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JAMES II.
From the Painting by Largilliere.
IN EXI
JAMES II. AT SAINT-GERMAIN
BY
EDWIN AND MARION SHARPE GREW
AUTHORS OF "THE COURT OF WILLIAM III"
ILLUSTRA TED
MILLS & BOON, LIMITED
49 RUPERT, STREET
LONDON, W.
Published 1911
PREFACE
IN "The English Court in Exile" the authors have
sought to reconstruct the life of James II. and his
family at the Chateau of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and
their relations with the French Court after their pre-
cipitate flight from London in 1688. The history of
the exiles has been written nearly chronologically, and
in the order in which it naturally groups itself about
the successive attempts and corresponding failures of
James and his supporters to recover the throne of
England. The most notable and important of these
attempts was James's expedition to Ireland, which
accordingly occupies a distinct portion of the book.
The authors have drawn their materials from con-
temporary diaries, memoirs, histories, pamphlets, and
manuscripts. Among the last-named, special interest
attaches to one which furnishes a list of items of
expenditure by Louis XIV. on behalf of his guests
at Saint-Germain, for which grateful acknowledgment
must be made to M. Dunoyer, of the " Archives de
France " in Paris ; and the list of residents at the
Chateau of Saint-Germain, for which they have to
thank Mr Richard W. Goulding, the Librarian at
Welbeck Abbey. To Mr Goulding the authors are
again indebted, as in a previous volume, for his
vi THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
kindness in reading the proofs and for many useful
suggestions. Miss Constance Lingen gave them
much valuable help in copying MSS., both in Paris
and at the British Museum. They desire further
to acknowledge their indebtedness to the Duke of
Portland, who granted them permission to make ex-
tracts from the Welbeck archives ; and to Mr D. A.
Chart, of the State Record Office, Dublin, for contem-
porary references.
The courtesy titles in use at the French Court,
though frequently recurring, are very confusing, and
the following list may be found useful for reference :
"Monsieur": brother of Louis XIV., Philippe, Due
d'Orleans.
" Monseigneur " : the Dauphin, son of Louis XIV.
"Madame": second wife of " Monsieur," a Bavarian
Princess.
" Mademoiselle " : Anne Marie de Montpensier, grand-
daughter of Henri IV.
. Due de Chartres : son of" Monsieur " and " Madame."
La Princesse de Conti,
Madame la Duchesse,
Mademoiselle de Blois, after-
wards Duchess de Chartres.
The three illegitimate
daughters of Louis
XIV., sometimes called
" The Princesses."
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY . . I
PART I. THE RECEPTION IN FRANCE
CHAP.
1. CLOSING EVENTS OF JAMES II. 's REIGN FLIGHT OF
THE QUEEN AND PRINCE OF WALES TO FRANCE . 5
2. FLIGHT OF JAMES 23
3. ARRIVAL OF THE FUGITIVES IN FRANCE ... 44
4. SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE 58
5. FIRST IMPRESSIONS AT SAINT-GERMAIN . . . 77
6. GAIETIES AT THE FRENCH COURT .... 98
7. MARIA IN JAMES'S ABSENCE THE CONVENT OF
CHAILLOT . . ., 114
PART II IRELAND
8. THE EXPEDITION TO IRELAND . . . . ' 143
9. JAMES'S IRISH ARMY 167
10. DUBLIN . . . . . . . . .188
11. THE FAILURE OF THE IRISH CAMPAIGN . . . 212
vii
viii THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
PART III. THE JACOBITE COURT
CHAf. PAGE
12. REVIVAL OF JACOBITE HOPES ... . 243
13. THE HOUSEHOLD AT SAINT-GERMAIN . . . . 262
14. FRESH SCHEMES FOR AN INVASION OF ENGLAND . 288
15. BIRTH OF A PRINCESS THE ENGLISH JACOBITES . 312
16. JAMES AT LA TRAPPE . . . . . -331
I 7. FURTHER JACOBITE NEGOTIATIONS THE ASSASSINATION
PLOT . . 347
18. TREATY OF RYSWICK END OF JAMES'S HOPES . . 366
19. JAMES II.'S FORLORN HOPES FROM THE PAPACY AND
SCOTLAND PORTLAND'S MISSION . . . -383
20. JAMES'S LAST DAYS AND DEATH . . .% . 408
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
James II. . . . Frontispiece
From the painting by Largilliere.
FACING PAGE
Le Due de Lauzun ... 17
By Rigaud.
"Mademoiselle" . . ' . . . . . 48
An Apartment of the English Royal Family at Saint-
Germain . 4 . . 64
Reproduced by permission of M. Salomon Reinach.
"Monsieur" . . . . . . . . . 74
Maria, Wife of James II. . -, . , . . . . 115
Reproduced from the portrait in the Museum of Saint- Germain
by permission of M. Salomon Reinach.
Louis XIV 118
By Rigaud.
Richard Talbot, Duke of Tyrconnel 156
From a portrait in the National Portrait Gallery.
Fanny Jennings, Lady Tyrconnel . . . . .194
John Drummond, Lord Melfort 222
John Caryll 272
From " West Grinstead et les Caryll" by M. de Trenqualeon.
James Drummond, Earl of Perth . . . . .274
x THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
PACING PAGE
"Madame" 282
James II., his wife Maria, and their two children . . 365
Prince James Stuart (the Old Pretender) and his sister
Princess Louise -37*
From a picture in the National Portrait Gallery.
The Monument to James II. in the Parish Church of
Saint-Germain-en-Laye 430
The English Court in Exile
INTRODUCTORY
NOTHING in the history of the Stuarts at Saint-
Germain-en-Laye is more impressive than the oblitera-
tion which overtook, not only their mortal remains,
and the places associated with them, but nearly all the
most treasured archives of their House memoirs,
correspondence, State papers, and family records. The
pious Jacobite of to-day, searching for some traces of
the last Stuart King of England in the home of his exile,
will search in vain. Only a modest marble monument
in the modern parish church recalls the association of
James II. with Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Of those Stuart
papers which safely reached the hands of James II.'s
son, James III., as he was known to his faithful
followers, all but a remnant perished through the
ignorance or negligence of their custodians ; and of the
priceless records of his House that were preserved in
France, few indeed escaped the fury of the Revolution.
But though much is taken, much remains enough
to reconstruct the scenes and characters of James II.'s
closing years : years of failure and disappointment, of
frustrated hopes and abortive projects, but years
2 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
sweetened to the melancholy old man by the consola-
tions of religion, and the belief that the pious exercises
of his latter days expiated the sins of his youth. It
was his oft-repeated reflection that in losing his crown
he had gained his soul. For in the obstinate perversity
of the last acts of his reign, the violation of constitu-
tional liberties, which drove his distracted people into
the arms of William of Orange, James II. was actuated
by but one motive. The Revolution of 1688 was
brought about by the King's efforts to impose Roman
Catholicism on his unwilling people ; and it should
always be remembered to his credit, that he sacrificed
his crown to his convictions. If James II. would have
declared himself a Protestant, or even consented before
it was too late to safeguard the religious independence
of his Protestant subjects, then, in the opinion of the
men best able to judge at the time, William of Orange
would have had little chance of retaining the throne.
James II. remained steadfast in his loyalty to Rome,
clinging to his convictions with the enthusiasm of a
convert and the tenacity of a narrow understanding,
and in consequence he was destined to continue a
pensioner on the French King's bounty till the end of
his life.
Part I
The Reception in France
CHAPTER I
CLOSING EVENTS OF JAMES II. 's REIGN FLIGHT OF THE
QUEEN AND PRINCE OF WALES TO FRANCE
No one is more ignorant of what is going on about him
than an unpopular man. The happy, instinctive com-
prehension of what is passing in other people's minds
that we call tact, enables its possessor to gauge the
current of public opinion and to steer clear among the
shoals of prejudice. James might have been deaf and
blind for all he realised the passion of indignation and
religious fervour that he had roused among his people
by his persecution of the Seven Bishops for refusing to
read his illegal Declaration of Indulgence. 1
Safeguarded though he was by the doctrines of the
divine right of kings and the duty of passive
obedience, James's attack on the Church had under-
mined the loyalty of the clergy. "We honour you,
but we fear God," Bishop Ken had exclaimed in self-
defence to the King, when refusing to read his
Declaration. Unfortunately for James, it was while the
enthusiasm for the persecuted Bishops was at its height
that his Queen, Maria d'Este, Mary of Modena, as she
1 Suspending the Penal Statutes against Roman Catholics and
Protestant dissenters.
5
6 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
was called, gave him an heir to the throne, the Prince
afterwards to be recognised by Louis XIV. as James
III., and known in history as the Old Pretender.
The child, whom the people believed to be supposi-
titious, and foisted on them by Jesuit fraud to secure a
Roman Catholic heir to the throne, was born on June
loth. On the 3Oth the Seven Bishops were acquitted,
and on the same day another " immortal Seven " sent
to the nearest Protestant heir to the throne, James's
son-in-law, William of Orange, that authoritative
invitation for which he had long been waiting and
preparing. In six months from the birth of his son
James was a fugitive and a refugee. But, strange as it
seems now, it was impossible to convince him at the
time of the critical character of the situation or of his
own danger. 1 His adviser, Sunderland, who had
already urged lenity in the case of the Bishops' prosecu-
tion, again counselled pacific measures in vain, and put
himself so much out of favour by doing so that he
was obliged to buy back his master's good graces by
an apostasy that he afterwards declared to have been
simulated.
James refused to give credence to the rumours of
his son-in-law's designs, and was content to remain
in ignorance of them. In September the Comte de
Gramont, arriving in Paris from England, reported
that all was quiet in that country, notwithstanding the
apparent intention of the Prince of Orange to invade
it. As late as the 1 9th of the month it was noted with
1 When Adda, the Papal nuncio, counselled moderation, James
cited the example of his father and brother, whose authority had been
weakened by a too great indulgence an indulgence that had finally
caused the "lamented death" of his father (Vatican Transcripts,
British Museum).
CLOSING EVENTS OF JAMES II.'S REIGN 7
surprise at Versailles that though there was no longer
any doubt about the intention of the Prince of Orange
to make a descent upon England, and he was embark-
ing six thousand saddles and all the necessary accoutre-
ments for a large body of cavalry, the King of England
was quite unconcerned, and in London all went on
as usual. 1
James had, in fact, been lulled into a false security.
Albeville, his envoy at The Hague, an unscrupulous
man, who was in the pay both of France and of Holland,
had, when on a recent visit to England, expressed it as
his opinion that the intentions of Holland to his master
were friendly, and, though well aware that the Dutch
were preparing an expedition against England, " took
pains to infuse into all people that they designed no
such thing." 2
But though James was ignorant of his son-in-law's
intentions, Louis XIV. took care to keep himself well
informed of them through the Comte d'Avaux, his
envoy at The Hague. When news had come in August
that the Dutch were raising levies, Louis immediately
made preparations for war on his own account.
D'Avaux had informed both his master and Barillon,
the French ambassador at St James's, of the designs of
William of Orange in a manner that left no room
for doubt, and the French King took steps to save James
in his own despite. The English envoy at Versailles,
Colonel Bevil Skelton, had in vain besought James to
look into the reports from The Hague. With Skelton's
approval, Louis now sent a special envoy, Bonrepaux,
to England to assure the King of the danger he was in,
1 Dangeau, ii.
2 Burnet, History of His Own Time.
8 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
and to offer him immediate support. At the same
time D'Avaux received orders to announce to the
States General that France had taken the King of
England under her protection. But these well-
meant offers from his all-powerful neighbour, and
the suggestion that he needed protection, only served
to fire James's vanity. With ill-timed dignity, he
asserted his ability to stand alone. He knew he was
the King of England, and would show himself to be
so when the necessity occurred, he said proudly to
the Imperial ambassador. 1 In this attitude he was
encouraged by Sunderland, who had now made
overtures to William on his own behalf. James
finally accepted the assurances of the Dutch ambassador,
Van Citters, that the States General had no hostile
intentions against him, and Bonrepaux, after an
audience in which he was coldly received, returned to
France, having accomplished nothing. James declared
indignantly to the Papal Nuncio that " adulation
and vanity had turned the French King's head."
In after years he threw all the blame of his self-decep-
tion on Sunderland :
" My Lord Sunderland found means to work the
King rather into a displeasure at the proposal ; they
remonstrated how ungratefull a thing such troops
will be to the people, and that the French King's
magnifying the Dutch preparations was but a
contrivance to fright his Majesty into an allyance
with him. So Mons. Bonrepos finding his master's
kindness so ill accepted, returned home again, no less
astonished than the Court of France itself, at his
Majesty's surprizing security." 2
1 Hoffman, ambassador to the Emperor Leopold.
2 Clarke, Memoirs of James II. , vol. ii. 177.
CLOSING EVENTS OF JAMES II.'S REIGN 9
But a time came when even James could no longer
deceive himself. The palpable defection of " so many
men of quality " who went to join the Prince of Orange,
the repeated intelligence from abroad, the visible de-
sertions at home, at last convinced the King that the
Dutch preparations for war were intended against
himself, " tho' he never gave any real credit to it
till about the middle of September ; . . . The Earl of
Sunderland, whom he trusted most, turned anyone to
ridicule that did but seem to believe it."
Meanwhile Louis XIV. had, with strange want of
judgment, recalled his armies from Flanders and directed
their attack on Germany, leaving the coast clear for
William of Orange. The Dutch States General gave
their long-delayed consent to William's expedition. 1 At
last James understood, and as he fully realised his
danger was unnerved by it. The days that follow
present a pathetic spectacle of bewildered indiscretions
and terrified vacillation. By tardy and wholesale con-
cessions, which deceived nobody, he sought to undo the
work of the last five years and propitiate his people.
He attempted to make preparations against invasion
with an army that he could no longer trust. " Every
hour teaches him that his soldiers are his most dangerous
enemies," wrote the Imperial ambassador ; and " He
has still less reason to depend upon the sailors . . .
who with even less shame than the army declare they
will not serve against Holland. We may therefore
say that the whole of the clergy, the whole of the
18
1 Formal Declaration of States General, October - ; Declaration of
28
William, September 30, enumerating James's illegal acts and asserting
that as Mary's husband he was coming with an army to secure a free
Parliament.
io THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
nobility, the whole of the people, the whole of the
military and naval forces are with a few exceptions
hostile to the King, which must necessarily keep him
apprehensive on every side." 1 In another letter he
adds that "the sailors are running away and hiding
themselves so as not to be used against their friends
the Dutch as they give out " ; 2 and after enumerating
James's attempts at conciliation he comments : " God
grant he may not take these steps in vain, in which he
proceeds from one extreme to the other, thereby losing
credit with his people, who attribute such a change
not to genuine repentance but to sheer necessity." 1
Meanwhile all the great nobles, except those whose
official positions enforced their attendance at Court, had
absented themselves, and retired to their country estates.
But James had at least one loyal friend in his wife,
Maria d'Este, a princess of the House of Modena,
whom he had married out of a convent when she
was little more than a child, and who exhibited at this
crisis of their fortunes a high courage and dignified
self-control.
Maria d'Este, at fourteen, was already famous for
her beauty and accomplishments, when Henry Mor-
daunt, Earl of Peterborough, came to Modena in 1673
to arrange a second marriage for James, then Duke of
York. The marriage negotiations were not at once
concluded, though the ambassador wrote enthusias-
tically to Charles II. of the charm, beauty, and
accomplishments of Maria d'Este : " Sir, I think
1 Hoffman to Emperor Leopold II., October 1, 1688, from the original
German, published by Cavelli.
* Ibid., October 8.
8 See also BurneL
CLOSING EVENTS OF JAMES II.'S REIGN 1 1
you will find this young Princess to have beauty in
her person and her mind, to be faire, tall, well shap'd
and very healthful." 1 The reluctance was on the side
of Maria herself. Penetrated by the example of her
devout mother, the Duchess Laura, and deeply in-
fluenced by continual association with the Nuns of
the Visitation, whose convent adjoined the palace at
Modena, she had set her mind upon the religious
life, and resisted and resented all efforts to turn her
from it. But in the Church of Rome political and
religious interests are always inextricably interwoven.
It was important to the Papal schemes that James
Duke of York, the future King of England, should
marry a wife whose religious principles were of such
a firmness as to withstand the pernicious contact
with a heretical and light-minded Court. The Pope,
Clement X., himself condescended to write a letter to
Maria d'Este, in which he exhorted her to : " Keep
in view such an advancement of the Catholic Religion
as may accrue to this kingdom from your nuptials,
and so to enter there upon a wider field of merit than
is possible to the cloistered rule of virginity." 2 He
adds that facilities for her worshipping according to
the Romish ritual should be specially provided for
and safeguarded.
On the receipt of this letter the Duchess of Modena
and her daughter consented to the marriage, which
was concluded in Italy with all haste (lest the English
Parliament should learn what was taking place), Peter-
borough standing proxy. From the first James's second
wife was to pay heavily for the sacrifice she had made
1 Peterborough to Charles II. Record Office.
2 From the original Latin, published by Cavelli, vol. i. p. 66.
12 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
of her own inclinations in consenting to the marriage.
On her arrival in England she was met at Dover by
her husband, a man of forty, whose eldest daughter
was only a few years younger than herself. She had
come from the warm, familiar atmosphere of home and
friends, and the radiant sun of Italy, to a land whose
cold gray skies were typical of the hostility of the
strangers among whom she was to live ; to a land
where the faith for which she had sacrificed all was so
detested that her prudent brother-in-law, Charles II.,
thought it inexpedient to allow her to have any but a
private chapel. But at all events James was charmed
by his wife's youth and beauty, and this and his genuine
devotion to their common faith was some consolation
in her loneliness. In a letter to the Mother Superior
of the convent at Modena she wrote at this time : " I
cry very often and grieve, not being able to free
myself from melancholy, but blessed be God this is
my cross. May this be a consolation to you, dear my
mother, I say it to the glory of God, that the Lord
Duke is a very good man, he has the holy fear of God,
and is very well disposed towards me, and would do
anything to show it to me ; he is so firm and steady in
our holy religion, which as a good Catholic he professes,
that he would not leave it for anything in the world, and
in my griefs, to which is added the departure of my
dear mama, this serves as a comfort to me." l
In the fifteen years that followed her arrival in
England, Mary of Modena was to know every heavy
cross that could fall to the lot of woman last and least,
the loss of her crown. With her husband's infidelities
1 Secret Archives of the Monastery of the Visitation at Modena.
Published in the original by Cavelli.
CLOSING EVENTS OF JAMES II.'S REIGN 13
we are fortunately unconcerned. But they were
flagrant and notorious, and his young wife was deeply
wounded by them, not only in her womanly pride and
self-respect, but on the grounds of religion and morality.
She was herself frequently ailing in health, and her life
in England had been still further embittered by the
death of her children in infancy. Indeed, the life of
the little Prince of Wales who survived was only
saved by the intervention of his father, who insisted on
his having a wet-nurse, instead of a continuance of the
diet of a kind of paste made out of barley flour mixed
with water with which his doctors were feeding him. 1
" C'est ainsi qu'on eleve a Londres beaucoup d'enfants
de qualite," comments a contemporary French diarist. 2
The Prince of Wales's nurse, says Ellis in his " Corre-
spondence," " hath that good effect which is natural and
usual to children. . . . The nurse is the wife of a tile-
maker, and seems a healthy woman ; she came in her
cloth petticoat and waistcoat, and old shoes and no
stockings, but now she is rigged out by degrees (that
the surprise may not alter her in her duty and care)
and jioo per annum is already settled upon her, and
two or three hundred guineas already given, which she
saith that she knows not what to do with."
In all their married life James had done nothing
to earn the loyalty and support from his wife which
he received abundantly in this supreme crisis of his
fortunes. 3 The Queen's courageous dignity and self-
1 Terriesi, the Tuscan envoy, describes him at the point of death
from colic.
2 Dangeau, ii. 149.
3 Self-abandonment of James and courage of his wife : Medici
Archives^ Cavelli, ii. 368. Abbe Melani, an Attache" at the Tuscan
legation in France, writing to the Grand-Ducal Secretary (L'Abb6
i 4 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
control animated her frightened attendants. All went
on at the Court as usual. On October 5th her birth-
day was celebrated with a Court ball in the evening, at
which she and James both appeared with such a show of
cheerfulness as they could muster ; but by the time the
King's birthday, October 24th, came round, things were
too serious for even a show of festivity, for the westerly
wind which had detained William on his own shores
now changed, and a " Protestant wind," as the Prince's
supporters called it, blew from the East. William's
armaments were, however, delayed by a storm. The
Haarlem and Amsterdam Gazettes were ordered to
give a dismal relation of the great damage his fleet had
sustained, in order to quiet James's apprehensions. 1 It
was not till November 2nd that the Prince actually
set sail.
Meanwhile James had been preparing to receive
him. The Italian Abb6 Rizzini 2 had from the first
urged that the Queen and the Prince of Wales should
be sent to a place of safety, but James had decided that
they should not leave England till he saw what
measure of success attended the invader, a decision in
which Maria gallantly concurred. She gave orders
through her secretary, Mr Caryll, that some of the
landed property bequeathed to her by her mother should
be sold to raise funds for her husband's defence of his
Gondi), December i6th, says that the King, on coming into the Queen's
room, almost entirely abandoned himself to despair, notwithstanding
his great courage, telling her Majesty that all was lost, while he saw
himself betrayed and deserted by his dearest and most trusted servants.
. . . The Queen encouraged him.
1 Oldmixon.
2 Gaspard Rizzini, a Venetian by birth, but attached to the House of
Modena, was for many years one of its most devoted servants, and
Modenese Envoy in Paris.
CLOSING EVENTS OF JAMES II.'S REIGN 15
throne and kingdom. 1 A still stronger proof of de-
votion was her consenting to part with her son, who
was despatched to Portsmouth for greater safety.
Here his illegitimate brother, the Duke of Berwick,
was governor, and the fleet, under the command of
Lord Dartmouth, was in readiness to convey him to
France. 2
James's departure for Salisbury to meet the Prince of
Orange took place the same day. He arrived there on
the 1 9th November, but the physical weakness result-
ing from a violent and continued bleeding at the nose
which there overtook him, and his despair and bewilder-
ment at the continued defections to the enemy, not
merely of his troops but of the members of his own
family, completely unhinged him. 3 He hurriedly
returned to town. To gain time a council was hastily
summoned, a free Parliament was convoked ; the
Catholic governor of the Tower was dismissed from
his post, and that Colonel Skelton who had been instru-
mental in procuring Bonrepaux's mission to warn
James of his danger, and had been summoned home
and confined in the Tower for his impertinent zeal,
was now created its governor. Messengers were sent
to treat with William. All these measures were
dictated by the cunning of desperation, for James, 4
" being delivered over to all the contradictions that
malice or ingratitude could throw in his way, . . . saw
1 Adda, Add. MSS., 15,397, f. 432.
J Hoffman comments on the folly of this plan, in a letter to the
Emperor of October 2gih (Cavelli), 3 ; see also Dartmouth's letter to
James, Clarke, ii. 220.
