 1748 he despatched Sir John Graham to Berlin with instructions, "To propose, in a modest manner, a marriage "with one of them. To declare that I never intend to marry but a Protestant; and, if the King refuses an "alliance with him, to ask advice whom to take, as he is "known to be the wisest Prince in Europe." ""* This scheme, however, though promising success for a short time, ended like the rest in failure.

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Ere long, moreover, domestic discord arose to embitter the coldness or hostility of strangers. Charles's brother having secretly quitted Paris without any previous notice to him, had returned to Rome and resolved to enter holy orders. With the concurrence of the old Pretender, and by a negotiation with the Pope, he was suddenly named a Cardinal, on the 3d of July, 1747, the design being concealed from Charles until a few days before, so as to guard against his expected opposition. It is difficult to describe with how much consternation the tidings struck the exiled Jacobites; several did not hesitate to declare it of much worse consequence to them than even the battle of Culloden. Charles himself, as he was the most injured, appeared the most angry; he broke off all correspondence whatever with his brother, and his letters to his father from this time forward became brief, cold, and constrained.

At the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, the French Court, though willing to relinquish Charles's cause, and to stipulate his exclusion from their territories, were not wholly unmindful of his interests, nor of their promises. They proposed to establish him at Friburg in Switzerland, with the title of Prince of Wales, a company of guards, and a sufficient pension. In Charles's circumstances there was

* Instructions for Sir John Graham in Charles's writing, and dated April 4. 1748. Stuart Papers. It is remarkable that the Duke of Newcastle writes to the Lord Chancellor, September 21. 1753: "The 'King of Prussia is now avowedly the principal, if not the sole, support of the Pretender and of the Jacobite cause." Coxe's Pelham. James to Prince Charles, June 13. 1747.

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Mr. Hay to Mr. Edgar July 26. 1747.

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certainly no better course to take than to accept these terms. But the lower he sank in fortunes the higher he thought himself bound to rise in spirit. He placed a romantic point of honour in braving the "orders from Hanover," as he called them, and positively refused to depart from Paris. Threats, entreaties, arguments, were tried on him in vain. He withstood even a letter, obtained from his father at Rome, and commanding his departure. He still, perhaps, nourished some secret expectation that King Louis would not venture to use force against a kinsman; but he found himself deceived. As he went to the opera on the evening of the 11th of December, his coach was stopped by a party of French guards, himself seized, bound hand and foot, and conveyed, with a single attendant, to the state prison of Vincennes, where he was thrust into a dungeon, seven feet wide and eight long. After this public insult, and a few days' confinement, he was carried to Pont de Beauvoisin on the frontier of Savoy, and there restored to his wandering and desolate freedom.*

The first place to which Charles repaired upon his liberation was the Papal city of Avignon. But in a very few weeks he again set forth, attended only by Colonel Goring, and bearing a fictitious name. From this time forward his proceedings during many years are wrapped in mystery; all his correspondence passed through the hands of Mr. Waters, his banker at Paris: even his warmest partisans were seldom made acquainted with his place of abode; and though he still continued to write to his father at intervals, his letters were never dated. Neither friends nor enemies at that time could obtain any certain information of his movements or designs. Now, however, it is known that he visited Holland and Germany, that he resided secretly for some time at Paris, that he undertook a mysterious journey to England in 1750, and perhaps another in 1752, or 1753; but his principal residence was in the territory of his friend the Duke de Bouillon, where, surrounded by the wide and lonely forest

*Charles wrote a most minute account of this transaction, in the third person; it was published as Lettre d'un officier Français à son "ami à Londres ;" and the MS. is still amongst the Stuart Papers,

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of Ardennes, his active spirit sought in the dangerous chase of boars and wolves an image of the warlike enterprise which was denied him. It was not till the death of his father in 1766 that he returned to Rome, and became reconciled to his brother. But his character had darkened with his fortunes. A long train of disappointments and humiliations working on a fiery mind, spurred it almost into frenzy, and degraded it. The habit of drinking, which for some years he indulged without restraint, seems to have been first formed during his Highland adventures and escapes; when a dram of whiskey might sometimes supply the want of food and of rest. was the habit acquired, and, once acquired, it continued after the cause of it had ceased, and even grew amidst the encouragement of his exiled friends. The earliest hint I have found of this vice in Charles, is in a letter of April, 1747, addressed to Lord Dunbar, but only signed by the initial of the writer. It alleges that an Irish Cordelier, named Kelly, has of late been much in the Prince's society and confidence; that Kelly loves good wine with all the fervour of a monk; and that, by this means, "His Royal Highness's character in point of sobriety has been a little blemished." A century before, Lord Clarendon reproaches the banished loyalists with intemperance*, at all times the fatal resource of poverty and sorrow; but the Prince, who could not relieve them by his bounty, should at least have forborne from degrading them by his example.

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Still more imprudent, perhaps, was his conduct with regard to Miss Walkinshaw. This lady, it is said, first became known to him in Scotland; he sent for her some years after his return from that country, and soon allowed her such dominion over him that she became acquainted with all his schemes, and trusted with his most secret correspondence. As soon as this was known in England, his principal adherents took alarm, believing that she was in the pay of the English ministers, and observing that her sister was housekeeper of the Dowager Princess of Wales. So much did they think their own safety endangered, that they despatched Mr. Mac Namara, one of

* Life of the Earl of Clarendon by himself, vol. i. p. 353. ed. 1827.

their most trusty agents, with instructions to lay their apprehensions before the Prince, and to insist that the lady should, for some time at least, be confined to a convent. In answer Charles declared that he had no violent passion for Miss Walkinshaw, and could see her removed from him without concern, but that he would not receive directions in respect to his private conduct from any man alive. In vain did Mr. Mac Namara try every method of persuasion, and frequent renewals of his argument. Charles thought it a point of honour, that none should presume on his adversity to treat him with disrespect, and determined to brave even the ruin of his interest (for such was the alternative held out to him) rather than bate one iota of his dignity. MacNamara at length took leave of him with much resentment, saying, as he passed out, "What can your family have done, Sir, thus to draw "down the vengeance of Heaven on every branch of it "through so many ages?"-Upon his report, most of the remaining Jacobite leaders, irritated at their Prince's pride, and, soon afterwards won over by the splendid successes of Lord Chatham, seized the opportunity to break off all connection with the exiles, and to rally in good earnest round the reigning family.

In a former chapter I have described the person and manner of Charles as he appeared in youth; let me now add a portrait of him in his later years. An English lady, who was at Rome in 1770, observes, "The Pretender is "naturally above the middle size but stoops excessively; "he appears bloated and red in the face; his countenance heavy and sleepy, which is attributed to his having given "into excess of drinking: but when a young man he must "have been esteemed handsome. His complexion is of "the fair tint, his eyes blue, his hair light brown, and the "contour of his face a long oval; he is by no means thin, "has a noble person, and a graceful manner. His dress

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66 was scarlet laced with broad gold lace; he wears the "blue riband outside of his coat, from which depends a

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cameo, antique, as large as the palm of my hand; and "he wears the same garter and motto as those of the noble "order of St. George in England. Upon the whole, he

* Dr. King's Anecdotes, p. 207.