"As soon as I heard of the elector of Hanover's death, I thought it incumbent on me to put myself in a condition of profiting of what might be the consequences of so great an event, which I was sensible I could never do at so great a dis tance as Italy, and that made me take the resolution of leaving that country out of hand, and drawing nearer to England, that I might be in a readiness, without loss of time, to profit of any commotion that might ensue in Great Britain, or of any alteration that might happen in the present system of Europe, on Hanover's death. At the same time that I left Italy, I dispatched expresses to Vienna, Madrid, and Paris, and have already received the return of that to Vienna, by which it is very plain that the emperour would be very desirous that I could be in a condition of making ane attempt without any foreign force, and would not even obstruct my own passing privately through his dominions, for that effect; though his ministers declare, at the same time, that since the preliminaries are signed, he cannot give me any assistance.

"The answers from France and Spain are not yet come, but when they do, it is to be expected they will not be more favourable, so that for the present no foreign assistance can be expected; but withall, that the present conjuncture appears so favourable in all its circumstances, that had I only consulted my own inclinations, I should certainly, out of hand, have crossed the seas, and seen, at any rate, what I could do for my own and my subjects' delivery; but as on this occasion I act for them as well as myself, and cannot hope, without their concurrence, to succeed in what I may undertake in our mutual behalf, I find myself under the necessity of making no furder steps without their advice.

""Tis true, the disadvantages I lye under are great and many. I have but a small stock of money, scarce sufficient to transport the few arms I have, and what officers I may get to follow me on this occasion. I am sensible that it is next to impossible that a concert should be established among my friends at home, such as would be sufficient for a rising in arms in my favour, before my arrival, and by what is said before, the little hopes of foreign assistance will be sufficiently seen; but with all this, many arguments may be brought to authorize an undertaking, which, at first sight, might appear

rash. Our country is now (whatever the outward appearances may be) in great confusion and disorder; the people have had time to feel the weight of a foreign yoke, and are no ways favourably inclined towards the present elector of Hanover. That concert, vigour, and unanimity, that does not precede my crossing the seas, may attend and follow such an event, and if the chief great powers in Europe are not all my declared friends, there is not one that is my enemy, and that has not a particular interest to wish me on the throne; and were I in person in Britain, at the head of even a small number of my own subjects, it might naturally alter very much the present system of some or other of them, during the time of the congress; but should it once meet and affairs be adjusted there on the foundation of the quadruple alliance, foreign affairs will take quite another face, and in all probability would long remain so, whilst the present elector of Hanover, and his son, might have time to ingratiate themselves with the English nation; so that all put together, it must be concluded, that if the present conjuncture is slipped, it cannot be expected that we ever can have so favourable a one for acting by ourselves, and that we run the risk of allowing the general affairs of Europe to take such a turn, as will probably incline most of the chief powers of Europe to be less favourable to us than they are at present; so that whatever is not absolutely desperate, ought certainly to be undertaken, and the sooner the better.

"I desire, therefore, you may think seriously on this matter, and let me have your opinion as soon as possible; and if my going into England be not advisable, whether my going to the Highlands of Scotland might not be found proper." The following postscript was written in the pretender's own hand:" The contents of this will show you the confidence I have in you, and I expect you will let me know by the bearer Allan,* your advice and opinion particularly, on this important occasion."+

Lockhart seems to have been thunderstruck with this letter,

* Allan Cameron, he was a Highlander, and a creature of Inverness. + Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. pp. 356-958.

manifesting so little judgment, and so much presumptive impa tience:-"Nothing," he says, "could have surprised me more than my accidental meeting with the bearer, but the accounts I got from him of you, and your late resolutions, being what I did not in the least imagine or expect. The subject of yours is a matter of the greatest importance; and though it was very natural for you to desire to be in a condition to make benefit from any happy circumstance that might occur, yet I am much afraid nothing of that kind is like to happen at this juncture. I have no intelligence from t'other side of the sea; but by the public letters, 'tis plain that the people of England are intoxicated at present, having forgot their late ailments by the ill-grounded hopes of a better management, and till they find themselves disappointed, I can form no hopes from them, especially seeing you have no prospect of what you and all your advisers judged essentially necessary, even under the fairest views, for your support and the encouragement of others. And as for the other part of the country, [Scotland,] they cannot possibly do any thing without being provided with the many material things they want; and ere it can be done, much time and many difficulties must be surmounted, during which opposite preparations will be made on all hands. I readily grant 'twere a notable advantage to give the stroke in the beginning, lest affairs at home and abroad grow worse, and be rivetted-but then, even under this consideration, this is not to be attempted without necessary precautions and provisions; for without these, such, or indeed any attempt would be desperate, and without miracles from heaven, prove the utter ruin of all future hopes. I believe the people of Scotland are much as I left them-that is, very well disposed; but withall so overrun and oppressed, that 'tis impracticable for them to do any thing but jointly, and in concurrence with their neighbours of England, and I am pretty well assured that notion is so established and fixed in their minds, that they will scarce on any account divert from it, so that all depends on the English, and for you to venture over to either Scotland or England without an absolute assurance of some support, may prove pernicious to yourself, and fatal to all that wish you well.** No man living would be more glad to see the dawning of a fair