3 Sir John Reresby : " So terribly possessed of his danger and so
deeply afflicted when the Princess Anne went away, that it disordered
him in his understanding."
4 Clarke's Life, ii. 227.
1 6 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
no hopes of redress, so turned his whole attention how
to save the Queen and Prince his son, and cast about
which way to do it, with most security and secrecy."
Here too the King was doomed to disappointment.
Lord Dartmouth, who was in correspondence with
William, ^fused his aid, and there was nothing for it
but to risk bringing the Prince back to London, which
was safely accomplished, though with some danger and
difficulty, by Lord and Lady Powis. James's letter
and instructions about his son have been preserved. 1
He writes :
" I think my sonne is not safe (as things are now)
where he is, and therefore thinke it necessary to have
him removed thence as soon as may be. I have
written to Lady Powis to that purpose, if the way be
open by land, he shall come that way, and I have sent
troops to meet him, and ordered Lord Dover to com-
mand them and come up with him. If the Prince of
Orange's men gett between this and Portsmouth, then
he must come by sea or in a yacht, and you must send
what number of ships you judge sufficient to see him
as far as Margate, after which he may come o'er the
flats, and so up the river without danger."
On the day that James's representatives reached the
Prince of Orange at Hungerford, the Prince of Wales
arrived at Westminster. An escort had already been
decided upon for him and for the Queen in the person
of the Comte de Lauzun, who had arrived in England in
October on purpose to offer his services to James.
Of the Comte de Lauzun, who at this juncture
steps into the history of the Stuarts, his countryman,
1 For full account see Clarke, ii. 235-7, and correspondence of
James and Dartmouth, B.M. Ad. MSS., 18,447.
LE Due DE LAUZUN
By Rigaud.
CLOSING EVENTS OF JAMES II.'S REIGN 17
La Bruyere, remarked that others were not allowed
to dream what he had lived. He was, says his
friend and relative Saint-Simon, "a little fair man,
of good figure, with a noble and an imperious face,
but one which was ever without charm, as I have heard
people say who knew him when he was young. He
was full of ambition and caprice, of fancies, jealous
of all, wishing always to go too far ; never content
with anything ; proud in his dealings, disagreeable
and malicious by nature, still more so by jealousy
and ambition ; nevertheless a good friend, when a
friend at all (which was rare) ; a good relative. . . .
Extremely brave, as dangerously bold. As a courtier
he was equally insolent and satirical, and as cringing
as a valet ; full of foresight, perseverance, intrigue,
and meanness in order to come at his ends ; with all
this dangerous to the ministers at the Court : feared
by all, and of a biting wit which spared nobody."
Saint-Simon shared a pavilion with Lauzun when the
Court was at Marly, and in Paris they dined together
every other day, so that this curious medley of attri-
butes was applied to the diarist's brother-in-law from
the closest personal observation. The intrigues, the
adventures, the amours of Lauzun, are an entertaining
by-path of history into which we cannot stray far. He
had come early to Court, won high favour with the
King, to whom he had on one occasion been so insolent,
that Louis, turning his back upon him, threw his cane
out of the window, and, saying that he should be sorry
to strike a man of quality, left the room. Lauzun was
sent to the Bastille, from which he soon emerged to
secure higher favour than ever. The King consented
to his marriage with " Mademoiselle," as she was called,
i8
the granddaughter of Henri IV., 1 and a woman of
enormous wealth. But Court intrigues, in which the
King's mistress, De Montespan, whom Lauzun had
called a hussy to her face, took an active part, resulted
in the withdrawal of the royal consent ; and not long
afterwards Lauzun was sent to a dungeon in the fortress
of Pignerol, where he remained for years. Mademoi-
selle at length succeeded in buying his liberty at the
price of immense bequests to Madame de Montespan's
illegitimate son, the Due de Maine. Such in outline
was the career of this new friend of the Stuarts.
Before James sent his wife and child with Lauzun to a
place of safety, he took the precaution to secure another
possession which was rated by him almost as highly
the Memoirs of his Life. These he had kept punctili-
ously and in great detail. He bethought himself of
the Tuscan envoy Terriesi as a trustworthy custodian.
Terriesi readily consented to undertake the charge of
a box. "So the King having just time to thrust them
all confusedly into it, sent it to him, which he, imagin-
ing it to be jewels of great value, was exceeding careful
of it ; tho' that imagination had like to have occasioned
its miscarriage. . . . An Italian servant of the envoy's
conveyed it safe to Leghorn, as directed ; from whence
the Grand Duke sent two galleys on purpose to convoy
it into France, through which kingdom it was brought
likewise guarded up to St Germains, all persons sup-
posing it to be some great treasure : which tho' it was
Henri IV.
I
Louis XIII. Gaston, Due d'Orleans.
Louis XIV. Mademoiselle "
CLOSING EVENTS OF JAMES Il.'S REIGN 19
not of that nature which people imagined it, contained
what in itself was much more valuable . . . nine
tomes, writ in his own hand, and which ... he
appointed to be lodged in the Scotch College at Paris,
where they will remain, not only an eternal, glorious
monument of his actions, but a standing model both
to his own Royal Posterity and to all Christian Princes
of the most perfect resignation while a subject, and the
most generous moderation while a king." This aspira-
tion was doomed, like all other hopes of James, to
frustration, and the Memoirs perished in the flames
of the French Revolution. 1
Terriesi gave an account of these papers to his
master. 2 He describes how James had sent one of
1 Ranke, in repeating the story of the destruction of the original
Memoirs, remarks that there is no evidence that Innes, Principal of
the Scotch College, had the largest share in their composition, as had
been supposed. An abridged work in four volumes was compiled on
the life of James II. : the Chevalier de St George underlined it, and
after the death of the wife of the last Pretender it passed into the
hands of the Benedictines at Rome, and was ultimately purchased
by the British Government On these materials Clarke's Life of
James II. is founded. It is likely that the original was written in a
fragmentary manner the most detailed portions by James, others
compiled by secretaries. Ranke had not access to the Caryll Papers,
which show that Maria's secretary, John Caryll, was engaged upon
the Memoirs, presumably on the abridged edition. At Welbeck there
is a MS. (folio), " Memoires de Jacques Second, Roy de la Grande
Bretagne, etc. De glorieuse Memoire. Contenant 1'histoire des
quatre Campagnes que sa Majeste" fit, estant Due de York, sous
Henry de la Tour D'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, dans les Anne"es
1652, 1653, 1654 et 1655. . . . Traduits sur 1'Original Anglois ecrit
de la propre main de sa dite Majeste, conserve par son ordre dans les
Archives du College des Ecossois a Paris. Le tout certifie et atteste
par Reyne Mere et Regente de la Grande Bretagne, etc., MDCCIV."
The volume once belonged to Henri-Oswald de La Tour d'Auvergne,
Archbishop of Vienna, afterwards to Augustus Frederic, Duke of
Sussex ; then to Sir Thomas Phillipps, then to the Duke of Portland.
2 Archives of Medici at Florence, quoted by Cavelli.
20 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
his most confidential servants to him at midnight with
important papers and writings, earnestly begging him
to take charge of them, as " he knew not where to
place them in more honest hands." He added that
the previous night, December 9th, the King had also
confided to his charge the sum of 3500 guineas, and
had requested that his carriage should be sent to
convey the Queen and the Prince of Wales from
Whitehall. Maria consented unwillingly to this part-
ing, declaring that she could bear with patience the
separation from her son, but that she would rather
endure "all hardships, hazards, and imprisonment itself "
with her husband.
James confided his plans to as few persons as pos-
sible. He took into his confidence, besides Lauzun, an
Italian gentleman called Francesco Riva, of whose
loyalty he was assured, and who held the office of
Keeper of the Royal Wardrobe. He was to share with
Lauzun the perilous charge of conveying the Queen
and Prince to France. About an hour after midnight
on the 9th, Riva, disguised as a seaman, went to the
King's room by a secret staircase, provided with a
disguise for the Queen, who even at that moment clung
in tears to the King, protesting that she would die with
him. Informing his master that all was ready, Riva
withdrew into an adjoining room, where he found
Lauzun, and they waited there while the Queen dressed
herself. They then started, with the Prince and his
two nurses, going by way of the private gardens to an
outer door at which Terriesi's carriage was in waiting.
The little party entered it hastily, Riva mounting the
box with the coachman, so as to be prepared for all
emergencies.
FLIGHT OF THE QUEEN 21
Arriving at the Horse Ferry near Westminster,
where a little boat equipped as if for a shooting expedi-
tion had been ordered by Riva to be in readiness, they
crossed the river to Lambeth : the baby happily sleep-
ing through the wind and rain. At Lambeth a page,
Dufour, was waiting for them ; but the coach and six
that should have been also there had to be fetched
from a neighbouring inn, where Riva found the coach-
man chatting with his friends. The Queen had taken
shelter from the biting wind behind the wall of a
church, while a man from the inn came out with a
lantern, to see who was calling for a carriage on such
a night, and in such haste, a suspicious circumstance
in those disordered times. But the resourceful Riva
lunging, as if by accident, against him, they fell together
in the mud, and the inquisitive stranger returned ruefully
to the inn to brush his clothes. The carriage with the
fugitives left London safely behind them, though some
soldiers called out as they passed, " Let's see if that's not
a carriage full of papists." At Gravesend a little boat
was concealed at some distance from the road, to take
them to the yacht. Here were anxiously waiting for
the Queen some of the faithful friends who were
to share her exile Lady Powis, the Prince's gover-
ness, and her husband ; the assistant governess, Lady
Strickland.
With them was one of Maria d'Este's oldest and
closest friends, the Countess Vittoria Davia, a Bolognese
lady, who had recently come to England on the Queen's
invitation. The yacht had been taken in her name,
and now, to avert the suspicion of the captain, she came
forward and, greeting the Queen as a sister, loudly re-
proached her for having kept her waiting. The Queen,
22 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
who was dressed in the common clothes that Riva had
provided, came on board with the Prince tucked under
her arm like a bundle of dirty linen, 1 and bestowed
herself in the hold, where she remained during the
voyage. The child never betrayed his presence by a
sound. Directly the embarkation was safely accom-
plished, a French gentleman called Saint-Victor, who
had followed the carriage on horseback, hastened to
London to reassure James. Lauzun, who was the first
to board the yacht, drew the captain aside, gave him a
large sum of money, and begged him to allow some
French Catholic friends of his, with their wives, to be
included among his passengers. Lauzun was prepared
to poniard him if he did not obey orders, but the
captain had recognised the Queen, though he did
not appear to do so, and slipped past the fleet with a
favourable wind. After having had to cast anchor
for some hours off the French coast, owing to the
violence of the waves, the yacht landed them safely at
Calais on December nth (old style) at nine o'clock in
the morning, " where they landed gladly." 2
1 Dangeau, ii. 235.
2 A detailed account of the Queen's flight was written by Riva and
preserved in the Archives of Modena. It is confirmed by other
contemporary French accounts published in the original by Cavelli.
CHAPTER II
FLIGHT OF JAMES
MEANWHILE James, who had designed to follow his
wife and son in twenty-four hours, had fared less
successfully. He had kept up the farce of negotiations
and appeared to be acting vigorously. He summoned
the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, and explaining that he
had thought it advisable to send the Queen and Prince
to France for safety, assured them that he had no
intention of following. He ordered the writs for the
new Parliament, together with the Great Seal, to be
brought to his own room. Macaulay, with un-
necessary severity, describes James's conduct at this
conjuncture as unkingly and unmanly. But James was
not a strong man morally or intellectually. His nearest
relations, they of his own household, his friends and
servants, the men his favour had made, all were
deserting him ; turn which way he would, the ground
was insecure beneath his feet. His nerves were
shattered as by an earthquake, and he was suffering
from sleeplessness, which, added to all his other miseries,
might well have unstrung the nerves of a stronger
man. Besides all this, he had always in his mind the
fate of his father, whose life a timely flight would have
23
24 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
saved. The dread of personal violence hovered over
him. A man does not stop to be dignified and kingly
when he is horribly frightened. James retained of his
mental powers only a sort of childish cunning, which he
pathetically extols in his biography. He was anxious
to paralyse the forces he was leaving behind, so that
they should not be used against him. To this end he
burnt the writs for the new Parliament, and wrote the
following letter to Lewis Duras, Earl of Feversham,
the Commander-in-chief :
" Things being come to that extremity that I
have been forced to send away the Queen and my son,
the Prince of Wales, that they might not fall into my
enemy's hands, which they must have done had they
stayed ; I am obliged to do the same thing, and
endeavour to secure myself the best I can, in hopes it
will pleas God, out of his infinite mercy to this un-
happy nation, to touch their hearts again with true
loyalty and honour : if I could have relyd upon all
my troops, I might not have been put to this extremity
1 am in, and would at least have had one blow for
it ; but . . . you yourself . . . tould me it was no
ways advisable to venter myself at their head : there
remains nothing more for me to doe, but to thank you
and all those officers and soldiers who have stuck to
me and been truly loyal ; I hope you will still have the
same fidelity to me, . . . tho' I do not expect you should
expose yourselves by resisting a foreign army and
poisoned nation."
Feversham took the closing words in the sense in
which the writer intended that he should. He dis-
banded the troops under his command. Thus had
James taken such measures as he could to cover his
retreat ; or, as he himself says with a sort of chuckle,
had " thus prudently lessened, as much as he could, the
FLIGHT OF JAMES 25
force that was like to be turned against him, . . . which
he knew would disconcert the measures and malice of
those who sought his ruin, and retard at least the
injuries they designed him."
On the night of December loth, which fell on a
Monday, James went to bed as usual. The Lord of
the Bedchamber on duty was George Fitzroy, Duke of
Northumberland, a son of Charles II. and the Duchess
of Cleveland. To him the King gave orders that his
bedroom door was to remain closed till the ordinary time.
He then took the Great Seal with him, and in the early
hours of the morning of December nth he stole away
by a secret staircase. A man who had every reason for
being faithful to James was waiting for him with a
hackney-coach. This was Sir Edward Hales, one of the
most hated men in England. He was a Catholic, whose
tenure of a commission in the army had been made a
test case, when James claimed the right of dispensing
with the penal disabilities in individual cases. He had
been Lieutenant of the Tower, where he had incurred
additional odium from his conduct to the Seven
Bishops, when they were imprisoned there, and his
removal from that post had been one of James's tardy
efforts to placate his subjects. Altogether, Sir Edward
Hales had nothing to hope from staying behind. The
two went to Milbank, where the King took a pair-oar
boat and crossed over to Vauxhall, dropping the Great
Seal overboard as he went.
On the opposite shore a carriage was waiting to
convey them to Sheerness. Relays of horses were in
charge of an equerry, Ralph Sheldon, and the King
safely accomplished his journey to Emley Ferry, near
Feversham, where he arrived at ten o'clock on Wednesday
26 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
morning, the I2th. But here the first hitch in the
arrangements occurred. Sir Edward Hales had neither
the force of character to act in an emergency nor the
ability and foresight of Lauzun in making his arrange-
ments. He had engaged a Custom-House hoy, which
should have been waiting on the spot, to start immedi-
ately for France. The King had to lose precious time
in waiting about for it, and when at last it arrived and
they embarked with a favourable wind, blowing a fresh
gale, it was found that the boat lacked sufficient ballast
to venture on the crossing. They were obliged to
run ashore at half ebb at the "west end of Sheepway"
(Sheppey). It was nearly eleven o'clock at night
before the hoy could be got off again, since they had
to wait for the tide, and in the meantime the news had
got about that some Papists were escaping to France.
Just as the hoy had at last got under way, three boat-
loads of rough Feversham fishermen boarded her, and
their leader, a sword in one hand and a pistol in the
other, jumped down into the cabin where the King was
seated with his companions, and declared that they must
go before the Mayor of Feversham to be examined as
suspected persons. They had not recognised James,
and he, hoping that he still might get safely away, did
not make himself known. Sir Edward Hales, "as
the Captain, whose name was Amis sat examining them
in the cabine, took a time, when none of his men looked
that way to clap fifty guineas into his hand, and tould
him in his ear, he should have a hundred more, if he
would get him and his two friends off before they
were carried to Feversham." Captain Amis took the
money and promised all that was asked of him, and
the vessel being now afloat, she was anchored at the
FLIGHT OF JAMES 27
mouth of Feversham water, as they were obliged to
wait for high tide for going ashore here. Meanwhile
the captain left them, assuring them that he would
find means to get them away. Before he went he took
the precaution of taking charge of such valuables as
they had about them lest his men, "who," he said,
" were unruly fellows, might plunder them in his
absence." They consented to this proposal, giving him
their watches and what money they had ; but the King
" kept the great diamond bodkin, which he had of the
Queen's, and the Coronation ring, which for more
security he put within his drawers." * The captain
had promised to return in three hours, but the long
December night had passed and day broke before his
return; and in the meantime his predictions were verified,
for when it was light several of the fishermen, leaping
down into the cabin, insisted on searching the King and
his companions, who assented at once, " immagining by
that readiness, to persuade them they had nothing more."
But the fishermen were not to be so easily put off",
and searched them narrowly ; and " at last one of them
feeling about the King's knees, got hould of the
diamond bodkin, and cry'd out he had found a prize,
but the King faced him down he was in a mistake,
that he had several things in his pockets, as sizers, a
toothpick case, and little keys and that perhaps it was
one of these things he felt ; at which the man thrust-
ing his hand suddenly lost hould of the diamond, and
finding those things there the King had mentioned,
remained satisfy 'd it was so ; by which means the
bodkin and the ring were preserved " 2 a small enough
1 Clarke's Life of James II., ii. 252.
2 Sir John Knatchbull, Add. MSS., B.M.
28 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
consolation to a man who had lost his crown. The
sailors had now turned the boat up the river towards
Feversham. "Setting themselves down between the
prisoners, whilst the rest sat on the deck makeing a
fire, the smoake of which gave great offence to the
King, whereupon Sir Edward Hales, telling them
the smoake was very troublesome, they brutishly
answered, c Damn you, if you cannot endure smoake,
how will you endure hell fire ? ' " " As if his destiny
designed to be severe upon him, the seamen treated the
King very roughly above the rest, though incognito.
One cried out 'twas Father Petre, they knew it to be
so by his lean jaws. A second called him old hatchet-
faced Jesuit, a third swore he was a cunning old rogue
they would warrant him, and all night long they
welcomed him with these rough salutations, and per-
fuming the room with tobacco, a smell that the King
hates." l It was broad daylight before the captain re-
turned and told Sir Edward Hales, who had by this
time been recognised, for he had an estate in the
neighbourhood, that he must appear before the Mayor,
and that a coach had been ordered to carry them up.
They therefore landed in a small boat, and were taken
up to Feversham, accompanied by a crowd of the
rabble to an inn.
Here James was willing by all arts at first to conceal
himself ; and " at his first coming in he called for bacon
and eggs, as if he were some ordinary man in his diet,
whereas he tastes no meat that is in the least salted, as
it afterwards appeared." But the King was soon recog-
nised, notwithstanding his disguise of a black periwig.
Further deception was useless, and learning that Lord
1 Harleian MSS. : printed in Tindal's Continuation of Rapin.
FLIGHT OF JAMES 29
Winchelsea and other country gentlemen were then at
Canterbury, he sent for them to come to his aid. At
the same time James despatched the equerry Sheldon
to the master of the hoy, with orders to be on the
watch for him, and to have horses in readiness to
convey him to the shore. But here again the King's
confederate blundered, and allowed one Edwards, who
had jealously watched their progress to the inn, to
guess what was intended ; so that, collecting a mob of
his roughs together, he set so close a guard upon the
King's lodging that escape was out of the question.
The King seemed bewildered by " the noise of the
rabble," and at first, when ink and paper were
brought him to write to the Earl of Winchelsea, he
"was so discomposed, that he wrote, and tore, and begun
again, as if he were overcome with disorder or fears."
He talked freely to the writer. 1 " He told me that
the rage of the people was up, and quoted the words,
* I who still the raging of the sea, must still the rage
and madness of the people.' . . . He insisted on his
integrity, said he had a good conscience and could
suffer and die. He told me he read Scripture much
and found great comfort in it. He declared he never
designed to oppress conscience, alter the government,
or destroy the subjects' liberties ; and at last asked me
plainly, c What have I done, what are the errors of my
reign ? Tell me freely ? ' ' To such questions a re-
spectful and compassionate silence could be the only
reply. In the disordered state of the King's mind tags
of Scripture ran in his head, and he " sermonised half
an hour " on the text, " He that is not with me is against
me." Imploring each of his captors in turn to get him
1 Of the Harleian MS. mentioned above.
30 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
a boat that he might escape " The Prince of Orange
sought his crown and life," he said, " and if he were
delivered up his blood would lie at our doors,"
he insisted on going off, begging, praying, tempting,
arguing, persuading, reproving, "till at length, fear-
ing that some might listen to him, and be prevailed
on to aid his escape, so that they would lose their
prize, the rage of the seamen took fire and thereupon
arose some contemptuous words and no small in-
solencies offered." At times James further provoked
his captors by a fitful assertion of his dignity, telling
them to stand further back, or " go down and keep your
distance," which so enraged them that some of them
forgot all decency and reverence to him, till Sir Edward
Hales was begged to " take the King off from that
discourse which made him cheap."
The same evening, however, Lord Winchelsea
arrived. He was a royalist, though a Protestant, and
a relation of that Daniel Finch, Earl of Nottingham,
who became Secretary of State to William III. Win-
chelsea could do little more than remove the King to
a private house. As he made his way out of the house
he was rudely hustled by the mob, in spite of the
efforts of Winchelsea and one or two other gentlemen
to protect him. They feared that Hales would make
his escape, "whom they had a mighty spleen against
for haveing changed his Religion, and at that very time
the people of the country were plundering his house
and killing his deer ; and he, being sencible how odious
he was to them, prudently stayd in the Inne, that he
might not draw a greater inconvenience upon him." l
As the fugitive King made his way to his new
1 Of the Harl. MS. 6852 before referred to.
FLIGHT OF JAMES 31
lodging, a crowd of sailors and others of the common
people pressed round him, narrowly watching lest he
should slip away, and assuring him that " a hair of his
head should not be touched." A number of them
followed him into the house and kept watch at his
door. After his removal to a private house, James's
spirits rose. He "was full of discourse which was
chiefly in his own vindication." He " pleasantly enter-
tained us with a long discourse about St Winifred and
her well, and the whole legend of it. He grievously
lamented his loss of Edward the Confessor's cross,
which contained a piece of the true Cross. At other
times he appeared overcome with melancholy and often
shed tears." Meanwhile "his guards were so severe
upon him, and pursued him from one room to another,
and pressed upon him so that he had scarce leisure
to be devout."
It was not only at Feversham that the "mobile,"
as contemporary writers call them, had broken bounds.
The news of James's flight and the disbanding of the
troops was the signal for a wild outburst of disorder,
such as London has seldom seen. The Lords Spiritual
and Temporal who remained in London, assembled at
the Guildhall, declared for the Prince of Orange, and
took such measures as they could for the preservation
of order. They dismissed Colonel Skelton from his
governorship of the Tower, and summoned James's
two Secretaries of State, the Earl of Middleton and
Viscount Preston. The first declined to recognise
their authority ; Preston, more timorous, complied
with their request. But their action was ineffectual in
checking the outbreak of disorder in London. " On
such occasions," says Macaulay, in one of his noble
32 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
oratorical passages, "it will ever be found that the
human vermin, which neglected by ministers of State
and ministers of religion, barbarous in the midst of
civilisation, heathen in the midst of Christianity,
burrows among all physical and all moral pollution, in
the cellars and garrets of great cities, will at once rise
into a terrible importance." So under the cover of
the popular cry of " No Popery " all the idle and vicious
population of the slums overflowed into an orgy of
riot and destruction. Roman Catholic chapels were de-
stroyed and their contents burnt, the houses of Papists
were ransacked, even those of foreign ambassadors
plundered. The horrors of those days culminated
in what was long remembered as the " Irish night."
"On Thursday morning the I3th December about
3 of the clock there was a dreadful alarm, that the
Irish in a desperate rage were approaching the City,
putting men, women, and children to the sword as
they came along, whereupon the citizens all rose,
placing lights in their windows from top to bottom,
and guarded every man his own doors with his
musquet charg'd with bullets. All the Trainbands in
the City were assembled, and there was nothing but
shouting and beating of drums all night." l Luttrell in
his Diary notes : " The mobile got together, and went
to the Popish Chapel in Lincoln's Inn Fields and
perfectly gutted the same, pulling down all the wains-
cott, pictures, books, etc., and part of the house and
burnt them, and then proceeded to Wild House,
the Spanish Ambassador's, and did the same, and
continued in a great body several thousands all night."
And writes another contemporary : " This night I was
1 Edmund Bohun's History of the Desertion.
FLIGHT OF JAMES 33
frightened with the wonderful light in the sky, and it
was the rabble, had gotten the wainscoat and seats at a
Popish Chapel, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and set it on
fire in the middle of it. Till we knew what it was we
guessed it to be a great fire." 1
The origin of this baseless alarm has never been
fully explained. James believed that it was intended
to provoke a massacre of the Catholics all over the
country, for the rumour had been industriously
circulated elsewhere besides London, " while this hand-
full of Irish, who were thus imagined to be burning
and destroying all over England at once, were disarmed
and dispersed, not generally knowing where to get a
meal's meat or a night's lodging, and lyable themselves
to be knocked in the head, in every town they came
to." 2 If so, the design was frustrated, for not a
Catholic lost his life.
On the morning of the I3th the news of James's
arrest at Feversham began to be spread abroad in
London. Among the common people it produced a
curious revulsion of feeling that surprised even James
himself ; to the Lords in Council it caused profound
consternation. Some of the King's faithful friends
hastened to join him, Middleton among them ; for
though he had refused to abjure his religion at the
King's bidding, Middleton never wavered in his
allegiance. He found the King in charge of two
militia troops, whose captains, under pretence of pro-
tecting him from the rabble, were subjecting him to a
harsh and rigorous confinement, hoping to suck there-
out no small advantage with the Prince of Orange ;
1 Ellis Correspondence.
2 Memoirs of James II.
34 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
and the King's friends were obliged to deliver up their
swords before they were allowed access to him. But
the worst of James's troubles were now over, for on
Saturday morning the Earl of Feversham arrived with
authority from the Lords to bring the King back to
London.
Accompanied once more by respectful and sym-
pathetic friends, the unfortunate James was removed to
Rochester a journey which he bore with some return
of dignity and self-control, in spite of his exhausted
condition of body and mind. At Rochester 1 he
stopped to rest, despatching Feversham to the Prince
of Orange with a letter in which he told his nephew,
with a rather pathetic resumption of authority, that he
" would be glad to see him at London on Monday, to
endeavour by a personal conference to settle the dis-
tracted nation, and that he had ordered St James's
Palace to be prepared for him." That wise Prince had
not forgotten that Feversham had added to the dangers
and disorders of the moment by letting loose his
disbanded troops upon the country. The King's
messenger was promptly put under arrest, and Zulestein,
the Prince's intimate friend and relative, was himself
sent off to prevent James from leaving Rochester.
James, meanwhile, had made a triumphal re-entry
into London. 2 He had arrived in some apprehension,
especially as he heard that the guards at Whitehall had
declared for William. He entered London by way of
1 Mulgrave's account of the Revolution, Clarke, ii. 261.
* December igth: "On Sunday about four in the afternoon came
through the city preceded by a great many gentlemen bare headed
and followed by a numerous company with loud huzzas. . . . The
evening concluded with ringing of bells and bonfires " (Ellis
Correspondence).
FLIGHT OF JAMES 35
the City, but "as soon as he arrived there he was
hugely surprised with the unexpected testimonys of
the people's affection to him ; it is not to be imagined
what acclamations were made and what joy the
people expressed at his Majesty's return ; such bonfires,
such ringing of bells, and all imaginable marks of love
and esteem, as made it look liker a day of triumph
than humiliation ; and this was universall amongst all
ranks of people that none that were with him had ever
seen the like before, the same crowds of people and
crys of joy accompanying him to Whitehall, and even
to his bed chamber door itself." l
Deceived by this delusive enthusiasm on the part of
the mob and a few time-servers, James instantly resumed
a course of action which showed that the events of the
last few days had made no impression on his under-
standing. In spite of himself, he was back at White-
hall ; his people, shocked by his misfortunes, had made
some show of loyalty. He knew how violent was the
feeling against Popery ; it was but two or three days
since the houses and chapels of Catholics had been
plundered and burnt all over London, as well as else-
where. But his first action on returning to Whitehall
was to offend popular prejudice. "The King," says
Evelyn, " is persuaded to come back ; comes on the
Sunday ; goes to masse, and dines in public, a Jesuit
saying grace (I was present)." " During the time the
King staid at Whitehall it was crowded with Irishmen,
priests, Jesuits, and Roman Catholics, after the old
wont, and one of the priests sent an imperious message
1 " The shouts of joy and shew of welcome which attended his coach
through London both startled his enemies and inclined him a little to
slight his friends" (Mulgrave).
36 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
to the Earl of Mulgrave the Lord Chamberlain to
furnish his lodgings with new furniture, for he meant
to continue in them. So that all things were returning
apparently into the old channel, and we were to expect
nothing, but what we had already seen and felt, and
some that wished well to the King, said, he was cun-
ningly invited back to Whitehall, with a design to ruin
him the more effectually and without any pity from his
Protestant subjects." 1
William of Orange, however, was not a man to wait
on the facile sentiment of the populace. If James's
presence in London roused their fickle enthusiasm,
the sooner James went the better. Zulestein, with the
Prince's letter, arrived at Whitehall almost as soon as
James himself, and told the King that William would
not come to London while James's guards were there,
and followed up this message by sending three battalions
of his own foot-guards, under the Count de Solmes, to
take up their position at Whitehall. This unpleasant
news was brought to James just as he was getting into
bed at eleven o'clock on this eventful Sunday, by
Lord Craven, who stoutly declared that he would
rather be cut in pieces than resign his post at White-
hall to the Dutch guards. But the King " prevented
that unnecessary bloodshed, with a great deal of care
and kindness, and directed my Lord Craven to draw
out his men and let Count de Solmes take the postes." 2
James philosophically observed, when it was objected
that it might not be safe for him to sleep in the middle
1 History of the Desertion.
2 Mulgrave. John Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave, afterwards Duke of
Buckingham, a man of considerable ability, who wrote mediocre verse
and was in love with the Princess Anne.
FLIGHT OF JAMES 37
of the Dutch guard, that " he knew not whether those
or his own were worse." l He then went to bed and
fell sound asleep. But that night was not destined to
be a tranquil one for him. After midnight there
arrived from William, Lords Halifax, Shrewsbury, and
Delamere, with orders for James. Lord Middleton,
who seems to have been the King's best friend at this
time, begged them to let his master have his sleep out,
and when they insisted that their mission was of the
utmost moment, went himself to wake the King, and,
drawing aside the curtains of his bed, found him in a
deep sleep, from which he could not rouse him, till he
knelt down and spoke into his ear. James awoke,
startled, and on learning of the arrival of the Prince's
messengers ordered them to be shown into his bed-
room, as, indeed, he had no choice but to do, surrounded
as he now was by William's Dutch guards. The
messengers had come with orders that James should at
once repair to Ham. The message signed by the
Prince was concise and to the point. William intended
to be in London himself by noon the next day, and to
avoid disorders James must be gone before he arrived.
Ham House was named as the place to which he should
retire ; he was to be attended by a suitable guard to
secure him from molestation. James objected that
Ham was " a very ill winter house and unfurnished,"
but Halifax replied curtly that that could easily be
remedied. Shrewsbury, always sweet-mannered and
compliant, with the gentle courtesy that afterwards
endeared him to William, listened to what James had
to say, and when he earnestly pleaded to be allowed to
retire to Rochester, the three Lords consented to refer
1 Clarke's Life.
38 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
the matter to William, and obtained this concession for
him, together with a blank pass from the Prince, that
he might send a messenger to the Queen in France.
The letter which James wrote to Louis XIV., who
was to afford him and his family the most generous
of asylums, runs as follows :
" MONSIEUR MON FRERE, As I hope that the
Queen my wife, and my son, have since last week set
foot in some one of your ports, I hope that you will
do me the kindness of giving them your protection ;
and if I had not been unfortunately arrested on my
way, I should have been there also, to ask it on
my own behalf as well as theirs. Your ambassador
will give you an account of the evil condition of my
affairs, and will assure you that I shall never do
anything contrary to the friendship that exists between
us. Being very sincerely your good brother,
JAMES R. 1
So to Rochester James went, on a windy Monday
morning, 2 in the royal barge, preceded and followed
by a hundred Dutch guards in rowing-boats. Many
tears were shed by the lords and gentlemen about
him when he took leave of them. 8 His daughter
Anne, while her poor old father was making his
windy progress, not without danger, down the river,
went with her friend, Lady Churchill, to the play,
covered with orange ribbons, in her father's coach,
and attended by his guards. 4
1 Translated from Cavelli : original in the Ministere des Affaires
Etrangeres.
2 The King objected that it blew so hard they could not well pass
Lambeth Bridge.
3 Clarendon writes : " I stirred not out I thought it the most
melancholy day I had ever seen in my whole life."
4 Basil Higgons, Short View of English History.
FLIGHT OF JAMES 39
The best thing that could happen for William and
his supporters, was that James should make his escape
to France. His detention and return were nothing
short of a catastrophe, that was only averted by the
prompt and vigorous action of the Prince in freeing
London from his presence. Indeed, Burnet thinks
that the ill-timed arrest at Feversham created the
Jacobite party. James had no following before that
except Papists ; " What followed gave them colour
to say he was forced away." 1
Halifax has been credited with frightening his
late master away by the bogey of personal violence.
Halifax had this grudge against James, that he had
been made a fool of by him. He had been loyal to
James. He had refused to sign the Invitation to
William. He had advised concessions while there
was yet time. But he had been sent by James as
his commissioner in the sham negotiations at Hunger-
ford, and while these were proceeding James had run
away. Halifax was much too astute not to see that
nothjng was to be hoped for from James. For the
sake of the country's good, he was better out of it.
William's feeling in the matter was no secret.
James himself soon saw that the back door was left
ajar for him, so to speak. For at Rochester he observed
that " sentinels were only set at the fore door towards
the street, and none at the back door, which went
towards the river ; by this the King was still
further convinced the Prince of Orange had a mind
he should be gone, which hinder'd him not from
continuing in the same mind himself, being persuaded,
that should he neglect that opportunity and disappoint
1 Burners History of His Own Time.
40 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
the Prince of Orange by not going out of the kingdom,
he would probably find means to send him out of it,
and the world too, by another way." And when James
heard how volatile London had received the Prince
of Orange, the " universal running in to the invader,"
as he described it, and his welcome by almost all the
nobility and gentry, he was more than ever determined
to escape to France. While at Rochester his friends
had free access to him. He was urged by them to
remain. " Severall of the Bishops, and others who
wished him well, advised him not to go out of
England." 1 He discussed the whole question with
Lord Middleton, who shrank from the responsibility
of giving definite advice. " He owned it was a hard
point to give council in, that to advise him to stay
was extream hazardous, considering how his father
had been used." But he added very pertinently,
that if James deserted his kingdom the door would
be immediately shut upon him. James tried, but un-
successfully, to open negotiations with the City and
with the Bishops, 2 and finally he made all arrangements
for his departure. What finally determined him may
have been his promise to the Queen.
Tindal says "a vehement letter from the Queen
(which was intercepted and afterwards conveyed to the
King), claiming his promise to go over to her, deter-
mined him contrary to the solicitations of his friends ;
so he left Rochester very secretly on the last day of
that memorable year." But first note that passion
for writing (and publication) which characterised him,
and which more than once betrayed his interests.
1 Clarke's Life, ii. 271.
1 Tindal's Continuation of Rapin.
FLIGHT OF JAMES 41
James wrote out a vindication of his conduct. It is
lengthy and rambling, with considering the magni-
tude of the occasion a curious peevishness of tone.
" The world," he said, 1 " cannot wonder at my with-
drawing myself now this second time : I might have
expected somewhat better usage after what I had
writt to the Prince of Orange by My Lord Fevers-
ham and the Instructions I gave him, but instead
of an answer such as I might have hoped for, what
was I not to expect, after the usadge 1 receaved ? by
his making the said Earl a prisoner against the practice
and Law of Nations, 2 the sending his own guards at
eleven at night, to take possession of the posts at
Whitehall, without advertising me in the least manner
of it, the sending to me at one o'clock when I was in
bed a kind of an order by three lords to be gon out of
my own Palace before twelve that same morning ;
after all this how could I hope to be safe soe long as I
was in the power of one, who had not only done this
to me, and invaded my kingdoms, without any just
occasion given him for it, but that did by his First
Declaration lay the greatest aspersion upon me that
malice could invent, in that claus of it which concerns
my son." 3 . . . He goes on to say that he will " be
within a call whensoever the Nation's eyes shall be
opened, so as to see how they have been abused and
imposed upon, by the specious pretences of Religion
1 From an original MS. at Welbeck signed James, countersigned
s o
Melfort, dated of January 168 ' incorporating what he had written
5 9
at Rochester.
2 Feversham had gone into a hostile camp without providing himself
with a safe-conduct.
3 William alluded to the general belief that the Prince of Wales was
a supposititious heir.
42 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
and property. I hope it will pleas God to touch
their hearts out of his infinitt mercy and to make
them sensible of the ill condition they are in."
The Declaration concludes with some belated but
excellent sentiments concerning liberty of conscience,
which accorded ill with James's previous conduct of the
government. After supper the King showed what he
had written to Lord Middleton, left orders that it was
to be printed, and went to bed at his usual time on
December 22nd.
Rising again later, he went out by way of some back
stairs, through the garden, guided by one Captain
Macdonnel to the river, where another trusted servant,
Captain Trevanion, was waiting with a small boat.
Into it James clambered, accompanied only by his son,
the Duke of Berwick, the two captains, and a Mr
Biddulph. It was now twelve o'clock, and they rowed
out to the smack that was lying in readiness to sail for
France. But a strong wind and a contrary tide pre-
vented their reaching it, and as it was now six in the
morning, James proposed that they should go on board
Captain Trevanion' s ship, the Harwich, which was
near at hand. Trevanion, however, feared to trust his
men, though he could answer for his officers' loyalty.
So they boarded the Eagle fireship, whose captain was of
tried fidelity, and waited there till daybreak, when they
saw the smack lying at anchor in the Swale. They at
once went on board her, taking Captain Trevanion's
boat's crew with them, so that they were about twenty
men all told ; and the smack's captain, a Lieutenant
Gardiner, served out arms, so that this time they
should be well prepared for boats of men "a-priest
codding."
FLIGHT OF JAMES 43
The north-easterly gale blew so strong that they were
obliged to put in under the Essex shore, and lie at
anchor on Sunday ; but at dusk the wind sank, and the
next morning they got under sail before sunrise, and
went away with a light easterly breeze, and snow
showers towards evening. At eleven o'clock they sighted
the French cliffs, and standing in-shore they anchored
at Ambleteuse, and landed about three o'clock on
Tuesday, which was Christmas Day (old style). The
whole of this long voyage James was penned up
" in a small cabin, where was just room for him and the
Duke of Berwick to sit, in continual aprehensions of
being attacked and recaptured." " However, it was some
cause of mirth to him, when growing very hungry and
dry, Captain Trevanion went to fry his Majesty some
bacon, but by misfortune the frying pan having a hole
in it, he was forced to stop it with a pitched rag, and to
ty an old furred can about with a cord and make it
hould the drink they put in it ; however, the King
never eat or drank more heartely in his life." So
ended, not without danger and difficulty, James's flight
from the ship of state, that he was never again to steer.
CHAPTER III
'ARRIVAL OF THE FUGITIVES IN FRANCE
ON her arrival at Calais the Queen retired to a private
house, where she wished to remain incognito till her
husband joined her. But the governor of the town,
the Due de Charost, immediately sent tidings of her
landing to Louis XIV. through the War Minister,
Louvois. " I despatch a gentleman to you," he wrote,
" in order to inform the King that the Queen of England
and the Prince of Wales have just disembarked at
Calais. The King of England confided them to the
Comte de Lauzun, who has fortunately saved them.
She wishes to remain unknown here. I am going to
offer her on his Majesty's behalf everything proper for
her, not doubting that my action will be approved. I
have had her lodged in the best house in the town,
mine being exposed to all the inclemencies of the
weather. I am having her waited on by my officers.
I have no further details to send." 1
Another account of the Queen's landing explains that
the Duke's house was unfit to receive her, as it was all
in disorder, and in the hands of builders, so that she
1 Published by Cavelli in original French from a MSS. in the
Bibliotheque National e.
44
THE FUGITIVES IN FRANCE 45
was obliged to lodge at the house of M. Ponton,
Procureur du Roy. On her arrival there, she exclaimed,
seating herself in an armchair, that she had not felt
so safe and peaceful for three months. Her first act
was to hear mass at the Church of the Capucins. She
also wrote to Louis XIV., throwing herself on his
protection 1 :
" SIR, A poor Queen, a fugitive and bathed in tears,
has not hesitated to expose herself to the gravest perils
of the sea, in order to seek consolation and shelter, near
the greatest and most generous monarch on earth.
Her ill fortune procures her a happiness that more
distant nations have desired. Necessity does not
diminish it, since she has chosen it, and that it is from
a singulier estime that she wishes to confide to him her
most precious possession, in the person of her son the
Prince of Wales. He is still too young to share her
proper gratitude ; her heart is full of it, and I take a
special pleasure, in the midst of all my troubles, in
living at present under your protection. I am, with
deep feeling, Sir, your very affectionate servant and
sister, THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND."
In spite of Maria's wish to remain incognito, it was
not long before the news of her arrival spread abroad,
and the nobles of the district assembled to meet her.
Her departure from Calais, after two days' stay, was
very different from her unceremonious arrival there.
As she left the town the guns of the fort fired a salute.
She was attended on her journey by fifty dragoons and
a detachment of cavalry. The little Prince's carriage
went first, followed by three others for the Queen and
her friends. It was Maria's wish to retire to an
1 Copied from Bib. Nat., trans. Has been held to be of doubtful
authenticity.
46 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Ursuline convent in Boulogne, but as the Due
d'Aumont had placed his house there at her service,
and had his wife's and his own rooms prepared for her
and the Prince, she could not refuse his hospitality.
Maria remained eight days at Boulogne. She ap-
peared as little as possible in public, but when she did
so, she was always outwardly calm and collected, in
spite of the poignant anxiety which consumed her as
to her husband's fate. The sadness of her expression
was tempered with dignity, 1 says an anonymous writer
whose narrative is full of little touches bearing the marks
of the observation of an eye-witness. The Queen's
meals were served to her alone, in accordance with her
desire for privacy ; but M. d'Aumont, " magnifique
en toutes choses," kept several large tables for the
English and French in her suite. Four and five times
a day Maria d'Este visited her child's temporary
nursery, where in her absence he had many visitors.
But, as always throughout a life of disappointment, Maria
in these anxious days sought consolation in religion.
On Christmas Eve she heard midnight mass in the
castle chapel, on Christmas Day three masses. On the
feast of S. Etienne she went, accompanied by Lauzun
and D'Aumont, to hear the sermon in the cathedral
church ; and on St John's Day she heard mass at the
Capucins. But except for these occasions she remained
in seclusion. Meanwhile, it may be easily imagined
that the arrival of the Queen of England, a fugitive
in disguise, and her little son, at Calais, occasioned no
small interest ; in fact, nothing else was talked of,
especially as she owed her escape to Lauzun. That
1 "Parut toujours calme sur son visage, et si Ton y vit regner la
tristesse, elle etoit melee avec la grandeur" (Cavelli).
THE FUGITIVES IN FRANCE 47
diminutive knight-errant 1 lost no time in improving
the occasion in his own interest. Immediately on his
arrival at Calais he wrote to Louis XIV. that the King
of England had given him orders to confide the Queen
into no hands but his, 2 and that he was indeed un-
fortunate to be unable to execute this order, not having
permission to present himself before his Majesty. It
was impossible for Louis to avoid making some con-
cessions to his former favourite ; and with the graceful
tact in which he was a past master, he wrote to Lauzun
with his own hand "a very obliging letter," giving
him permission to return to Court. " He will be
very surprised, and very glad to see my handwriting,"
said the King to his ministers, " he was well accustomed
to it once upon a time." 3 But if Lauzun was rejoiced
at this long-despaired-of restoration to Court favour,
his former mistress was passionately annoyed at his
reinstatement. Louis had indeed attempted to placate
her. He wrote to Mademoiselle de Montpensier,
who had returned to Paris some few days earlier,
acquainting her with the unwelcome fact of Lauzun's
prospective return to Court. She ought not to be
vexed about it, the King added, as he could not avoid
giving permission to see him to a man who had
just successfully accomplished so important an action.
This consideration of the King for Lauzun gave food
for reflection to his ministers, and " made them
desperately apprehensive lest the King's fancy for
M. de Lauzun might revive." 4
1 His figure was very diminutive (Berwick's Memoirs).
2 " De ne remettre la reine qu'entre ses mains."
3 " II sera bien surprise, et bien aise de voir mon e'criture ; autrefois
il y 6toit bien accoutume" (Dangeau).
4 Madame de Lafayette, Histoire de la Cour de France.
48 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Mademoiselle, who was in a position to express
her feelings more frankly than the ministers, was
transported with anger on reading the King's
letter, and exclaimed bitterly to Louis XIV.'s
emissary, M. de Seignelay, "This, then, is the
gratitude I receive for what I have done for the
King's children!" 1
The intrepid Lauzun attempted to soften Made-
moiselle's heart on his own account. He sent one of
his friends to her with a letter. Taking it from him,
she immediately threw it into the fire ; but he, snatching
it from the flames, implored her at least to read it.