day, but when every airth of the compass is black and cloudy, I cannot but dread very bad weather, such as can give no encouragement to a traveller, nay, cannot well fail to prove his own and his attendants' utter ruin and destruction."*

Finding so little encouragement at home, and able to procure no assistance from abroad, the pretender found it necessary to lay aside that character of heroism which he had for a moment assumed, which indeed sat very ungracefully upon him, and relapsing into the humble dependant, he left Lorrain, and, under the protection of the pope, repaired to Avignon, which it was supposed he chose in preference to Italy, that he might be free from the importunities of his wife's friends, who were numerous in that country. Here, however, he was not allowed to remain. He had sent for her to join him, in the hope of her presence being useful to him in the way of softening the French court, and calling forth its sympathies in his behalf; she, however, refused to come, and this refusal he himself attributed to the evil influence of cardinal Alberoni, and her other directors, "who," says he, “ are resolved never to want a pretence to prevent a solid union betwixt us, and to make use of her in the meantime, to distress my affairs as much as possible. Had she come now, it might have been a great means to have fixed me here, as I much apprehend her remaining in Italy may not a little facilitate the endeavours of those who wish me removed." She, in a letter to the lady Southesk, of the same date, or nearly so, of the above, acknowledged that she had been sent for to Avignon, but that she had declined the journey for several reasons:-First, "That she did by no means think her children in such good hands as she in prudence and kindness could have them. Secondly, That the cardinal Polignac had lately notified to the pope, that his master, the French king, had given orders to seize and stop her, if so be she entered his dominions with a design of repairing to the king whilst he remained at Avignon, and her friends did not approve of her running the hazard of trial, whether or not the French king was in earnest and Lastly, On a surmise that the earl of Inverness was as much as ever in the king's favour, and in a little time would be re

* Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. pp. 360–363.

called. The cardinal legate of Bologna had writ, earnestly desiring his majesty to satisfy the queen in that article, which, he declining to do, gave her too good reason to apprehend that it might probably come to pass when they were altogether at such a distance from her friends in Italy, and she had no person to advise with and countenance her. Her majesty, therefore, from the danger to which her person would be exposed, and the badness of the season, desired the king would excuse her attempting the journey at that time, and till it appeared how matters were likely to cast up.'

The disingenuity of the pretender's character is strongly marked in the statement he thus made to his friends, having never taken the least notice of the reasons his wife assigned for not complying with his request. He appears, indeed, to have acted with his wife, as all his race had ever acted with their people-demanded her obedience to the utmost, but resolved to hear as few as possible, and to redress none of her grievances. In short, he seems to have been as poorly fitted for being the head of a family, as of an empire; the former he obtained and could not rule with discretion, the latter happily was not one of the playthings with which he was intrusted. Lockhart seems to have been particularly disgusted with his conduct in this whole affair, and having now, from so many displays of imprudence and imbecility on the part of the pretender, probably little hope of his ever doing any thing honourably or profitably as a public character, seems to have resolved to return home if he could be permitted, and abandoning a person so unlikely ever to realize the expectations formed of him, to pass the remainder of his days in private life. This intention he intimated to James in a long and rather sensible letter, in which he takes a retrospect of his whole management, censuring very freely many parts of it, and concluding, that "if the peace of his family could be obtained at so easy a rate [as the dismissal of Inverness] nothing less could be expected from him than, in justice to himself, his posterity, and his people, immediate compliance, whereby he would show himself a loving husband, a kind

* Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. pp. 378-380.