Mademoiselle then took it out of the room with her,
but, returning immediately, told him that she had burnt
it without reading it a statement which posterity may
take leave to doubt.
Another phase of Lauzun's conduct caused almost
as much gossip in Paris as his rescue of the Queen of
England and his adroit recovery of his King's good
graces. This was his quarrel with Charost, a man
reputed to be his friend. Apparently Lauzun, who
wished the Queen to remain incognito, was annoyed
that Charost had, on his own account, sent word to
Paris of her arrival, taking care that his letter should
come into the King's hands before that of Lauzun.
In revenge Lauzun spread about Paris mendacious
reports of Charost's want of proper attention to the
Queen, and his neglect to give her a sufficient
guard.
This was sufficiently paltry, seeing that Lauzun had
done his best to prevent Charost from giving her a
guard at all ; and at last Charost, not content with
1 Lafayette.
" MADEMOISELLE."
THE FUGITIVES IN FRANCE 49
sending his own version of the affair by letter, 1 and
hearing that he was being vilified at Court, came to
Paris himself, in January, and was very well received
by the King, 2 so that, as Madame de Svign6 says,
" cela ne fait point honeur a ce dernier [Lauzun], dont
il semble que la colere de Mademoiselle arre'te l'toile.
II n'a ni logement, ni entrees, il est simplement a
Versailles." But if this squabble between two old
friends caused "beaucoup de bruit," it was after all
a matter of secondary interest. Nothing was talked
of but the arrival of the Queen of England and the
probable fate of her husband. A very few days after
her landing, another message 3 from Charost brought to
Paris the news of James's first flight to Feversham.
Louis had lost no time in sending a messenger to
congratulate Maria on her safe arrival, and at once
despatched carriages for her use, with guards and
officers to attend on her. It was determined to pre-
pare Vincennes for her reception. " On ne parle, ma
chere bonne, que de la reine d'Angleterre," says
Madame de Sevigne, writing from Paris to her
daughter. " The King has sent three carriages with ten
horses to this Queen, litters, pages, footmen, guards,
a lieutenant and officers." As to James's fate all sorts
of rumours were current in Paris : he was at Calais,
at Boulogne, he was still in England, he had landed
1 Charost wrote to Louvois, Minister of War: "Pendant le sej'our
qu'elle a fait ici je luy ay rendu tout les respects que luy sont deubs, elle
n'a pas vouler que je luy donne de gardes devant son logis, mais seule-
ment mes gardes, qui ont toujours este aupres d'elle . . . j'ai tasche de
faire ensorte que sa majeste", M. le Prince de Galles, et pas un de sa suite
n'ayent manqu6 de rien " (Archives du Ministere de la Guerre : Cavelli).
2 Lafayette, " fort bien traite."
3 By M. de Pointis, officer of marine, who reached Paris on Christmas
Day.
4
50 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
at Brest, he was lost at sea. Feeling was strongly
Jacobite. When rumours of the destruction of
William's fleet had reached Paris, it was held that it
was the hand of God, a miracle performed by a special
Divine intervention. 1 Mary of Orange was compared
with Tullia, the wife of Tarquin the Superb, who had
her chariot driven over the bleeding corpse of her father.
In these days of suspense, while Maria concealed
her intolerable anxiety under an outwardly calm and
dignified bearing, she found some relief from the strain
of continued uncertainty as to her husband's fate by
pouring out her distress of mind to the young brother
whom she had always tenderly loved, and who was
now the reigning Duke of Modena. She writes 2 :
" You will be astonished, and with reason, to hear that
I am in this country and the manner in which I have
come here. Having fled by night with my son, and
having had a strong but favourable wind, we came
from London to Calais in a little more than twenty-
four hours. From there we came to this place, where
I am in an indescribable anxiety, having had no news
of the King since my departure eight days ago. He
said that he would leave the day after me, but all the
seaports are closed, and I can neither see him, nor
have news of him, while they do not allow letters to
pass. You can imagine in what a state I am. I am sure
that if you could see me, you would be filled with
compassion for me. My sole consolation is that my
son is well, and that he flourishes in misfortune ; he
alone is happy in that he is ignorant of what has
befallen him, and of the condition to which he and his
parents are reduced. Pray God for me, dear brother,
that He may give me patience and resignation, for
without His special aid, I believe that I should lose my
1 De Sevigne', November 8. 2 Cavelli.
THE FUGITIVES IN FRANCE 51
reason." After telling him something of her future
plans she concludes : " Dear brother, pity me, advise
me, and console with your affection your poor dis-
tressed sister, who, in whatever state she may be, will
always love you from her heart, and will be with all
sincerity and affection wholly yours, M. R."
The Due de Modena, on hearing of his sister's
arrival at Calais, decided to set out immediately
incognito, with the smallest possible following, "on
the impulse of his tenderest love " for his sister. He
was dissuaded from doing so on account of his un-
satisfactory state of health.
At last came the disquieting news that James's flight
had been arrested. The Queen learned of it two days
after she had written to her brother, on December 29th.
The news was brought her by a Benedictine monk, a
Capucin, and an officer. On being urged by her to say
where they had left the King, they were forced sorrow-
fully to confess, "Your sacred Majesty, the King is
arrested." " I was present," says the faithful Riva,
" and I do not know how to say which touched me
most, to hear such desolating news or to see the
Queen my mistress in such extreme affliction. She
sighed deeply a thousand times, raised her eyes to
Heaven, and hung her head." The Due d'Aumont,
in writing to apprise Louvois of the arrival of this
report, says : " She is in a pitiable state of grief : how-
ever, she bears it with great virtue and infinite
fortitude." l He adds that she is very anxious about
the King, and awaits news of him here.
Maria had always declared her intention of return-
1 D'Aumont, Governor of Boulogne : " Elle est dans une douleur a
faire pitie cependant elle soutient cela avec une grande vertu et une
Constance infinie. . . . J'ai logi sa M. dans le logis du roi ou je suis."
52 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
ing to England if her husband were taken, to suffer
martyrdom with him. But Louis XIV. was much
too shrewd and experienced a diplomatist to permit
her to complicate the political situation by any such
useless act of sacrifice. Hasty orders were sent
through Louvois to M. Beringhen, 1 Louis XIV.'s
envoy to the Queen, that she was to proceed immedi-
ately to Vincennes. If the Queen should show any
inclination to return to England with her son, he was
to conduct her to Vincennes, explaining that it was the
King's order, and that she was neither to stop on the
road nor to take any other. He was to have no doubt
that she would be glad enough to come to see Louis and
to take measures with him for her husband's aid. One of
the princes of the blood would meet her at Beaumont.
Lauzun was given orders to the same effect : he was
to persuade the Queen to come to Vincennes by all
" les pretextes les plus honestes que vous pourrez vous
imaginer." In accordance with these directions the
Queen left Boulogne next day, the Due d'Aumont
and a great number of gentlemen accompanying her
three leagues from the town. On her arrival at
Montreuil she found the household that Louis had
appointed to attend her in waiting for her. Here too
the news reached her that James was back at Whitehall :
the intelligence was brought by Vice- Admiral Strickland,
who had arrived by way of Calais. The royal party
of exiles and courtiers went on to Abbeville, where the
Queen spent New Year's Day, hearing mass at the
1 " M. Beringhen, M. le Premier, premier e'cuyer de la petite ecurie
du roi." Beringhen was Louis XIV.'s first equerry, and there was a
peculiar appropriateness in his being deputed to attend on Maria, as
his father had been sent as envoy on a like occasion to Henrietta
Maria, the wife of Charles I., who had found a refuge in France.
THE FUGITIVES IN FRANCE 53
Church of the Carmelites ; and on the next day
(Sunday), when they reached Poix, she learnt that her
destination was not to be Vincennes, but Saint-
Germain-en-Laye.
On that day, too, further appointments were made
to the exiled royal household. Louis despatched the
"grand ecuyer," M. Le Grand, as he was called by
virtue of this office, Louis de Lorraine, Comte
d'Armagnac, as he was by birth. Yet another appoint-
ment was that of the diarist Dangeau, who chronicles
much of the King and Queen of England's subsequent
history, and who was despatched by the Dauphine
as her representative to greet Maria. Dangeau had
" owed his success at Court to his good looks, to the
court he paid to the King's mistresses, and to his
skilfulness at play." 1 He also owed much to the
friendship of Madame de Maintenon. La Bruyere
gives a merciless dissection of his character : " In a
word, he wishes to be great and believes himself to
be so, but is not. If occasionally he should chance
to smile upon a man of low rank, upon a man of wit,
he chooses his time so carefully that he is never caught
in the act, for he would blush if he were unluckily
surprised in the least familiarity with anyone neither
rich nor powerful, neither the friend of a minister, nor
his supporter, nor his servant. He is inexorably
distant towards anyone who has not made his fortune.
He may observe you one day in a gallery and avoid
you, and the next day, if he finds you in a less public
place, or in the company of some important person, he
comes up to you and says, { You did not seem to see
me yesterday.' Presently he quits you abruptly to
1 Saint-Simon.
54 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
join some nobleman, and presently again, should he
find you in conversation with such an one, he will
cut in, and carry them off from you."
On January 3rd the Queen arrived at Beauvais.
Here the bishop and all the townspeople came out
to meet her, and she was taken to the cathedral to
worship its precious relic, a piece of the true Cross.
A letter of this date from the Abbe Melani, an
Italian, attached to the Tuscan legation in Paris,
describes Maria as " having up till now done nothing
but weep, and although various clothes have been sent
her from the King suitable to her condition, she was
unwilling to wear any but the simple black dress in
which she came from London. All those who have
been to compliment her on behalf of the King, have
hardly been able to refrain from tears themselves at the
deplorable condition of so great a princess." But at last
the news reached the Queen that her husband had left
London. It was probably brought by Labadie, the
valet who was in the secret of the Queen's first flight
from Whitehall, for he arrived in Paris the next day.
This hopeful intelligence " marvellously consoled the
Queen and all the Court." On the 5th, when she
was arrived at Beaumont, came the glad news that
James had landed at Ambleteuse. D'Aumont wrote
to Louvois on January 4th that James had landed at
Ambleteuse at 1.30 a.m., and had retired to bed. He
himself was on the point of starting with carriages to
bring the King to Boulogne. He had not sent to tell
the Queen, because he thought it would give the King,
his master, pleasure to send her this good news himself.
M. Fitzjames was also there. Louis immediately
sent off an equerry to Beaumont to the Queen.
THE FUGITIVES IN FRANCE 55
She was praying when the King of France's
messenger arrived, and in this glad tidings all her mis-
fortunes were forgotten. Raising her hands and eyes
to Heaven, she repeatedly exclaimed, " How happy I
am ! How happy I am ! " Dangeau had presented
the compliments of Madame la Dauphine only an hour
before, and now " he returned to her, and found her
transported with joy. It would be impossible to
appreciate more highly than she does, all the kindness
that she receives from the King, and she is more
pleased than she can say with her reception on her
route." Not Maria alone, but all her little court were
beside themselves with joy (says the faithful Riva),
though 'twas short-lived, " for the Queen was seized
with violent pains which lasted some hours."
The courtiers * who had been deputed by Louis XIV.
to greet the Queen at Beaumont were ordered to proceed
at once to greet James ; and the equerry Leyburn, who
had accompanied the Queen on her flight, took a letter
from her to her husband. Meanwhile she continued
her journey with a mind at rest. The worst of her
misfortunes were over what were the loss of two
kingdoms and all her temporal possessions now that the
tension of anxiety as to her husband's fate was relieved ?
On January 8th Louis went to meet his royal guest
in person. Modern writers have stripped the great
monarch of the halo that surrounded him. But in the
1 Among the components of the household sent by Louis to meet
the Queen were : " Three royal carriages, each with 8 horses, without
including that of M. le Premier, 2 equerries, 8 pages, 12 footmen ; M.
de Saint- Viance, lieutenant of the bodyguard, at the head of 50
guards with an exempt " (a term formerly used for an officer command-
ing in the absence of the Captain-lieutenants); "2 royal valets de
chambre and 8 ushers, a chaplain and 2 clerks of the chapel, a maitre
d'hdtel and many inferior officials " (quoted by Cavelli).
56 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
accounts of the Most Christian King's daily life which
were penned by the many writers of his time, some-
thing of the glamour which surrounded him in their
eyes radiates from their pages. Saint-Simon alone
watched the King with a merciless scrutiny that con-
doned no weakness, in sharp contrast to Dangeau, in
whose adulatory chronicle any criticism of the King or
the Court would appear impious. But in one respect
Louis XIV.'s conduct stands out as that of a great
king and a great gentleman. His relation to his
fugitive and ruined guests is without reproach. It
was dictated by the most delicate courtesy, by the most
boundless generosity ; all that he had was placed at their
disposal, no pains were spared to treat James and
Maria as a great King and Queen, whose prestige had
undergone no diminution. And just because they
were discredited and shamed in the eyes of all Europe,
the more punctilious care was taken to exceed what
etiquette demanded on the occasion of royal visits.
It is easy to say that Louis XIV.'s conduct on this
occasion was dictated solely by a magnificent kind of
vanity, but if so, it was a vanity that did not weary in
well-doing, for it must be remembered to his honour that
Louis abated no jot of his hospitality when he realised
that his guests were to be his pensioners for life.
On January 6th, the day on which Maria was to
arrive at Saint-Germain, Louis went to receive her
on her way. "The King, after his dinner, left
here [Versailles] with Monseigneur [the Dauphin] and
Monsieur [the Due d'Orleans] in his carriage, and
went to Chatou, where he waited for the Queen of
England, who arrived a quarter of an hour later. As
soon as her carriages were seen approaching, the King,
THE FUGITIVES IN FRANCE 57
Monseigneur, and Monsieur alighted. The King
stopped the carnage which preceded that of the Queen,
where was the Prince of Wales, and embraced him.
Meanwhile the Queen of England got out of her
carriage, and expressed her gratitude to Louis on
behalf of herself and her husband. The King replied
that it was but a melancholy service he rendered her on
this occasion, but he hoped to be in a position to help
her more effectually in the future. To do honour to
the Queen were assembled the King's guards and
other troops, as well as the whole court. Louis and
his son and brother, Monseigneur and Monsieur,
took their seats with the Queen of England in her
carriage. The proceedings had been arranged the day
before, with that order and ceremony so dear to Louis's
heart. The Queen was accompanied only by Lady
Powis and Donna Vittoria Montecuccoli Davia : even
so they must have been fairly crowded with three each
side. The carriages then proceeded to the Chateau of
Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
CHAPTER IV
f"'
SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE
THE Jacobite pilgrim of to-day, seeking to sentimentalise
over the haunts of the last of the Stuarts, will meet with
nothing but disappointment. Fate, that swept away
this hapless family, has passed an obliterating hand
over nearly everything on earth that was sacred to their
memory, and scattered their very ashes to the winds.
Whitehall, the London home of the Stuarts, that centre
of irresponsible gaiety and intrigue, where Charles and
James kept Court, was totally destroyed by fire soon
after James II.'s flight ; there remained only the
banqueting hall, from the window of which their
father had stepped on to the scaffold. In the two
hundred years that have passed away since the Queen
of England, worn out with fatigue and anxiety, alighted
at the hospitable doors of the ancient Chateau of Saint-
Germain-en-Laye, it has been so completely restored
and renovated that the first sight of the brand new
pink brick dispels any historical associations, and all
images from the past that the imagination has conjured
up fade into the light of common day. Perhaps the
persevering traveller crosses the bridge and enters the
building, hoping that he may at least stand beneath the
58
SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE 59
roof that sheltered James II. in his exile, and that,
walking through the empty rooms where the King held
his meagre court of penniless followers, he may people
them in imagination with the faded liveries of the past.
But here too, alas ! further disillusionment is in store
for him. The uniformed custodian (all unwitting that
the walls beneath which he is standing are weighted with
august memories), puzzled but indulgent, waves him
towards an open door beyond which he finds only neat
galleries laden with Franco-Roman antiquities. The
Musee des Antiques, with its defaced stones and worn
inscriptions, carries a message only from a past far
more remote ; and its bare pavements echo, for those
that have ears to hear, with the words of the Preacher :
" There is no end of all the people, even of all that
have been before them : they also that come after shall
not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and
vexation of spirit." l
One thing time has had little power to change.
The face of the countryside must still show something
of the features on which the Stuarts looked out over
Paris to the distant hills beyond. The woods in which
Monseigneur was for ever hunting with the hounds of
M. de Maine are replaced by trim avenues of chest-
nut precisely lopped in the Gallic manner, and inter-
spersed by gay flower-beds and subtropical borders,
among which Sunday Paris comes out by train to walk.
But below the noble terrace stretching a mile and a
half along the brow of the hill which the Chateau
dominates, is spread the same matchless view whereon
the eyes of the exiles must have so often rested. The
broadly winding Seine was at their feet, and beyond
1 Eccles. iv. 1 6.
60 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
the fertile spreading countryside, girdled with hills,
sprinkled with villages and spires among its trees,
broods distant Paris and the rising ground of
Montmartre. The exiles too must have felt the sense
of light and space, and the great sweet wash of air from
the distant hills.
Where the Chateau of Saint-Germain now stands
was originally a convent. In the twelfth century a
fortress was built close to the monastery, and Saint
Louis added the now melancholy dismantled chapel.
Francis I., struck by the beauty of the site, had the
ancient buildings of his predecessors rased to the
ground, and erected the Chateau in the form in
which it has been restored and reconstituted to-day.
Henri IV. added the Pavilion which still bears his
name, and the gardens of which descended to the
Seine by a series of terraces. Saint-Germain was a
favourite residence of Louis XIII., who passed much
time there, leading the life of a private gentleman,
and occupying himself with painting, hunting, music,
even cooking, and wearying of them all. Here
too he parted from the virtuous Mademoiselle de
Lafayette, who entered a convent to escape the ardour
of her royal lover. "Alas, I shall never see him
again," she wept, 1 as his carriage drove out of the
Chateau court-yard ; but happily, in those days, religious
zeal was tempered by worldly prudence, and the King
could hold converse with his lost love through the
convent grating. At Saint-Germain Louis XIV. was
born, and here his father died. After his death his
mother, Anne of Austria, deserted the Chateau ; it fell
into neglect and, almost dismantled, was uninhabited till
1 Madame de Motteville, vol. i. ch. iii.
SAINT-GERM AIN-EN-LAYE 6 1
it became a refuge for Henrietta Maria, who fled to
France during the Civil War, and occupied here a very
modest apartment hardly furnished with necessaries.
When the Fronde broke out, during the mock civil
war that agitated Paris in 1648, Anne of Austria and
the Court fled to Saint-Germain. They found the
Chateau without beds, furniture, linen, servants, or any
necessaries so much so that most of the Court had to
sleep on straw, which in a few hours rose to so high a
price in Saint-Germain that money could not buy it. 1
Here Henrietta Maria learned that her husband,
Charles I., had died upon the scaffold, and here she
kept her melancholy shadow of a Court. When
Charles II. was restored to the throne of England,
Louis XIV. set up his Court at Saint-Germain in his
old Chateau, since the new Chateau, the Pavilion of
Henri IV., had already become very dilapidated. Here
Mademoiselle de la Valliere and Madame de Montes-
pan saw the zenith of their favour, and here took
place the disgrace and arrest of Lauzun. But suddenly
Louis XIV. took a dislike to Saint-Germain ; once more
the Chateau was dismantled and the Court removed to
Versailles. It was said that the view of the steeple of
St Denis, the last resting-place of the Kings of France,
which he could not avoid seeing from the terrace, irked
the King.
The Chateau of Saint-Germain had now been hastily
prepared for the reception of the King and Queen of
England. Its rooms had been magnificently furnished
in readiness for their reception, every detail necessary
for the proper appointment of the royal nursery had
been specially considered, and, to complete his generous
1 Madame de Motteville.
62 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
care of his guests' comfort, Louis had ordered his
upholsterer to present to the Queen a little casket con-
taining 6000 pistoles, which was to be placed on her
dressing-table so that she should have money for her
immediate use.
Meanwhile James was sleeping at Breteuil, and the
Duke of Berwick had come on to bring tidings of him
to the Queen. In the relief of finding himself among
friends and in a place of safety, treated once more with
the deference due to his rank, James was seized with
a kind of senile garrulity. He seems to have talked
very freely to D'Aumont during the day he spent
at Boulogne. " He spoke much of the infidelity
of his subjects, and especially of Lord Churchill,
whose treason he exaggerated to us with such extra-
ordinary circumstances, that they are almost incredible.
He did not forget that of the Earl of Sunderland, and
several other lords, whom he had loaded with honours
and benefits." James was very gratified by his reception
in France, and contrasted it bitterly with the conduct
of his own subjects. 1 He was now sufficiently recovered
to talk hopefully of the future. He looked forward
with entire confidence to his meeting with Louis, and
expressed his belief that he would soon return. When
D'Aumont courteously declined any recompense on the
plea that in his hurried flight the King of England
could hardly have more than he would himself want
for his present expenses, James told him with childish
pleasure how he had concealed and saved his diamond
buckles. James was not wholly without resources, for
Terriesi, writing to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, 2
1 Le Due d'Aumont to Louvois (Cavelli).
z Archives di Medici ; Terriesi (Dec. 27th, 1689).
SA1NT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE 63
describes his rescue of the royal casket : " That
which put me in great peril of destruction in my
flight, were the writings and money of the King, and
more than that a great heavy casket full of gold and
jewels, which his Majesty gave to me just in the act of
leaving, which I agreed to save secretly, without the
servants' knowledge, as I finally did, dragging it with
me, with the writings, over the wall." He adds
that this was the cause of his having to abandon to
destruction not only all his own property, but some
of his master's, as the box was of such a weight, it
could hardly be moved by one man. He had
already apprised his master of the destruction of
the ambassador's house. 1
On January yth, the day that James was expected to
arrive at Saint-Germain, Louis set out from Versailles
between five and six o'clock to receive and welcome
him. He took with him " Monseigneur " (the
Dauphin) and his nephew, the young Due de Chartres,
the son of " Monsieur," Louis's brother, the Due
d'Orleans. The circumstances of the visit and the
reception have been scrupulously chronicled. When
they arrived at Saint-Germain, the Queen was in bed.
Louis spent half an hour chatting with her in her room,
while he was waiting for James's arrival. At last a
messenger hastened in with the news that he was
approaching the court of the Chateau. Louis went to
the door of the Salle-des-Gardes to receive him.
James, as though oppressed with a sense of his humili-
ating misfortune, bowed down to Louis's knees, but
Louis embraced him most tenderly, while the King of
England expressed himself as greatly touched by the
1 For subsequent fate of the casket see Clarke's Life of James II.
64 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
marks of affection he had received from the French
people on his journey. To which their King gallantly-
responded : " I am indeed glad to learn from your
Majesty that my people have so entered into my feel-
ings ; they could not find a better means of paying
court to me." * Then, holding him by the hand, Louis
led James to his wife's apartments and presented him
to her, saying : " I bring you a man, that you will be
very glad to see." The husband and wife embraced
tenderly, not without tears, so that the bystanders had
difficulty in restraining their own. James " remained
long in the arms of his wife," according to Dangeau ;
but Madame de Lafayette says that " le roi d' Angleterre
n'embrassa pas sa femme, apparemment par respect."
The King of France afterwards presented to James
Monseigneur his son and M. de Chartres, the
Princes of the Blood, and some of the courtiers, with
whom the King of England was already acquainted.
He then led him away to the nursery to see the Prince
of Wales. " I have taken great care of him ; you will
find him in good health," said his host. " Unhappy
Prince ! " exclaimed his father sententiously, " to be un-
witting of the tenderness of the greatest king of kings
in the world." As they left the room Louis said : " I
give a number of orders, but I have not foreseen every-
thing. You will give me great pleasure if you let me
know all that you want. You are the master of my
kingdom." Louis then escorted James back to the
Queen's room, and soon after left his guests, saying as
he left the room and one can see him waving back his
" J'aibeaucoup de joy d'apprendre de voltre Majeste que mon peuple
ay si bien entre" dans mes sentiments ; ils ne peuvent mieux me faire la
cour" (Affaires Etrangeres, Anon. Relation (Cavelli)).
c
3 o
> 5
O *
ry <*
SAINT-GERMA1N-EN-LAYE 65
nervous guest at the same moment, " Je ne veux pas
que vous me reconduisez ; vous e'tes encore aujourd'hui
chez moi. Demain vous viendrez me voir a Versailles
comme nous en sommes convenus ; je vous en ferai les
honneurs, comme vous me les ferez de Saint-Germain,
la prochaine fois que je viendrai, et nous vivrons en
suite sans faon." This aspiration was not yet to be
fulfilled ; the question of etiquette, and the precise
amount of deference to be paid the exiled Court by the
French nobility, who were as anxious to stand upon
their dignity as the King was to forgo his, was for
long a vexed question.
Time only deepened the first impressions made
by James II. and his wife on Louis XIV. and his
Court. For her there is a chorus of praise, with hardly
a dissentient voice. A contemporary writes that
Louis XIV. " trouva beaucoup d'esprit et de grandeur
d'ame dans cette princesse. Elle a 1'air noble ; tout
penetre qu'elle est de sa douleur elle m'en parait
point embarrassed " and here her sense of queenly
dignity is beautifully indicated " Elle sent bien ce
qu'elle est, et quoiqu'elle soit fort honnte, elle scait
placer ses honntes selon les gens, et est tout-a-fait
maitresse d'elle-me"me." But James was a surprise
and a disappointment to everyone. Madame de
Lafayette says that " the appearance of the King of
England has not at all impressed the Court, and still
less his conversation. He related to the King in the
Prince of Wales's room, where there were several
courtiers, the principal events that had happened to
him, and he told them so badly that the courtiers had
to remind themselves that he was English, and conse-
quently spoke French imperfectly. Besides this, he
5
66 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
stammered a little, he was fatigued, and it is not
extraordinary that so great a misfortune as that which
has befallen him should diminish a much more perfect
eloquence than his."
Madame de SeVign6 says much the same thing.
" This Queen gives general satisfaction, and has much
esprit. She said to the King, seeing him caressing the
Prince of Wales, who is a beautiful child : * I was
envious of the happiness of my child, who does not
know his misfortunes, but now I pity him for not being
sensible of the caresses and goodness of your Majesty.'
All she says shows judgment and good sense. . . . One
cannot say the same of her husband : he has much
courage, but a common mind, and he recounts all that
happened in England with an insensibility which makes
him look a fool."
For some time after the King and Queen of England
were installed at Saint-Germain, visits of ceremony
continued. One of the earliest would-be visitors to
the Queen was Louise de Querouaille, the Duchess of
Portsmouth, but she was warned off by Lauzun.
With the indiscretion of her class, the mistress of
Charles II. had indulged in speculations about the
origin of the Prince of Wales, and this gossip had
reached the Queen's ears. Her son, the Duke of
Richmond, complained to Louis about the " ill that
had been done to himself and his mother, by spreading
false reports that she had held ill-natured talk about
the birth of the Prince of Wales, and that he himself
had said he would join the Prince of Orange if he
were in England, which was false." A woman of the
type of Maria d'Este does not readily consent to receive
highly placed hussies like the Duchess of Portsmouth.
SAINT-GERMA1N-EN-LAYE 67
But the Duchess was not the only person to receive
a snub. French etiquette soon found other victims.
Lord Powis was put in his place when he went on the
Queen's behalf to make complimentary inquiries for
the Dauphine. He thought his rank entitled him
to salute her, " but he did not see her." " As he has
only the title of Marquis and not of Duke, the
Dauphine will not salute him, and did not even wish
to consent to the expedient that he proposed, which
was to see her in her bed, for she did not desire that
he should be able to say that a compromise had been
sought for." 1 On January 8th took place the important
ceremony of James's first visit to Versailles. M. de
Tremouille was punctiliously despatched by Louis in
the morning to inquire after the health of the English
royal family, and later in the day James returned the
King of France's visit of the day before. The King's
guards were drawn up under arms to receive him, and
the King himself made a point of coming outside the
Salle-des-Gardes to meet him. Ceremonial required
that he should receive a brother sovereign inside it,
but, as he himself said, on such an occasion it was
necessary to exceed ordinary custom to mark the
respect due to royalty, and the tender compassion
with which he entered into the misfortunes of the
exiled monarch. First of all Louis took James into
his cabinet, where they remained together alone for
a long time. James was then conducted to the
Dauphine's apartments. She received them standing
at the door with her ladies, and they all remained
standing while they talked. After this Monsieur's
apartments were visited. Here James examined all
1 Dangeau.
68 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
the works of art the rooms contained with particular
attention, and commented on them with the knowledge
of a connoisseur. He was delighted with everything,
pictures, porcelain, crystals, enamels. Finally he was
presented to " Monsieur," who was ill in bed, and
to his wife " Madame," Duchesse d'Orleans. He
returned home about six o'clock. Dangeau was
present, but only records the fact that James told
them he always paid his army eight days in ad-
vance, and that the men were paid up to the day
he left.
The King and Queen of England kept up a continual
interchange of visits with the French royal family in
after years, and among their most frequent callers was
Monsieur of Orleans, the father of the Due d'Orleans
(then Due de Chartres), who ruled over France as
Regent during the minority of Louis XV. Saint-
Simon describes him as "a little round-bellied man,
who wore such high-heeled shoes that he always
seemed mounted upon stilts ; was always decked out
like a woman, covered everywhere with rings, bracelets,
jewels ; with a long black wig, powdered and curled
in front, with ribbons wherever he could put them ;
steeped in perfumes, and in fine a model of cleanliness "
in itself a virtue, and an unusual one at that time.
He had a natural dignity, and a profound knowledge of
social etiquette, which Saint-Simon, to whom there was
nothing more important, noted approvingly. He was
the life and soul of all Court gaieties pleasure-
loving and greedy. 1 The drawers of his cabinets were
1 " Le gros de la cour perdit en Monsieur : c'tait lui qui y jetait les
amusements, Tame, les plaisirs, et quand il la quittait tout y semblait
sans vie et sans action."
SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE 69
crammed with sweetstuffs, and his pockets bulged with
them, for he was continually eating between his heavy
meals. He was, besides, weak, vain, and vicious.
His wife, " Madame," appeared to Saint-Simon as an
austere German lady, who made herself feared by her
husband's favourites and dependants by her harsh and
surly temper, and spent the greater part of her time
writing and copying letters in a small private sitting-
room hung with portraits of her countrymen. But
these letters of hers reveal " Madame " as the most
human and warm-hearted member of Louis XIV.'s
family or court. Monsieur, who was notoriously
indifferent to her, was careful to observe conven-
tions. His first wife was the beautiful Henrietta,
the sister of James II., whom everybody believed to
have been poisoned.
The day after James returned the visit of the
French King was Sunday, and in the morning every-
one went to mass. But after dinner Monseigneur
called. The Dauphin, grandfather of Louis XV.,
was described by Saint-Simon a hostile witness,
however as being above middle height, very fat,
but without being bloated, with a very lofty and
noble aspect unmixed with any harshness. He had a
beautiful fair complexion with a healthy colour, but
a broken nose and an entire lack of expression spoiled
his appearance. Although he had " the most beautiful
legs in the world " and very small and delicate feet,
he was uncertain in his gait, and felt his way with
his feet ; he was afraid of falling, and if the path was
not perfectly straight and even, he called for assistance.
" As for his character, he had none ; he was without
enlightenment or knowledge of any kind, radically
yo THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
incapable of acquiring any ; very idle, without imagina-
tion or constructiveness ; without taste, without dis-
crimination, without discernment ; neither seeing the
weariness he caused, nor that he was as a ball moving
at haphazard by the impulsion of others ; obstinate
to excess in everything ; amazingly credulous and
accessible to prejudice, keeping himself always in the
worst hands ; . . . absorbed in his fat and ignorance."
Such was one of James and Maria's most frequent
visitors. 1
On this the first occasion James received him at
the end of the room, but did not go outside it, as
it was important to mark the difference in rank
between the Dauphin and his father. Host and
visitor stood while talking, and afterwards visited the
Queen, who gave the guest an arm-chair, but below
her own. She told him that she was only waiting
for an appropriate costume in which to go and pay
her return visit to his father and his wife. The
Dauphin was careful to visit the royal nursery before
he returned to Versailles. Visits of ceremony con-
tinued during these days because Louis insisted on
it, but there was great agitation among the courtiers
on the question of procedure. " II y cut grandes
contestations pour les ceremonies," says Madame de
Lafayette. Louis XIV. wished James to treat his
son, Monseigneur, as an equal, and he consented on
condition that 'Louis paid the same attention to the
Prince of Wales. Finally it was decided that the
Dauphin was to have a folding chair, only, in the
presence of the King of England, but that he had
the right to an arm-chair when in the presence of the
1 Saint-Simon : Bayle St John's translation.
SAINT-GERM AIN-EN-LAYE 7 1
Queen a nice distinction, and one on which much
stress was laid at the French Court, but one which,
reciprocally applied, was not without its absurdity in
the case of a baby in arms, the Prince of Wales,
whose claims to a throne were never likely to be
realised.
The French Princes of the Blood also had their
pretensions. They claimed that, as they were not
subjects of the King of England, their relations should
be regulated by a special etiquette. Finally everything
was settled to their satisfaction. " But when it came
to the women it was not so easy," l says Madame de
Lafayette, 2 whose sly and mordant pen illuminates
the early days of the English Court at Saint-Germain.
The Princesses of the Blood were three or four days
without going to visit the Queen of England, and
when they at last went, the duchesses would not
follow their example. In England they stood in
the presence of their sovereign, but the Queen
-kissed them. In France it was not the custom for
the Queen to kiss them, but they had the right to
sit. They now claimed the right to both. However,
a domineering autocrat like Louis XIV. was not likely
to permit any airs on the part of his Court or his
family, when he himself had waived all his rights in
favour of. his guests. Besides, Maria, " who, though
1 Mdmoires de la Cour, Madame de Lafayette.
2 Madame de Lafayette, author of La Princesse de Clhtes (1634-
1693), was the daughter of a field-marshal and governor of Havre.
She was distinguished for her wit and learning, and was the friend of
many of the most celebrated men of her time, as well as of Madame
de Sevigne. She was intimately acquainted with all the social events
of her day, and was always in favour at Court. Her husband, Comte
de Lafayette, left her early a widow, and does not appear to have
counted for very much in her career.
72 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
very proud, was not without plenty of common sense,"
begged him to arrange the ceremonial to be observed
as he chose, and she would do whatever he thought
best. It was then decided that the etiquette in vogue
in France was to be observed with regard to the
duchesses.
At the same time Louis settled 50,000 crowns on
James for his establishment, and 50,000 francs a month
for current expenses. Though James was unwilling to
accept more than half, his expenses were afterwards
regulated on that footing. The Court was touched by
Louis's generosity to his guests, and Madame de
S6vigne's appreciation reflects the general opinion :
"Le Roi fait pour ces Majest6s angloises des choses
toutes divines ; car n'est-ce point tre 1'image du Tout-
Puissant que de soutenir un roi chasse, trahi, abandonne
comme il est."
This question and the far more imposing one of
etiquette having been put on a firm basis, " Madame "
paid her visit of ceremony to Saint-Germain. There
was no more notable personage at the Court of
Versailles than Louis's sister-in-law, the Duchesse
d'Orleans. 2 Her letters show her to have been a
woman of keen intelligence, strong affection, and
virulent animosities. Her life was by no means a
happy one. A woman of high principles and strong
character, she could not feel anything but contempt for
her husband. She was not dazzled by " the great man,"
as she calls Louis with a covert sneer. Her detestation
for his mistress, Madame de Maintenon, was un-
1 De Lafayette.
2 She was the daughter of Charles Louis, Elector Palatine, and thus
related both to William III. and George I.
SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE 73
measured. For the Dauphin she had a contemptuous
pity, and for his poor little ailing wife, a compassionate
affection. In her letters home she pours out all her most
intimate thoughts with the utmost frankness, in vigorous
and effective terms, although Louis XIV. had a regular
system of opening them as she knew. 1 The letters are
written principally to her aunt, the Electress Sophia of
Hanover, mother of George I. of England. Writing
them was her one escape from a life full of mortification,
that her strong sense of humour and high courage
alone enabled her to support. She had the humiliation 2
of seeing her son, the Due de Chartres, married
perforce to Louis's illegitimate daughter, Mademoiselle
de Blois, who, she says, gets as drunk as a courier
two or three times a week. 3 She knew or believed that
De Maintenon was intriguing to get her daughter
married to " this limping Due du Maine " 4 with the aid
of Mademoiselle, who, " because she has been such a
fool as to give her possessions to the bastard to save
1 " I know beyond all doubt that they open our letters ; the post does
us the honour to close our letters up again very subtly. Madame la
Dauphine often gets hers in a singular state, torn at the top." She
adds a story of Mademoiselle, who, seeing that the letters she received
from her men of business had been opened, put a postscript in her
replies: "As M. Louvois has excellent judgment, and as he will see
this letter before most of you, I beg him in opening my packet to add
a word of advice about my affairs they will be all the better for it."
2 " If you knew," she writes, "the position of affairs here, you would
not be surprised that I am not gayer. Anyone else in my place, if
she had not had my fundamentally jovial humour, would have died of
vexation long ago ; as for me, I grow fat on it. I have few intimacies
here. I lead a life apart like a little free town. I cannot say that I
have more than four friends in all France."
3 For the "rejoicings by command" at this most unpopular wedding,
and Madame's impotent but unconcealed rage, see Saint-Simon.
4 Louis XIV.'s illegitimate son, and the nurse-child and favourite of
de Maintenon.
74 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
that little toad Lauzun from prison, she wishes us all
to be as mad as herself."
With the Duchesse d'Orleans came all the Princesses
of the Blood. The Queen kissed them all, and gave
an arm-chair to Madame and folding chairs (sieges
pliantes) to the Princesses. The next day the recalci-
trant duchesses paid their visit, and were given stools
to sit upon (tabourets}. All had been sent by Louis,
says Dangeau, who assured them they would be treated
by the Queen as if she were Queen of France, and
the same etiquette was to be observed. The same
writer notes that the Princes of the Blood were to keep
on their hats when James had on his, and that the
Queen was to give them folding seats and to kiss them.
She had omitted this civility in the case of Monsieur,
who was sulky about it ; 1 though, bearing in mind
Saint-Simon's description of this bedizened and painted
person, one sympathises with Maria's aversion for
kissing him.
No one in Paris was talking of anything but the
new Court and the ceremonial to be observed at it.
" It is so extraordinary a thing to have this Court there,
that we never stop talking about it," writes Madame
de Sevigne. 2 " They are trying to regulate ranks (regler
les rangs} and to arrange life on a permanent footing
with people who appear to be so far from being
re-established. The King said the other day that
this King was the best fellow in the world, that he
should hunt with him, that he should come to
Marly and Trianon, and that the courtiers would
have to get used to it." She concludes : " One is
greatly occupied with this new Court." She adds
1 " Qui en boude " (De Sevigne). January 12.
DE FRANCE
ORLEANS. <tr.
PHILIPPE
DUC DE
" MONSIEUR.
SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE 75
later that " Madame la Dauphine will not go to see
this Queen."
The Dauphine was a Bavarian princess. Made-
moiselle describes her arrival in France in her memoirs.
She was not beautiful, but had a good figure. Her
husband was kept much in the background, being
besides rather a poor thing, and she herself was con-
tinually ailing. Medicine and morals were the two
worst points about the age of Louis XIV. Medical
remedies were few but violent, and a sick person did
considerably better by avoiding them altogether.
" Madame " d' Orleans, who was sincerely attached to
this princess, writes that " Madame la Dauphine grows
weaker, and her illness has become so chronic that I
am much afraid that there is no longer any remedy.
Now that she is obliged to keep her bed, they are
forced to own that she is really ill, but they are
extremely ignorant, and only know how to purge,
bleed, and blister ; now, none of all that will do
Mme. la Dauphine's business."
This was the infirm lady whose pretensions, none
the less, exceeded those of anyone else. She wished
to sit on the Queen's right and to have an arm-
chair. That was not according to precedent. Even
" Madame " was only accorded an arm-chair on the
Queen's left. The difficulty was ultimately solved
by her remaining in bed officially as well as actually
indisposed where Maria visited her.
There remain only two other incidents connected
with these ceremonial visits which call for notice. One
was that the pertinacious Duchess of Portsmouth
contrived to find her way in on one of the visiting days.
The other was that, on the day when Madame came,
76 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
and the Princesses of the Blood were given sieges
pliantes, the same accommodation was offered to Queen
Maria's friend and lady-in-waiting, Donna Vittoria
Montecuccoli Davia. This was regarded as most extra-
ordinary, and it was determined to ask for an explana-
tion. To overcome the difficulties of the etiquette,
the Queen had had her old friend created Comtesse
d'Almond. Donna Vittoria had left her people, her
country, even her husband, to share the exile of
Maria d'Este.
Visits had been paid by everyone of importance.
There only remained the return visit of Maria Beatrice
to Versailles, which, as she had explained to Monsieur,
she was only waiting to pay till her Court dress arrived.
After that, life at Saint-Germain settled down into
some sort of routine, though the household of James
and Mary was not placed on its regular footing till
after the return of James from his abortive visit to
Ireland, for which he soon began to make ready.
CHAPTER V
FIRST IMPRESSIONS AT SAINT-GERMAIN %
WHILE everyone was discussing the King and Queen
of England, the charm and tact of Maria of Modena,
the probable duration of their stay, and the magnanimity
of Louis in his reception of them, two letters from
Saint-Germain show how the refugees regarded their
new environment. The first is from Donna Vittoria
Montecuccoli to the Duke of Modena. 1 She tells the
Duke that she can now give him better news of the
Queen his sister than she was able to do from
Boulogne. She is in the best of health. After Louis
XIV. had restored James to her, he returned to
Versailles, leaving her quite happy again (tutta consolatd],
They only want the Duke's presence there to fully
satisfy her (j>er maggior suo contento). She describes the
joy of great and small at the arrival of the Queen, who
has been everywhere received as a sovereign. It is
marvellous how well the Prince of Wales is, in spite
of all he has been through. The Queen has never
shown distress at having left the kingdom and all the
rest ; she lamented greatly the separation from the
King, " but now I believe that she will think a little of
1 Archives d'Este at Modena, quoted by Cavelli.
77
7 8 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
the rest. In every way her virtue is indeed great,
and I hope that God will deign to assist their Majesties
and restore them very soon to their kingdom."
On January I2th, Maria Beatrice found time to
write to her brother herself:
"DEAR BROTHER, 1 If I wished to undertake the
relation of all the things that have happened to me and
the King after our leaving London, it would make a
volume rather than a letter. Be content, then, that by
this post, which Marchese Rangoni 2 will forward
to you, I will only tell you the most important
part of it, our happy arrival at this place. My son
and I reached it on the 6th, the King on the yth,
after having caused me many sighs and tears, and
not without reason. But God be praised, we are in
safety, and receive many favours from the King." She
adds : " I don't know what has become of poor Abbe
Rizzini."
On January I3th, the day after writing this letter,
Maria paid her state visit to Versailles. Madame
la Dauphine had persisted in saying that she was too
ill to go and pay the first visit, as Louis XIV. had
wished, and, to prevent any infringement of her rights,
kept her bed. The Queen of England was in her
new Court dress " habillee en perfection ; une robe de
velours noir, une belle jupe, bien coiffee, une taille
comme la Princesse de Conti, 3 beaucoup de majeste." 4
1 Arch. Este at Modena, from original Italian, quoted by Cavelli.
2 Rangoni had been sent by the Court of Modena with congratula-
tions on the Prince of Wales's birth.
3 " On n'a vu aucune personne de grande taille danser parfaitement,
si ce n'est la grande Princesse de Conti, mais personne au monde ne
Sansait aussi bien qu'elle." Correspondance de Madame.
* De S6vigne".
FIRST IMPRESSIONS AT SAINT-GERMAIN 79
Louis went to meet her at her carriage door. 1 He
conducted her first to his dressing-room, where they
chatted for half an hour. Louis always enjoyed talking
to her ; her readiness and easy self-possession pleased
him. They next went to visit the Dauphine. Louis
XIV. left the Queen at the door, as etiquette forbade
his daughter-in-law to sit in an arm-chair in his
presence. The Dauphine, after all, was up and
dressed : perhaps she too had a new dress for the
occasion, and felt impelled to wear it. " Madame, I
thought you were in bed ! " said Maria, very much
surprised. " Madame," replied the Dauphine, " I
wished to get up to receive the honour that your
Majesty does me." By this little artifice, however,
Madame la Dauphine had gained her point. The
Queen of England was given an arm-chair on the left
of Madame's own.
Even Louis himself always seated Maria on his right.
Three other arm-chairs were provided for the three
little Princes, the Dauphine's sons, the Dues de Bour-
gogne, de Berry, and d'Anjou. The Court was very
full ; a crowd of duchesses were present. The talk
was brisk and unconstrained, and the visit lasted half an
hour. Maria only brought with her Lady Powis and
Lady d'Almond (Montecuccoli Davia). On leaving
the Dauphine, she visited Monsieur and Monseigneur.
She was filled with admiration for the beauties of
Versailles, and astonished at its magnificence, especially
that of the great gallery. Her discreetly expressed but
sincere admiration greatly gratified Louis. 2 At the
conclusion of her visit, after he had seen her to her
1 Outside the guard-room, Dangeau says.
2 De Lafayette.
80 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
carriage, 1 he returned upstairs and loudly expressed his
approbation of the Queen of England to his Court.
" That is what a Queen ought to be physically and
mentally, holding her Court with dignity." 1 He
admired her courage in her misfortunes, and her
passionate affection for her husband. Madame de
Sevigne adds other details of Maria's first visit to the
French Court. "Those of our ladies, who wanted
to play the princess, did not kiss her robe ; some
of the duchesses followed their example. The King
was very annoyed about it ; presently they will kiss
her feet."
The first impression made by James and his wife
on the French was enhanced by closer acquaintance.
" Plus les Fran9ais voyaient le roi d' Angleterre, moins
on lui plaignait de la perte de son royaume. Ce Prince
n'tait obsede que de jesuites : . . . la conversation finit
par dire qu'il tait de leur societe : cela parut d'un tres
mauvais gout." It is curious to find Catholic France
reproaching James with the very same weakness that
had outraged Protestant England. Even the French
clergy seem to have regarded him with something of
contempt. The Archbishop of Rheims,Louvois's brother,
watching him come out of Church, said ironically :
" There is a very good man ; he has left three kingdoms
for a mass." " Belle reflexion dans la bouche d'un
archeve'que! " comments Madame de Lafayette. There
could be no two opinions on James's piety, but that is
not quite the same thing as virtue. The Abbe Melani,
who was attached to the Tuscan legation in Paris, wrote
1 According to Mme. de Sevigne.
8 "Voila comme il faut que soit une reine, et de corps, et d'esprit,
tenant sa cour avec dignite."
FIRST IMPRESSIONS AT SAINT-GERMAIN 81
to the Grand Duke of Tuscany's secretary, the Abbe
Gondi : " The King of England passes for a very good
Prince in the opinion of those who have come in contact
with him, but not of that elevation that Fame has
hitherto credited him with."
James, unconscious of the criticism that he was
exciting, seems to have had the happy faculty of living
in the present; and Louis XIV. was as good as his word
about making him a participator in all his amusements.
Meanwhile that needy stream of emigrants, to feed
whom Maria had later on to sell her diamond buttons,
had already begun. As early as January 1 1 th, M. Colbert
Maulevrier, probably a nephew of the great Colbert,
had written to Louvois 1 apprising him of the arrival
of some of these refugees, the Countess of Sussex,
Anne Palmer, natural daughter of Charles II., and the
Duchess of Cleveland ; with her was her niece, Miss
O'Brien, daughter of the Lord Clare, who was to die
at the Battle of the Boyne. With them was Charles
Skelton, who afterwards became a lieutenant-general
in France, and married the Earl of Sussex's daughter
Barbara.
" I believe," says Madame de Sevigne at this time,
" that the King and Queen of England are very much
better off at Saint-Germain than in their own perfidious
kingdom. The King of England calls M. de Lauzun
his governor ; but he does not govern anyone else, for
he is not in high favour elsewhere." Lauzun's rein-
statement was slow. Mademoiselle de Montpensier
remained obdurate, and the King's former favourite
had no lack of enemies at Court. As for Mademoi-
selle, the romantic attachment of a middle-aged woman
1 Archives of the French War Office (Cavelli).
82 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
for a young man, who dared not respond to advances
from his master's cousin otherwise than by respectful
homage, had changed into bitter and obstinate resent-
ment. When Lauzun lost the King's favour, he had
not troubled about conserving that of Mademoiselle,
and after she had bought his enlargement he repaid
her with ill-humour, insolence, and ingratitude, which
culminated in his telling her that he would have been
much better off if she had not interfered. Goaded
beyond the endurance even of her long-standing
adoration, Mademoiselle had ordered him out of her
sight and out of her house. She had too much
dignity ever to forgive him, and Lauzun had a
lodging at the Chateau of Saint-Germain.
With regard to the household there, Madame de
Sevign6 says that "their Majesties have only accepted
50,000 francs a month of all that the King wished
to give them, and do not wish to live like kings.
Many English have joined them ; without that they
would be content with still less ; they have, in fact,
resolved to begin as they mean to go on (de faire vie
qui dure}"
The French Court would have been quite content
to continue paying ceremonious calls on Saint-Germain
for ever, but James soon tired of it. When next
Louis and his son Monseigneur l visited the King and
Queen of England, two days after Maria had been to
Versailles, James, who did not want to sit in a row in
arm-chairs, remained standing talking by the chimney
to Monseigneur. "We agreed that we would not
1 The title of Monseigneur was given to the Dauphin by Louis XIV.,
and must not be confused with " Monsieur," the title of the King's
brother.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS AT SAINT-GERMAIN 83
stand on ceremony after this visit," he said. " I am
going to begin from this evening." The next day
James went over to Versailles after dinner. Louis
was with Madame de Maintenon. He set himself,
however, to entertain his visitor, showed him all
his cabinets in his small private room, took him to
Salut, 1 and afterwards to visit the Dauphine. Mon-
seigneur wanted to accompany him out, when he took
leave, saying, " I am going to do the honours of the
house," but James again, with his characteristic dislike
of ceremony, insisted on his leaving him at the door
of his wife's apartments.
The day after, on January i yth, James paid that visit
to Paris on which Madame de Lafayette comments
adversely. He went first to the Carmelite Convent,
to visit the Mother Agnes, who had been the first
person to influence him in his conversion to Roman
Catholicism. He then attended service at the Jesuits',
and dined with Lauzun. It was on this occasion that
James is reported to have said that Father Petre had
never given him any but good counsels another
instance of his extraordinary blindness to the true state
of his affairs, since Petre's presence on the Council
had so much contributed to his ruin. It was a blind-
ness not shared by his wife. 2 Subsequently he drove
about Paris incognito in a carriage of Lauzun's, with
only a brigadier of guards mounted behind him ; but
he was nevertheless recognised, and so inconveniently
large a crowd collected that he relinquished his inten-
1 Term applied to afternoon or evening service in the Roman
Catholic Church.
2 It appears from a letter of Rizzini in the Archives d'Este at
Modena that the Queen had used her influence to get him sent away
from Court.
84 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
tion of going to Val-de-Grace. 1 Excursions in other
people's carriages seem to have suggested to James
that there was no reason why he should not have his
own. Accordingly he wrote the following letter to
Lord Dartmouth, requesting that they might be sent
to him :
"SAINT-GERMAIN, January 19.
" Howsoever the Prince of Orange uses me in other
things, sure he will not refuse me the common civility
of letting all my coaches and horses come over to me ;
'tis but what I did to Prince George, when he went
away from me. I send this bearer Ral. Sheldon to
you to bring them away, so soon as a pass can be
got from the Prince of Orange. Speak for the pass
yourself or to Lord Middleton to have it solicited,
and give directions to De la Tree to bring it over
himself, or if he be not yet ready to come, to send the
best of my guns and pistols over with Sheldon, 2 this
bearer, to whom I refer what else I have to say.
" JAMES R."
That want of high-mindedness observed by James's
critics at the French Court is sufficiently exemplified
by his consenting to ask small favours of the man
who had supplanted him. William at once acceded to
this request of James, but countermanded the order
on hearing that James was going to head the troops
against him in Ireland. The carriages of the Queen
had, however, already gone, and her own coachman,
1 In the Chapel of the Hearts at Val-de-Grace the hearts of
Louis XIV.'s mother and wife were preserved.
2 The Ralph Sheldon here mentioned was an equerry who had
followed James into France and died there at ninety in 1723. His
brother Dominic was deputy governor to the Prince of Wales, and
afterwards became a general in the French army. Edward, the
youngest brother, was also an equerry at the exiled Court.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS AT SAINT-GERMAIN 85
who, curiously enough, had formerly been in the service
of Cromwell, followed her to France.
It was about mid-January that James paid his first
visit to Marly, at which Louis had so enthusiastically
declared his intention of entertaining him, and an
invitation to which was the highest mark of the Most
Christian King's favour. Marly was the refuge which
Louis had built for himself as the antithesis of the
bustle, the crowds, the courtiers of Versailles. The
thought which he had in his mind was that of a place
to which he might repair with a dozen courtiers at
most, which should betray him into no expenses, and
which should enable him to escape for a little from
the magnificence and display by which he was sur-
rounded. To an ordinary mind Marly, when it was
first discovered, would not have seemed promising.
After examining the neighbourhood of Versailles, Louis
found a deep, narrow valley, completely shut in, in-
accessible from its swamps, and with a wretched village
called Marly upon the slope of one of its hills. He
was overjoyed at his discovery. It was a great work,
that of draining this sewer of all the environs, which
threw there their garbage, and of bringing soil thither.
The hermitage was made, but Louis could not resist
his passion for building and altering the face of nature. 1
Buildings, gardens, water, aqueducts, costly furniture
and statues were added. Then a park was made.
Full - grown trees were transplanted there from
Compiegne, and replaced as soon as they died. Woods
were changed into ornamental waters, and then re-
converted into forest : so that from first to last Marly
was estimated to have cost even more than Versailles.
1 Saint-Simon.
86 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Going over soon after five o'clock, James found Louis
just returned from shooting. They spent some time
shut up together, discussing political matters (Dangeau
asserts that it was on this occasion that the expedition
of James to Ireland was first mooted), and before he
left Marly, James was taken over the house and was
received by Madame de Maintenon. The career and
character of Madame de Maintenon are too well
known to make it necessary to give more than a few
words to either here. Franoise d'Aubigny was an
orphan dependent on the charity of a hard old woman
who employed her in menial offices. From this
servitude she was rescued by the poet Scarron. No
longer young, a hopeless cripple reduced to live by
his wits, Scarron did all he could for so friendless a
creature he gave her the protection of his name.
The society of the brilliant invalid was sought after
by all classes, so that Madame Scarron had made
many influential acquaintances when her husband's
death threw her on her own resources. She passed
from one house to another in a subordinate capacity.
In those days there were no bells. It was useful to
have a complaisant and subservient dependent to
send on small errands to the servants. At last Madame
Scarron attracted the notice of Madame de Montespan,
the mistress of Louis XIV., and was by her engaged
as governess to her children, one of whom, M. du
Maine, later owed so much to the affection of his
old governess.
So it happened that, when the children came to be
acknowledged, the governess was brought into contact
with their father. From that time her fortune was
made. Madame de Montespan was a most generous
FIRST IMPRESSIONS AT SAINT-GERMAIN 87
patroness. It was she who extracted from Louis the
gift of an estate (of Maintenon) for the governess,
whom Louis began by greatly disliking. Gradually
the gentle, supple, insinuating dependent vanquished
the King's dislike, won his favour, and finally ousted
the imperious mistress of whose temper and caprices
Louis had grown weary. For more than thirty years
Madame de Maintenon governed Louis through his
ministers with a subtly concealed art, playing not on
his passions but on his piety. She had an admir-
able wit, incomparable grace, a gentle, easy, respectful
manner, and in later years cultivated studiously an
air of devotion. 1
James's formal visit to Marly was not at once
returned, for the next day was so wet that Louis
stayed at home and played " trou-madame," a popular
game that consisted in throwing balls into a kind of
bagatelle board. Monseigneur went over to Saint-
Germain for wolf-hunting in spite of the weather.
"They had persuaded him that he liked hunting,"
says Saint-Simon ; but he was not happy unless a man
rode in front of him always to make a way for him,
and if this advance guard of his got out of sight, he
would dismount and wait by a tree till the arrival of
some of his people. On this occasion no wolves were
found, so Monseigneur went stag-hunting instead with
the hounds of M. du Maine.
M. du Maine, the son of De Montespan and Louis
XIV., had been confided to the care of De Maintenon in
his childhood. He was crippled, and she took him
into the country to see a doctor who was reputed to
have skill in curing lameness. The letters of the
1 See Saint-Simon.
88 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
governess to the mistress during this journey are
models of consummate adroitness : devoted, respectful,
zealous, intended also for the eye of the King. Some-
times she encloses a letter from the Prince, which in
its unchildlike and discreet homage suggests the guid-
ing hand of his governess, and is far from being, as she
describes it, " un barbouillage du mignon." l Du Maine
owed much in after-life to Madame de Maintenon's
real affection for him. Faint echoes of the storm of
impotent rage produced by his being declared a Prince
of the Blood still vibrate from the pages of Saint-
Simon. But though he and Madame de Maintenon
had left the King no peace till they had attained this
end, its achievement was by no means an unmixed joy,
for, as Du Maine pleasantly expressed it to his familiars,
what with the legitimate Princes of the Blood and the
Peers, he felt " like a louse between two finger-nails."
His wife's folly and extravagance, which he did not
venture to control, were still further stimulated by
this new honour.
James went hunting too, and it was noticed with
approval by the onlookers that he kept up well with the
hounds ; but the weather continued atrocious, and they
lost the stag. " His Britannic Majesty did not give up
going boldly to the hunt with Monseigneur, in spite
of his vexatious circumstances," says Madame de
Lafayette, and she adds with the little sting of con-
tempt characteristic of her " and hunted as a man of
twenty years might have done, who has no other care
than that of amusing himself." The implied reproach
was, however, unjust on this occasion. As noted by
Dangeau, James had discussed with Louis the situation
1 " A rigmarole from the darling."
FIRST IMPRESSIONS AT SAINT-GERMAIN 89
that had arisen in England from the offer of the Govern-
ment which the Lords had made to William ; and on
the day of the hunting he had so far occupied himself
with his own affairs as to direct Melfort to write to
Louvois, the Minister of War, asking for an audience.
A few words must be said of Louvois, who ministered
military affairs in France for a period of more than
twenty-five years. He had directed the military opera-
tions which had covered French arms with glory. A
great historian has declared him to be " the greatest
adjutant-general, the greatest quartermaster-general,
the greatest commissary-general that Europe had seen.
He may be said to have made a revolution in the art
of disciplining, distributing, equipping, and provisioning
armies." But despite the splendour of his ability and
his services, he was not beyond the hurt of intrigue. He
was one of the two witnesses to the secret marriage of
Louis and Madame de Maintenon, 1 and he had extracted
a solemn promise from his master, that she should
never be publicly acknowledged. Later on, when
Madame de Maintenon was sufficiently secure of her
position to insist on having the marriage made public,
Louvois became aware of the King's intentions, and
going to him flung himself on the ground before him
and clasped his knees, and implored Louis to kill him
on the spot with the sword he was wearing, rather than
cover himself with infamy in the eyes of Europe.
This loyal servant's entreaties were successful, but
henceforward Madame de Maintenon set herself to
1 They were married by Pere de la Chaise at Versailles by night, in
the presence of Bontems, governor of Versailles, Harlay, Archbishop
of Paris, Louvois, and Montchevreuil, a friend of Madame de Maintenon
when she was Madame Scarron.
90 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
work his ruin, to make him odious to the King. It was
an evil day for France when she achieved her purpose.
It was to this great minister that James applied
through Melfort, in order to enlist his sympathies in
schemes for recovering the throne and kingdom that
had been lost. News was already coming from
England that there was much discontent in influential
quarters. Admiral Herbert and the young Duke of
Grafton were among the malcontents. James was
informed of the position of affairs by vague and illusive
rumours of a kind which became increasingly frequent,
and on which the exiles were always too ready to build
hopes. The reports, however, must have been con-
flicting. There were many to bring them. Among
recent arrivals from England was the Papal Nuncio
Adda. The relations between Louis XIV. and the
Pope being what they were, he was not well received,
and it was hoped he would go on at once to Italy.
The faithful Rizzini arrived about the same time in
France, and hastened to write an account of all he had
been through to the Duke of Modena. His perils
had not been inconsiderable, owing to the disturbed
state of the county, and to his having been mistaken
for the detested Father Petre. He had been to Saint-
Germain as soon as he arrived, when James and Maria
showed " extraordinary pleasure " at his escape from
so many dangers. They recommended him to seek
an audience of the French King. He did so, and was
graciously received in private.
Louis told him he had been in great anxiety for him.
Before he left England Rizzini had been entrusted by
the French King with a considerable sum of money
to be devoted to James's interests. He had saved part
FIRST IMPRESSIONS AT SAINT-GERMAIN 91
of it, although he had lost his own property. After
kind congratulations on his safe arrival, Louis went on
to praise the Queen of England in compliments which
the gratified Italian hastened to convey to her brother.
Even if she had not been born a Princess, and were
not Queen of England, Louis said, she possessed
so elevated a nature, such straightforward, dignified
manners, that together with her piety and virtue laid
one under the strictest obligation to serve her, and
to desire above all things to be able to do more for
her. After commenting on the universal admiration
for the Queen, Rizzini goes on to say : " Mean-
while the dispossessed King enjoys tranquil repose
in this kingdom, the asylum of safety given to him
with true brotherly love by this ever-glorious and
unvanquished monarch ; and it appears to him to be
infinitely less unhappy to be an exile and a fugitive in
the arms of friendship than to reign, although peacefully,
over perfidious and ungrateful subjects. So that the
indifference or insensibility that he appears to show
to his misfortunes is noted with varying reflection, but
whoever understands his always imperturbable nature
is well aware that, however inured he is grown to
suffering, so that he is never accustomed to show pain,
he is not on that account exempt from severest inward
wounds, which are so much the more painful as they
are concealed and deep."
This testimony from one who knew the Royal family
well is interesting compared with the impression of
light-mindedness that James left upon his new French
acquaintances. There does not, however, appear to
be corroborative testimony to James's deep sense of his
position. At this time he probably did not realise it :
92 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
he was always optimistic about the future, and he
appears to have confidently expected to recover his
throne by way of Ireland. This subject perhaps formed
the topic of another long private talk James had with
Louis at Versailles on the 2yth, after which he visited
the Dauphine, who was, as usual, poor lady, in bed.
These days must have been the least unhappy, in a
worldly sense, of the Stuarts' exile. They were welcome
and honoured guests, they were enjoying peace and
tranquillity after all they had undergone of alarm and
anxiety, they were not without reasonable hopes of
their restoration in the near future.
Writing to the Due de Modena at this time, Donna
Vittoria Montecuccoli - Davia says that the Queen
" wins the hearts of all, and is esteemed and honoured
with special distinction by everyone. She now enjoys
the best of health and bears everything else courage-
ously, only regretting her inability to recompense those
who serve her, as she formerly did." She adds that
the Queen has been hitherto served by French officials,
but expects that they will soon leave, as there are already
many English to take their place, and their numbers
are added to every day, including even Protestants.
" The Royal Prince," says this good creature, " is in
the best of health and grows more beautiful every day.
I am therefore perhaps the only person, who when I
have the honour to see him, feel regret at seeing the
manner of his bringing up so different from ours. . . .
The thing that troubles me most is seeing him bounced
up and down on pretence that it is necessary to do so
to cure an ailment, which we call rickets, which attacks
babies. Then again he is only bandaged (in swaddling
bands after the fashion still in use abroad) in the
FIRST IMPRESSIONS AT SAINT-GERMAIN 93
evening, while all day he remains dressed, sleeps so
dressed as if he were seven years of age." In con-
clusion, she informs the Duke that she has received the
patent of her new title, Comtesse d' Almond. Madame
de Sevigne's remarks on the dress of the Prince are
interesting also : " Mme. de Chaulnes a vu la reine
d'Angleterre : elle en est fort contente ; le petit prince,
habille comme un godenot, 1 mais beau, gai, qu'on
eleve en dansant. Voil<t le vrai temps du bonheur
des enfants."
James was not idle at this time in his own interest.
He sought to enlist support among other European
Powers among them the Grand Duke of Tuscany, to
whom he wrote :
" MY BROTHER, As you always take much interest
in all which concerns me, I do not doubt that you
have been sincerely affected by the misfortunes which
have befallen me. You and all Christendom see
that without the pretext of Religion, the Prince of
Orange would never have been able to chase me from
my kingdom, as he has done. It is by this means
that he has corrupted my troops and the greater part of
my Protestant subjects, and that he has persuaded the
Princes of this same religion to assist him. I hope
that the Catholic Princes will follow this example, and
will think of making peace among themselves, in order
to be more in a condition to help me to regain my
throne, and to establish then the Catholic religion, with-
out, however, doing wrong to anybody. Not doubting
that you will lend a hand as a good Catholic and
near relation. For the rest, I beg you to believe that
I shall have for you all the esteem and affection that
you have reason to expect from your affect, brother,
"J. R." 2
1 Godenot, " figure de petit homme ridicule " (mannikin).
2 Published by Cavelli from Medici Archives in original Italian.
94 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
To all of which the Duke replied in a highly compli-
mentary style, condoling with James on the sacrifices
he had made for Holy Religion, and adding ardent
expressions of his desire to see so much royal merit
speedily recompensed. It is evident from this letter
of James's, as from many others written by himself
and Maria, that they confidently regarded their cause
as that of all Roman Catholic rulers : it is in the name
of Holy Religion that they call upon the principalities
and powers of Europe to come to their aid. Alas for
them ! the day of religious wars was over. Commerce
and not creed was to be henceforward the motive
power of war. With the rise of nationalities and the
need of national expansion, new causes controlled
political action ; and while the master-mind of Europe,
William III., welded together Protestant and Roman
Catholic, Emperor and Pope, against the aggression
of France, Louis XIV., his rival, jeopardised his own
life's work and that of his predecessors on the throne
of France in a spirit of mediaeval chivalry.
Meanwhile the interchange of visits went on briskly
between Versailles and Saint - Germain. Dangeau
describes at length one such visit that took place on
January 3Oth. Louis received James and Maria in
his dressing-room ; Monseigneur was present with
Madame la Duchesse, and the Princesse de Conti, and
Mademoiselle de Blois. With Mademoiselle de Blois,
sister of the Due du Maine, and daughter of Louis's
mistress De Montespan, the exiles had already met.
Saint-Simon remarks that she and her sister, Madame
la Duchesse, were bound together in their aversion for
their half-sister, the Princesse de Conti. Madame la
Duchesse was the wife of a son of the great Conde.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS AT SAINT-GERMAIN 95
The Princesse de Conti, the daughter of Louis and the
gentle Mademoiselle de la Valliere, the mistress of his
youth, had married Louis Armand, Prince de Conti,
who had died three years before.
James and Maria went into King Louis's cabinet
with these ladies and a few courtiers, and sat down in
the medal room Maria in an arm-chair near the fire,
the others on folding chairs : the Countess of Almond
sat behind the Queen. They went to Salut, and
returning repaired to the Dauphine's room. She
received them in bed, and Maria sat with her, while
the two Kings shut themselves up in her little cabinet
to talk of affairs. It is to Maria that henceforward
must be traced most of the initiative in any steps that
were taken to secure their restoration. Now and later
on, when James was content to resign himself to the
consolations of religion and had sunk into a kind of
pious lethargy, Maria still had her son's interests at
heart. "The Queen of England," says Madame de
Sevigne, " has every appearance, if God willed it, of
preferring to reign in the fair kingdom of England,
where the Court is large and beautiful, than to remain
at Saint-Germain, although overwhelmed with the
kindness of the King (Louis), which is quite on a
heroic scale. As for the King of England, he appears
content here, and it is for that reason that he is where
he is."
At this moment, James and Maria having decided
to appeal to the Pope to unite the Catholic Princes of
Europe, Maria writes on February ist to her uncle,
Cardinal Rinaldo d'Este l at Rome, in order that their
1 Published in the original Italian by Cavelli from Archives d'Este
at Modena.
96 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
messenger may be guided by the advice of a trusted
friend who is on the spot, and in a position to judge
of the most auspicious moment for presenting their
appeal to his Holiness. She excuses herself for delay
in writing because for the first fifteen days after her
arrival she suffered the pains of death from the un-
certainty in which she was about her husband. She is
sending her letter by James's messenger Mr Porter,
a truly honourable man (de grande spirito] and a
zealous Catholic, who has orders to show his instruc-
tions to her uncle and act only on his advice. She
fondly hopes that this may be a means of putting an
end to the differences between Roman Catholic Princes
" and that all may unite together to defend our Holy
Faith," and na'ively continues : " because in truth it
would be a shame that while all the Protestant Princes
are unwearying and of one accord in the advancement
of their faith and religion, the Catholics, instead of
uniting to defend it, continue to contend with one
another. I am certain that when his Holiness is fully
informed of the miserable condition in which we and
all the Catholics of our kingdom find ourselves, he
will be moved with compassion, and that he will do
everything to alleviate it."
James wrote himself to his wife's uncle, telling him
that he proposed to inform his Holiness of the present
state of his affairs by his Vice-Chamberlain, Mr Porter, 1
" since I have not anyone about me more capable of
doing it." His letter is to the same effect as that of
his wife. He hopes that the Pope will put an end to
the strife between the Roman Catholic Princes of
Europe, in order that the Most Christian King may
1 Colonel James Porter, an Irishman from Wexford.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS AT SAINT-GERMAIN 97
be free to replace him on his throne, and by so doing
to avert the extirpation of the true Religion in the
three kingdoms. So important did they consider this
mission to the Pope that Melfort wrote some days
later, on February 5th, to the same effect to Cardinal
d'Este. After describing the existing position of the
King and Queen of England's affairs, he continued :
" But as there is an almost universal war among the
Catholics, the King cannot hope that the Catholic
Princes can give him the assistance necessary to his
re-establishment and the welfare of Religion." l He
adds that the interests of Louis XIV. and James are
so bound up, that D'Este would do well to consult
with the French ambassador on the steps to be taken,
but without the Pope's suspecting that he had done so.
The change in the internal economy of the house-
hold at Saint-Germain, which Lady d' Almond fore-
shadowed in writing to the Duke of Modena, was
made on the ist of this month, February. There
remained all the stable officials (James, it will be
remembered, had not succeeded in recovering his
own horses and carriages) ; but the chaplains, the
maitres d'httel^ "and all that regards the table," as
Dangeau puts it, returned to Versailles. James was
now served by his own officials, and had "a very
mediocre table." Already the rising tide of refugees
was making economy a necessity.
1 Archives at Modena (Cavelli).
CHAPTER VI
GAIETIES AT THE FRENCH COURT
FROM the enforced economies of Saint-Germain, James
and Maria often escaped at this time to share the
gaieties of Louis XIV.'s splendid Court. Later on
Maria sought a refuge from all her anxieties and dis-
appointments in the neighbouring nunnery of Chaillot,
between whose walls she found once more the con-
ventual peace that she had learned to value in her
girlhood. But at this time she entered with zest into
all the entertainments that Louis XIV.'s Court afforded.
Perhaps even in her pious breast may have arisen the
thought that the more she deepened the favourable
impression she had made on the susceptible French
King, the more likely he would be to follow up his
" heroic kindness " by practical and substantial aid in
re-seating her husband on his throne.
On February 5th Maria, whose searchings of heart
on the spiritual danger of witnessing the performance
of stage plays were subsequently recorded by her
friends and admirers the nuns of Chaillot, accompanied
James to a performance of Esther at Saint-Cyr.
Madame de Montespan had founded at Paris an in-
stitution in which young girls were instructed in the art
98
GAIETIES AT THE FRENCH COURT 99
of fine needlework. Madame de Maintenon wished
to outdo this, and founded Saint-Cyr for the education
of the daughters of poor nobility. She hoped to win
adulation for herself in influential quarters by this
good work, and at the same time provide amusement
for the King, and an asylum for herself if ever she
wanted one. Saint-Cyr was within reach of the Court,
though at the same time not too near to unsettle the
minds of its occupants. These were to be limited at
first to two hundred and fifty young girls, thirty-six
nuns, and twenty -four lay sisters. Madame de
Maintenon attended personally to every minutest
detail. She had not forgotten the economies which
Madame Scarron had been forced to practise.
Louis XIV. endowed the institution and gave
Madame de Maintenon carte blanche for furniture, on
which she spent 50,000 florins. She was anxious to
avoid equally all that savoured of luxury or of indigence
for her little protegees. Neither Louis nor Madame
de Maintenon had any liking for the cloister ; they
wanted to found a community in which the virtues of
the convent should be combined with the graces of the
world. The King was even averse to the nuns in
charge wearing a habit. Madame de Maintenon
devised a modification of it, in which she arrayed one
of her women for his inspection. " What devil of a
nun's bonnet have you given them ? " he asked ; and
the pupils wore a uniform of brown cloth with a white
piqu6 bonnet decked with knots of ribbon denoting the
form the pupil was in.
Saint-Cyr was at this time " worthy of the greatness
of the King, and of the mind of her who had conceived
it, and who conducted it," says Madame de Lafayette ;
ioo THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
but she goes on, with her usual sly sneer : " This
place, now that we are dkvots, is the abode of virtue
and piety." She foresees frightful rocks ahead, and
continues : " To suppose that three hundred young
girls, who remain there up to twenty years old, and who
have at their door a Court full of lively young men l
above all, when the authority of the King will be no
longer exercised there ; to believe, I say, that young
men and girls will be so near each other without climb-
ing over the walls is hardly reasonable." The character
of Saint-Cyr was, however, so far irreproachable.
Madame de Maintenon was always seeking some
fresh means of amusing Louis, 2 and at the same time
liked to provide entertainment for her young protegees ;
and it was she who had commissioned Racine to write
a comedy to be performed by them before the King,
choosing, of course, an improving subject for, as
Madame de Lafayette observes, " As things stand now
there is no salvation at Court without piety, any more
than in the other world." Racine selected the history
of Esther and Ahasuerus, and the dramatist not
only wrote the play, but coached the little actresses in
their parts. The music was pleasing ; a pretty little
theatre was constructed, with changes of scene. The
position of its promoter ensured the success of the
performance.
Everyone said that the comedy of Esther was
superior to anything of the kind that had ever been
written. The little girls came in for their share of
praise, and Madame de Maintenon was highly flattered
by the success of poet and performers ; both alike
1 " Gens eveille"s."
* " Toujours occupe de dessein d'amuser le roi" (Lafayette).
GAIETIES AT THE FRENCH COURT 101
reflected credit upon herself. For the spectators
were not slow to draw a parallel between the fall of
Madame de Montespan and of Vashti, and to hail
Esther as the prototype of Madame de Maintenon.
" Only," adds the irrepressible Lafayette, " all the
difference was that Esther was a little younger, and
less nice in the matter of piety (mains pre'cieuse en
fait de piete)" Madame de Maintenon was not a
little gratified by the comparison ; she wished to extend
her triumph. The King had come away from the
first performance delighted with it, and so everyone
was anxious to see Esther, great and small ; and what
had been originally intended as a convent school
entertainment created an incredible amount of excite-
ment, and became the most talked-of affair at Court.
The King's ministers sought to ingratiate themselves
by leaving the most urgent affairs of State to go and
see Esther. A second performance was given for such
people as Pere de la Chaise, 1 the King's confessor,
accompanied by a bevy of Jesuits and other pious
persons. Then the courtiers were admitted, and finally
Louis bethought himself that it was just such an
entertainment as would be to the taste of his guests at
Saint-Germain.
Accordingly, on February 5th James and his wife
arrived at Saint-Cyr at three o'clock in the afternoon,
where Louis received them in the chapter-house.
Three arm-chairs had been arranged in the little theatre.
Louis sat in the middle, with the Queen on his right
hand and James on his left. La Beaumelle describes
1 Pere de la Chaise, a Jesuit father, was appointed confessor of
Louis in 1675, a P ost which he occupied for more than thirty years
even after his physical powers had decayed and his memory had failed.
102 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Madame de Maintenon at Esther^ seated near the
King on a tabouret^ exposed to all regards, meeting
them with a majestic modesty, dissimulating, by an
openly expressed delight at the success of her pupils,
that which she secretly felt at the flattering application
of the principal character to herself. Madame de
Caylus took the part of Esther, and the actresses
surpassed themselves.
Madame de Caylus was a niece of Madame de
Maintenon. " Her mind is still more beautiful than her
face," writes a contemporary enthusiast, the Abbe de
Choisy, " and no Champme'le in the world could have
had such ravishing tones as escaped her in declamation ;
perfect if her carriage had been freer, and if her gaiety
had not given her little airs of coquetry which her
aunt and advancing age will correct later on." The
King did not at first like Madame de Caylus ; he
found her " precieuse " and a coquette, and she was
twice exiled from Versailles to Paris. Her second dis-
grace ended in her retreating to the Carmelites, whence
Madame de Maintenon fetched her back to Court
" toute devote, toute sainte," and the King gradually
came to view her with less disfavour.
A day or two earlier an event had taken place which,
though insignificant to posterity, divided polite atten-
tion with Esther and the affairs of the King and
Queen of England. The chroniclers of the day, with
that lack of a sense of proportion proper to the
courtier, record it solemnly. It was that Lauzun
had recovered " les grandes entrees." l It was thought
that he owed this privilege to the intercession of James.
At any rate, so important an affair surprised everybody,
1 The entries of the first gentleman of the chamber.
GAIETIES AT THE FRENCH COURT 103
and infuriated Mademoiselle. The Comte de Bussy-
Rabutin had written of Lauzun only the day before
this announcement : " He is one of the smallest men in
mind as well as body that God has ever made " ; and he
continues, that such extraordinary reversals of fortune
recall that game in which one says : " I have seen him
alive : I have seen him dead : I have seen him alive
after death " . . . " 'Tis he to the life ! I do not
think that the King has much regard for the anger of
Mademoiselle." ..." I believe," he concludes, " that
she is now thoroughly ashamed of an attachment for
such a poor thing."
On February 6th James and Maria visited Louis at
Trianon, with which they expressed themselves charmed.
Louis and James retired for some private conversa-
tion. The proposed visit to Ireland was now under
constant discussion. The Queen played at " moiti "
with Monsieur against Madame de Ventadour and
Madame d'Epinay. Madame la Duchesse de Venta-
dour was Charlotte-Eleanore-Magdaleine de la Mothe-
Houdancourt, daughter of a Duke and Marshal of
France. She married the Due de Ventadour, and was
made "gouvernante des enfants de France," a post
that had been held by her mother before her. She
had attached herself to Madame de Maintenon, and
was in receipt of a pension. Besides Lady d' Almond,
several English ladies had accompanied the Queen
Lady Sussex, and a sister of the Duchess of Rich-
mond. The latter two had arrived at Saint-Germain
on January 1 5th.
It was at this time that the Queen, who never lost
sight of the serious business of life, began the attempt
to enlist in the interest of herself and James the support
io 4 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
and sympathy of the General of the Jesuits. Neither
Emperor nor Pope was in a position actively to espouse
the cause of the exiled King and Queen, and this was a
bitter and bewildering blow to Maria, though the
reason was not far to seek. Both Leopold and Innocent
XI. were bound by every instinct of self-preservation
to resist the aggression of France.
It is impossible to understand the fruitlessness of
the persevering attempts of James II. and his wife to
elicit support from the Pope and the Emperor without
some general acquaintance with the events which had
led up to the then existing position of European
politics, and had induced the two Catholic heads of
Christendom, the Emperor and the Pope, to throw in
their lot with the Protestant Powers of Europe, against
the interests of a true son of the Church the dis-
possessed King of England. France was in the seven-
teenth century the preponderating power in Europe.
The events of the period group themselves round the
commanding figure of Louis XIV. The first half of
his reign had marked the building up of his power.
He was the arbiter of Europe. But after 1688 he
had to deal with the combination of European Powers
against him formed by William III. With the latter
years of this period we are not concerned, since long
before the conclusion of Louis XIV.'s reign James II. 's
melancholy and ineffective life had come to an end.
But throughout his reign the French King never lost
sight of the twofold aim of his foreign policy. He
wanted to make the Rhine the frontier of France, and
to unite France and Spain under one monarchy. By
war, by treaty, by aggression he had striven to realise
these aims; but by 1688 he was beginning, by the
GAIETIES AT THE FRENCH COURT 105
operation of various causes, to decline from the zenith
of his power. The disastrous Revocation of the Edict
of Nantes, the persecution of the Protestants, and the
consequent loss to France of the enterprising and
industrious Protestant population, had been a con-
tributory incident. But earlier, in 1686, Louis's
territorial aggressions had so alarmed Europe that
the League of Augsburg was formed (through the
influence of William of Orange) by the Emperor, the
Electors of Saxony and Bavaria among others and
was secretly joined by the Pope, Innocent XI. It is
then easy to see that James and Maria had little to
hope from Imperial or Papal support.
Thus Maria turned to the heads of the Jesuit Order,
to whom she addressed an eloquent and bitter appeal. 1
" Has not Religion," she asks, " been the cause of the
treason and revolt of our subjects ? And have we
not lost our own kingdom through having tried to
advance that of Jesus Christ ? For this reason I
cannot enough wonder at the strange politics of those
Princes, even professing Catholics, who have fallen a
prey to such false and unchristian ideas, as to say that
Religion had no part in our misfortunes, and who
have subsequently not ceased to treat us as enemies
from the moment that the heretic usurper possessed
himself of our throne." " En verit e'en estoit un peu
trop que d'aj outer des calomnies et des injures aux
malheurs dont il a plu a la Divine Providence de nous
prouver." She entreats the prayers of the Order for
their cause, and herself prays " que Dieu me donne la
grace d'une entiere resignation a la sainte volonte."
1 Saint-Germain, Feb. 1689. Stuart Papers at Windsor. Published
by Cavelli.
io6 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Meanwhile James wrote to the Emperor Leopold early
in February, hoping, as he says himself, that " when
his Imperial Maty saw the Prince of Orange make
use of his friendship and assistance, to pursue his own
unnatural ambition, and dethrone a Catholic King, he
might relent in some measure on account of Religion
at least, and be inclined to redress so crying an
injustice, when he found his honour and conscience
engaged beyond what 'tis probable his intention was
in the beginning."
But " to His Majesty's great surprise he found that
interest had blinded the Austrian zeal and had over-
balanced all thought of repairing injuries, which, if
they are profitable, easily pass upon Princes as necessary
for self-preservation. . . . Accordingly his Imperial
Majesty writ the following harsh and provoking
answer." l Leopold took two months to reply, so that
his letter did not reach James till he was in Ireland.
It is noteworthy that he addresses James as " your most
Serene Highness," not as "your Majesty."
The tenor of James's letter may be deduced from the
Emperor's reply : " Leopold, etc. The letter of the
6th of February which your Serenity writ to us, from
the Castle of St Germains, we receiv'd from the Earl
of Carlinford your ambassador in our Court, in which
you gave us an account into what circumstances your
Serenity was reduced by the desertion not only of your
army, on the Prince of Orange's coming, but even of
your servants, and those you put most confidence in,
which forced you to seek refuge in France, and there-
1 James's original letter, which is in Latin, is preserved in the Vienna
Archives. Leopold's reply, likewise in Latin, is translated in Clarke's
Life.
GAIETIES AT THE FRENCH COURT 107
fore request our assistance for the regaining of your
kingdoms. We do assure your Serenity, that we no
sooner heard that deplorable instance of the instability
of human affairs, but we were sencibly touched and
truly afflicted, not only out of the common motives of
humanity, but for our sincere affection to you, to see
that happen, which (tho' we hoped the contrary) we
had too much reason to aprehend ; for had your
Serenity given more attention to the kind representa-
tions we made you by our ambassador the Count of
Kaunits, instead of harkening to the fraudelent sug-
gestions of France, who by fomenting division betwixt
your Serenity and your people, thought to have had
a better opertunity of insulting the rest of Europe ;
and had you thought fit to use your power ... to
put an end to their continual breaches of faith . . .
and for that end had entered into the same measures
with us, and those who had a right notion how things
stood ; we doubt not, but your Serenity would by that
means have extreamly mollifyd and repress'd the
odium, which your people have of our Religion, and
have settled peace and tranquility not only in your
own kingdom, but in the whole Roman Empire."
The Emperor, continuing, leaves it, he says, to
James's own judgment whether he is in a position to
give him any support, when he had not only a war with
the Turks on hand, but was engaged in " repressing a
cruel and unjust one, which the French thinking them-
selves secure of England, have (against their solemn
faith and engagement) lately brought upon us." Then
follows a long indictment of France and French policy,
which has forced the Emperor to act in self-defence ;
and he concludes : " Your Serenity is too reasonable
io8 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
to think us worthy of blame, if we endeavour by the
force of armes to gain that security, to which hithertoo
so many treatys has proved so inefectual, and that we
enter into such measures with those that have the
same interest with us, as seems necessary for our
common security and defence ; beseeching Almighty
God to direct all for his glory, and that he will grant
your Serenity true comforth in your afflictions ; whom
we embrace with a lasting, tender and brotherly
affection. Vienna, Aprill 9, 1689."
While these vain negotiations were maturing the
gaieties of the English and French Courts were un-
diminished. On February 8th Monseigneur came
over to Saint-Germain to hunt with James, and two
days later the English royal family went to Marly.
James and Louis went off together to talk business,
while Maria played at " bete," a game of cards, with
the Princesse d'Harcourt and Madame de Croissy.
Afterwards they pkyed at " portique," a kind of
billiards, greatly in vogue at the French Court.
Heavy stakes were sometimes laid at this game, for
Dangeau mentions that on one occasion, making
a bank with Lauzun and others, he won 2000
pistoles. For the first time James and his wife
dined with Louis. Lady Powis and the Countess
d' Almond sat at the same table. It was a lovely day,
and all the English who were present declared them-
selves delighted with Marly. The Abbe Rizzini,
writing to the Duke of Modena of the entertainments
at the French Court at which the King and Queen of
England had been present, adds that they receive there
from everyone "demonstrations of the most cordial
friendship, the opinion of the Queen being ever
GAIETIES AT THE FRENCH COURT 109
heightened. The eagerness and the joy shown by the
Most Christian King at seeing her consoled are inde-
scribable." It is curious that he here employs almost
the same words that Burnet uses of Mary in England. 1
No one comes in contact with her " que non ne parte
piena di contento e d' ammiratione " who does not
leave her filled with contentment and admiration.
Through the early part of this month detachments
of men and horses kept arriving from England at Saint-
Germain to take service with James, " all of them the
finest men," says an Italian correspondent of the Grand
Ducal secretary at Paris. 2 This writer thinks James
was not unpopular with the men, whatever may have
been the attitude of their officers, and is of opinion
that if he had put himself at the head of his army he
might have achieved something. He continues : " He
always lives surrounded by priests, and speaks of his
misfortune with such indifference, as if he was not
concerned in it and had never been King, so that the
French themselves have quite lost the opinion they
had of him, and those that knew him when he was in
Flanders, when he was only Duke of York, assert that
he is no longer the same man. Such and so great is
the change which is found in his Majesty, who for the
rest, is so affable and courteous to all, that in this
respect he leaves nothing to be desired."
Meanwhile James, unconscious of these strictures,
was hunting again with Monseigneur at Saint-Germain,
and two days later, on February i8th, he was again a
visitor at Versailles a visit of some importance,
1 " She gave a wonderful content to all that came near her."
2 Abbe Melani, Medici Archives, February 7, writing to the secretary
of the Grand Duke of Tuscany (Cavelli).
no THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
evidently, since he arrived at two o'clock, and he and
the King spent a long afternoon together, walking in
the gardens, orangeries, and among the famous
fountains till half-past five, talking of James's departure
for Ireland, which was now drawing near, and of all
that depended upon it.
A day or two after James's visit to Louis XIV. and
their long afternoon walk together, he wrote once
more to Rome, to Cardinal d'Este, 1 telling him of all
he hoped from the Irish expedition : " The Most
Christian King furnishes me with a good enough
fleet to ensure my safety, and also with some munitions,
and some experienced officers ; with as much money as I
could expect from him, in the condition in which he is
himself, having so many enemies on his hands, but not
as much by a great deal as is necessary to achieve the
enterprise in which I am engaging, and on which
depends the success of my entire re-establishment in all
my kingdoms. For you must know that I have at
present in that country an army of 20,000 men all
Catholics, under the conduct of Lord Tyrconnel ; . . .
and besides there are in Ireland a great abundance of
provisions and men, the loyalest in the world, who are
all ready to shed the last drop of their blood in my
defence, provided that there is the wherewithal to arm
and pay them. Besides this it is well known that
from Ireland to Scotland is an easy crossing, convenient
for the transport of an army."
Once there, James thinks all the Catholics will rally
round him, and together they will descend upon
England. And after begging the Cardinal to use all his
influence with the Holy See, he concludes : " I hope
1 Written from Paris, February 16 (Cavelli).
GAIETIES AT THE FRENCH COURT in
that his Holiness will believe that the present oppor-
tunity of destroying Heresy with a Catholic army is
not one that must be lost, and that he will not spare
the treasures of the Church, when I am freely risking
my own life."
James's wife added a few words on the same subject
herself two days later. She laments sadly enough the
want of a good understanding between the Pope and
Louis XIV., and continues : l " To speak as in a con-
fessional and with an open heart, they (this Court)
do not appear to me to have the wish to do right (di
far bene). They say, replying in general terms, that the
Pope does not wish for a reconciliation. ... I pray
God that He will inspire these two great men to unite
together for the greater glory and the good of our
Holy Religion, and that they will co-operate in restor-
ing us to our kingdom. This King has indeed given
us much aid, and I hope his Holiness will do the
same, because without money we can hope for nothing
good." Maria was always strictly practical, but in the
concluding sentences of her letter her carefully guarded
feelings break through the cloak of reserve : " I, for
my part, am in the greatest distress, tormented in
mind and body. I have had for many days the
cruellest pains from the stone, that have left me so cast
down that it is not without fatigue that I write this
letter." The King, she adds, has formed the praise-
worthy resolution of going to Ireland, ..." while I
stay here desolate, and abandoned by all." Meanwhile
Bevil Skelton, who had been sent as envoy to the
Emperor to plead his master's cause, succeeded in
eliciting no more practical aid than fair words and
1 Archives of Modena.
ii2 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
expressions of sympathy. There was obviously no
hope of rousing the Catholic Powers of Europe to
engage in a crusade for the restoration of the King of
England. Louis XIV. was the exiles' only friend, and
James's one hope lay in the recovery of his throne by
force of arms furnished by the Most Christian King.
It may be recorded that the Papal Nuncio, Adda,
whom James declared to have betrayed him, returning
from England at this time, expressed a great desire to
see the glories of Versailles, and received a grudging
permission to visit them in the King's absence. Of
these glories, one of Louis's courtiers has left a scathing
indictment. " Saint-Germain," wrote Saint-Simon, " a
lovely spot with a marvellous view, rich forest, terraces,
gardens, Louis abandoned for Versailles, the dullest
and most ungrateful of all places, without prospect,
without wood, without water, without soil : for the
ground is all shifting sand or swamp, the air accord-
ingly bad. But he liked to subjugate nature by art
and treasure. He built at Versailles on and on, without
any general design, the beautiful, the ugly, the vast,
the mean all jumbled together. His own apartments
and those of the Queen are inconvenient to the last
degree, dull, close, stinking. . . ." (One may note
in respect of the palaces of kings at this time, that
Evelyn says the apartments of Charles II. were always
" nasty and stinking.")
But Saint-Simon is not at the end of his indictment.
"... The gardens wearied, the vast reservoirs for the
fountains, defective as was their supply, disseminated
unhealthy damps and odours ; . . . and the vast
enterprise was no less costly in men than in millions,
for the soldiers drafted in to carry out the vast designs
GAIETIES AT THE FRENCH COURT 113
sickened and died like flies." However, the bitter
critic stood almost alone among his contemporaries in
this clear-eyed condemnation. Though La Bruyere
and Bussy-Rabutin, who like him kept their opinions
secret, would have endorsed his views, the new royal
residence roused a practically unanimous enthusiasm,
while the King's insensate vanity and love of display
engendered an extravagance and taste for luxury which
permeated all ranks of society with mischievous results. 1
1 See La Beaumelle.
CHAPTER VII
MARIA IN JAMES'S ABSENCE THE CONVENT
OF CHAILLOT
OF all Maria d'Este's melancholy life, probably the
months of James's absence in Ireland were the most
trying. The inexorableness of death brings its own
consolation ; to her devout imagination James's entry
into another world could only mean for him the
possession of an incorruptible crown instead of the
earthly one he had sacrificed in this life. But the
most burning faith, the most pious trust, are hardly
proof against the grinding pain of uncertainty, the
long-drawn-out, gnawing anxiety of the slow days
passing without news ; and Maria's piety was never
of an ardent, ecstatic type : it seems always something
attenuated, wan and cloistered.
It is difficult to realise to-day, when a few hours
can bring news of the absent from the farthest ends
of the earth, how great must have been the suspense
of those who remained at home two hundred years
ago. Then news was slow and uncertain ; roads were
so bad that the journey from Brest to Paris could
take six days ; ships were at the mercy of the winds.
114
MARIA, WIFE OF JAMES II.
Reproduced from the Portrait in the Museum of St. Germain.
(By permission of M. Salomon Reinach.)
MARIA IN JAMES'S ABSENCE 115
The departure and absence of the King, wrote the
faithful Lady d' Almond to the Duke of Modena, 1
" was the only thing which had power really to pain
his wife, who shows an indescribable courage, and a
total indifference to all her other losses so much so
that she declared she rather liked having her ease,
and fewer personal possessions, that she is only pained
for the sake of those who suffer through her. As
for the King, he accommodates himself very con-
tentedly to a private life." Even the news of the
election of William and Mary to the throne "has
not affected their Majesties at all, at which all
marvel."
In these sad months, while James was staking all
his hopes on his unsuccessful venture in Ireland, his
incompetence pitted against the youth and genius
of his son-in-law, and while James's daughter Mary,
struggling with disaffected nobles in England, and torn
with anxiety for the husband she so passionately loved,
found a vent in her diary for all her pent-up feelings,
James's wife, Maria, sought a refuge for her soul
among the nuns of Chaillot.
The Convent of the Visitation at Chaillot stood
on a hill overlooking the Seine. All traces of
this cherished sanctuary of the exiled Queen have
long since disappeared ; but here in days still more
remote than hers the Marshal de Bassompierre
had built himself a lordly pleasure-house, and the
gay world had strolled on those lovely banks
of the Seine where sober nuns demurely bent over
their breviaries. The contrast inspired the author
of the MJmoires de Gramont with verse that we
1 Archives d'Este, February 16 (Cavelli).
n6 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
have ventured to translate into still more halting
English :
By what strange irony of fate
Sees Bassompierre's mansion, late
The abode of gallantry and grace,
A convent risen in its place ?
But still within its sober wall
Gathers of worth and greatness all
That earth can show. And first that Queen
Whose charming son bears like a king,
Calm and unmoved, the battle's din :
He whose sweet sister, rising star,
Softens with radiance from afar
England with rebel strife still torn,
And shall that Court once more adorn. 1
By a curious coincidence, the monastery of Chaillot
had been founded by Henrietta Maria, the daughter
of Henri IV., mother of James II. , who likewise
had found a refuge at Saint - Germain when "la
rebelle Angleterre " had executed her husband.
According to the strange and repulsive sentiment
of the time, she had bequeathed her heart as a legacy
to the convent, and it was piously guarded there
among their most sacred relics. The royal family
1 Par quel bizarre enchantement
La maison du feu Bassompierre,
Get homme jadis si galant,
Est-elle aujourd'hui le couvent
Qui regoit tout ce que la terns
A de plus digne et de plus grand ?
La mere de ce roi charmant
Que dans les dangers de la guerre,
J'ai vu tranquille, indifferent,
Et sa soeur cet astre naissant,
Qui de la rebelle Angleterre,
Sera quelque jour Pornement.
MARIA IN JAMES'S ABSENCE 117
and the nobility often visited this convent, many of
whose nuns bore the names of the most ancient and
most honoured families of France. It was here that
Mademoiselle de la Valliere had sought a refuge
from the ardent pursuit of Louis XIV. The charms
of Chaillot were by no means wholly of an ascetic
kind. Externally its surroundings were pleasant to
the eye ; it commanded a lovely view ; while within
the convent's walls were many rich legacies, and the
Queen's apartments had been luxuriously furnished
for her by the French King's command. At the
time of the suppression of the convent during the
French Revolution, an official record was made of
the "Tableaux et objets precieux du monastere de
Sainte-Marie de Chaillot," and lists of their treasures
had been also made by the nuns themselves. 1 " The
Queen," says one such record of 1716, "never
lets pass any opportunity of testifying her royal affec-
tion to us. She has done us the honour of giving
us last year two grand and magnificent pictures in
gold frames, seven feet high by five, to put in our
'grande tribune.' One of these pictures represents
to the life her august husband, the late King
James II., who leads to eternal glory (represented in
the clouds) the Princess Louise-Marie, his incomparable
daughter, painted also to the life. The other picture
represents our Queen (Maria) as a Saint Helena,
holding in her hand the Cross of our Lord, which
she presents to the King as to another Constan-
1 Such of these records as survived were discovered by the industry
of Cavelli and published by her in the original French. The original
letters of Maria to the nuns of Chaillot are in the Archives de France
Two volumes of them have also been published by the Roxburghe Club.
n8 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
tine. These pictures are very beautiful and greatly
admired. . . ."
Rigaud 1 is mentioned as the artist who painted them ;
and Rigaud was one of the most celebrated portrait-
painters of Louis XIV.'s reign, regarded, indeed, by
his contemporaries as without a rival in Europe. His
portrait of Louis XIV. in the Louvre is typical of his
grandiose style ; but the mean and sensual old face
of the Grande Monarque, emerging from an enormous
wig, discloses a strong sense of character. Among
other pictures on the walls of Chaillot was one painted
by a better artist, Mignard. It also was a picture of
James and his daughter, the Princess Louise Marie,
who held in her hand an open book in which could
be read the words from Psalm xlv. : " Hearken, oh
daughter, and consider : incline thine ear. Forget thine
own people and thy father's house." The picture must
have been commissioned by the Queen before 1695,
because Mignard, who painted the heads, died in that
year. This painter had been regarded as the rival of Le
Brun in the fashionable world of his time. Louis XIV.
frequently sat to him for his portrait, and he was
entrusted with extensive decorations at Versailles. So
that James and Maria had employed the best portrait-
painters of the day. The picture was subsequently
completed by the painter Gobert after James's death in
1701. Another portrait of Maria by Mignard hung
in the gallery, as well as portraits of Henrietta Maria,
Catharine, wife of Charles II., the Princess Louise and
her brother, and portraits of the French royal family,
distinguished members of the Order, and saints in
1 Hyacinthe Francois Honorat Pierre Andre Jean Rigaud, born at
Perpignan, July 1659, influenced by Le Brun.
Louis XIV.
By Rigaud.
MARIA IN JAMES'S ABSENCE 119
the costume of the time. Among them the Prince of
Wales figured as Moses in the bulrushes.
In the church were precious marbles and bronzes,
and all sorts of medals and curiosities of the Stuarts.
They are all scattered and gone ; and of the fine
library there survives only some of the correspondence
of Maria with her loved Sisters of the Visitation,
especially with La Mere Claire Angelique de Beauvais.
This correspondence, says Cavelli, must be read in
order to appreciate this "ame d'elite, et sa piete si
vraie." The Queen could write to the nuns at Chaillot
when her hopes seemed at their lowest :
" Our affairs are in a more pitiable state than ever,
almost desperate, but what consoles me is that they
are in good hands in the hands of God ! I am sure
that all which happens to us will only be for the
salvation of my soul. What are all the kingdoms of
the earth, and even this miserable and uncertain life,
compared with God and Eternity ? God is my all !
That is the refrain that my heart is unwearied in
repeating, and which elevates and gladdens me."
James's departure for Ireland took place on Sunday,
February 27th, and Maria was left alone at Saint-
Germain, "abandoned by all," as she said bitterly.
But in these first days of her solitude Louis XIV.
did everything possible to cheer and console her.
Dangeau's journal records a visit to Saint-Germain
of one or other of the royal family almost every day.
On March 4th, for instance, Monsieur went to Saint-
Germain to see the Queen, " qui est toujours fort
triste et assez incommodee." The day after, Louis XIV.
paid her a visit in person, and a few days later
Monseigneur, accompanied by the Princesse de Conti,
120 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
paid her a visit. Apart from the natural depression
of spirits consequent on the anxiety about her husband,
the Queen was suffering in health, and alternating
between hopes that she might be going to have
another child, and fears that these hopes were delusive.
Early in March she instructed Lady d' Almond to
write to Cardinal d'Este as follows : " I must ask
pardon of your most serene Highness for having been
too eager to inform you of the hopes that I had of
the pregnancy of her Majesty the Queen. She had
no doubt about it, and already the King of France
was a party to the secret. . . . She finds that she has
made a mistake, and distresses herself about it, especially
from the consideration that the King will be upset by it,
since he went away hoping, with good ground, to see
himself shortly presented with another son. . . . The
Queen passes her time writing and reading, and spends
much time at her prayers. . . . She is always the same,
and her virtue is incomparable. . . . This evening
the Queen has received letters from Brest, where
the King arrived at five o'clock, and was waiting for a
favourable wind. He writes that he is not at all tired."
The birth of another child meant much both to
James and Maria ; it would dispose for all time of
the shameful insinuations as to the origin of the Prince
of Wales, and confound those who had made them.
A few days after her kdy-in-waiting had written,
Maria followed up her letter with one from herself to
the Cardinal. 1 She begins by reiterating her entreaties
to him to use his influence to reconcile the Pope and
Louis XIV. : " I have nothing so much at heart as
these differences between Rome and the King of
1 Archives d'Este (Cavelli).
MARIA IN JAMES'S ABSENCE 121
France. ... I pray you not to be wearied labouring
not only in the King's service and mine, but for God
Himself and His Holy Church." She continues in
a quite businesslike strain to ask what the first steps
should be. She wants it clearly explained. She knows
that here it would be desired that the excommunications
should be withdrawn, and the ambassador received,
but her knowledge is too superficial ; and she adds that
it is said that if the Pope would take the smallest steps,
here much would be done but no one wishes to begin
how then can it be hoped to finish ?
In the following month of March Maria was so un-
well that Monseigneur came over to Saint-Germain to
inquire for her. But she seems soon to have recovered,
aided perhaps by good news of James's safe arrival in
Ireland which was brought to Marly. On April 3rd
came a letter from James himself, one of his optimistic
letters. The Irish received him as well as he could
wish. He has found 50,000 men ready to serve him.
Not all armed, it is true, but he will provide them
with arms. They show an indescribable joy at seeing
him, and have sent fifty oxen and four hundred sheep
for the sailors.
About the same time Maria wrote to the nuns of
Chaillot, who had paid her the compliment of propos-
ing to elect her as their head, declining the honour,
and at the same time congratulating them on "the
marks of kindness and consideration that our great
King shows you, and to me in the first place, since
you indeed wish to put me at your head, although I
can truthfully say that my greatest ambition, and the
strongest desire I have ever had in my life, has been
to be one of the least among the daughters of the
122 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Visitation. But God not having wished to grant me
this grace, which would have been a good for myself
alone, gives me now that of being able to procure
good for the whole Order. ... I shall not fail to
express to the King my gratitude and the true pleasure
that I take in all the kindness that he does you . . .
and I shall never omit to show to all the world that
part that I take in all concerning your Holy Order,
and our dear Chaillot in particular. . . ."
This letter, which was addressed to the Mother
Superior while she was at Saint-Cyr, continues : " We
are all in good health here, thank God. I will send
my son to see you whenever you like. Let me know
if you think that M. de M. 1 would be worried by him,
for in that case I will send him while she is away ; if
not, 1 will send him one day next week. I am in
doubt whether 1 shall go to bid farewell to M. de M.
and take leave of you at Saint-Cyr before her journey ;
or whether I shall wait to go to see you till after her
departure, which I should like much better, provided
that I can see her here before she goes away ; but if
that is inconvenient to her, I will go to Saint-Cyr."
There is more than a suggestion here that it behoved
the most favoured to walk warily with Madame de
Maintenon, and avoid giving her any ground of
offence. The Queen of England was obviously most
anxious not to do so.
The letter concludes : " I propose to go to Chaillot
and sleep there for one night. I expect that you will
return there on the 2nd or 3rd of April, and that I
shall see and embrace you there with all my heart in
Holy Week. Here is a long enough letter, and yet
1 Evidently Madame de Maintenon.
MARIA IN JAMES'S ABSENCE 123
I have said nothing, but we must wait for all the rest
till I have the pleasure of talking with you. M."
There is a familiar charm about these letters of the
Queen's. They recall her early childish letters to
the Superior of the Convent of the Visitation at
Modena. Behind the convent doors class distinctions
fell away, the Queen could talk freely and intimately
to the sympathetic nuns. No tiresome etiquette, no
questions of fauteuils and tabourets disturbed the peace
of their relationship ; her own words show how much
she valued the simplicity of their lives : " Thank you,
my very dear Mother, for the offer you have made me
of giving me dinner in your assembly room. But I
don't care about that. I wish to eat in the refectory
with all of you. I beg you to expect me on Tuesday
till eleven o'clock, remembering that it is a fast day. . . .
I have already ordered, before seeing Riva, that they
bring you food for Tuesday's dinner, which I am
persuaded my sister Marie Francis will gladly prepare
when she knows that a portion of it will be for me.
I charge her to make it just like yours without any
ceremony. Adieu, my very dear Mother ; adieu to all
our dear sisters. I please myself with thinking I shall
soon be for some hours at Chaillot. I am in great
need of such a solace, for since I left you I have had
no repose of mind or body."
Other sources of contemporary information throw
light on the Queen of England's relations with the
French Court, especially during James's absence. A
coolness arose at one time between Louis and the Queen
of England, through James's enemies at the French
Court having told Louis that the King of England was
discontented at his treatment of him ; that he com-
i2 4 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
plained that the Court had mocked at his misfortune ;
and that he was quite unappreciative of all that had been
done for him. Louis was piqued at these reports. His
civilities to the Queen temporarily ceased, together with
invitations to Versailles ; and worse still, the reinforce-
ments for Ireland hung fire. Madame de Maintenon was
generally accused of having made mischief. On learn-
ing the cause of Louis's annoyance, Maria confided her
trouble to Madame de Maintenon, who consoled her
and promised to undeceive the King. La Beaumelle,
who tells the story, adds that De Maintenon alone
remained the friend of the Queen of England when
all hope of her restoration was abandoned. Madame
de Lafayette gives an entirely different view of their
relations : " However the Queen of England was at
Saint-Germain in a condition of terrible melancholy
and depression. Her tears never dried. The King,
who has a good heart, and an extraordinary tenderness,
especially for women, was touched with the misfortunes
of this Princess, and softened them in every way he
could imagine. He had all the kindness for her that
she deserved. ... In fact, his manner towards her was
so agreeable and engaging that the world believed he
was in love with her. The thing appeared probable
enough. People who did not look at things very
closely gave out that Madame de Maintenon, although
she only passed for a friend, regarded the manners of
the King towards the Queen of England with the
liveliest inquietude." She adds that there was nothing
in it except gossip.
In later years the Queen's own letters show that it
was to Madame de Maintenon that she applied as a
go-between to make appeals to Louis XIV. for money,
MARIA IN JAMES'S ABSENCE 125
both for the Convent and for her own necessities. She
gave the nuns an account of one of these applications,
which were not always cordially received by the all-
powerful lady. It was on the occasion of a visit of
Maria's to Marly at a time when her affairs were
extraordinarily embarrassed by the influx of Irish
refugee priests. She spent some time alone with
Madame de Maintenon, who was ill in bed, and took
this opportunity of telling her that her pension was
eight months overdue. She added that she had partly
come to speak to the King about it, but that courage
failed her, though her heart was pierced at the sight
of the sufferings of so many people. Madame de
Maintenon appeared greatly touched, and said she
would speak of it to the King without fail, and he
would be concerned to hear of it. She added that the
news surprised her, for she had heard that 50,000
francs had been recently paid. The Queen said that
that was the case, but this sum was for arrears of the
seven months before. Maria added with a deep sigh
that all knew well what she received was not for herself
but for these poor Irish. " Do they think much is over
for us of this 50,000 francs when they are divided ?
Perhaps, 2000 florins to put in our pockets."
To preserve, however, the narrative in proper
sequence it was on April 6th that Maria retired
to Chaillot, occupying the rooms which Louis had
had furnished there for her ; though he had no
idea of allowing her to mope for long in a convent.
After four days spent after her own heart among the
nuns, in prayer and self-communings, she was present
at a supper party at Marly. Arriving there at seven
o'clock, she played " portique " till nine. Then there
126 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
was music and a grand supper, at which Maria sat
apart with Louis XIV. Meanwhile James had written
from Waterford in good spirits. Three days later,
on April I3th, the Queen went to visit the Dauphine
at Versailles. The Dauphine was up, but received her
visitor in her bed-room, where three fauteuils were
provided for Maria, the Dauphine, and her husband,
Monseigneur. As the Queen was getting into her
carriage, Louis, who had just come in from hunting,
saw her from a window and hurried down to talk
to her at the door. A few days later, April 25th,
saw Maria again at Versailles. The Dauphine was
in bed, where a terribly large proportion of her short
life must have been spent. Madame, who had much
liking and affection for her, declares in one of her
letters that Madame de Maintenon had amiably per-
suaded Louis that his unfortunate daughter-in-law was
malingering. At any rate, none of the physicians of
the day " all very ignorant," as even Madame could
see were able to diagnose her malady. It must have
been a cheerless visit on this occasion in any case,
for Monseigneur had just been bled. After visiting
these two invalids, the Queen spent some time walking
with Louis in the garden, discussing the news from
Ireland, no doubt, and putting in a judicious word of
encouragement to the Most Christian King to continue
the reinforcements on which depended their restoration.
The next day Maria returned to Chaillot, and from
thence visited Paris, and received the Holy Communion
at Notre Dame, where she was welcomed by the
Archbishop at the doors. Let us hope the holy rites
of her religion fortified her to bear the mortifying news
of the coronation of William and Mary, which reached
MARIA IN JAMES'S ABSENCE 127
her on the 25th. Louis evidently felt this was a
moment for offering his sympathy to his guest, for he
paid her a visit at Saint-Germain the next day, finding
her just returned there from Chaillot. The Queen's
thoughts turned to her friends at Chaillot even when
she could not be with them. She now writes (April
2oth) :
" The too-great respect you have for me, my dear
Mother, keeps you from writing to me, and the true
friendship that I have for you obliges me to do it, for
I take pleasure in telling you that as soon as I am out
of your holy cloisters I wish to re-enter them. I believe,
however, that this is self-love, for to speak truth I
have not found true repose since the King has left me
except at Chaillot. It is seventeen days since I have
heard any news of him. I ask in charity your good
prayers, and those of all your community that I greet
from my heart, and especially my dear sisters *la DeposeV
[the ex-Mother Superior ; the office was elective] and
' 1'Assistante,' whom I pray to offer for me some of
their acts of simplicity and humility ; and you, my dear
Mother, offer also some part of the many acts of virtue
that you perform each day, for me who am from the
bottom of my heart your good friend, MARIA R."
It is curious to find the young Queen Mary in
England, occupant of the throne from which her step-
mother had been deposed, expressing the same feelings
in much the same way, though she had no confidant
but her diary : "... My heart is not made for a
kingdom, and my inclination leads me to a retired
quiet life, so that I have need of all the resignation
and self-denial in the world." l Mary of Orange had
no such refuge as Chaillot, though she needed it even
1 Memoirs of Mary Queen of England. Ed. by Dr Doebner.
128 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
more, for Maria was at least among friends, while
Mary was constrained to live in a hostile atmosphere.
But if Mary of Orange was not made for a throne,
Maria was certainly made for a cloister. She had more
than all the requisite piety, and that love of little
ceremonies and details which would have made her an
excellent mother superior. She was a nun by nature
and inclination. " I am dying to be among you
meanwhile, I will strive to unite my sinful prayers to
your holy ones in order to offer them to God."
One day, at the end of April, the three young Princes
came to visit the Queen at Saint-Germain, the Dukes
of Burgundy, Anjou, and Berry, "and were given
fauteuils." Louis was not incapable of occasional en-
dearing acts of small kindness, and about this time he
gave Maria an elaborate present which he had had con-
structed for her, and which was entirely after her own
heart. It was one day early in May when she was
paying him a visit at Marly, and after walking with
her for some time on the terrace, Louis took her
into his room and showed her a small cabinet, which
on being opened was metamorphosed into a prie-dieu.
It could, moreover, be converted into an altar, and was
fitted with every accessory of a chapel in miniature.
What more appropriate present could have been
devised for a pious, depressed gentlewoman ! Maria
was charmed with it, and " astonished and delighted to
see so many pretty things shut up in so small a space."
After this presentation followed a game of " portique "
and supper. The Queen's next visit was to Saint-Cyr
to see Madame de Maintenon, who had evidently not
paid the hoped-for visit to Saint-Germain. The two
ladies the Queen in name and the Queen in power
MARIA IN JAMES'S ABSENCE 129
spent a long time together, Maria returning, on the
authority of Dangeau, " well pleased with her day."
A few days afterwards the Prince of Wales went to see
the Dauphine's children at Marly.
Meanwhile frequent rumours arrived from Ireland,
which came sometimes by way of England, and were
generally unfounded. It was said that the fleet was
deserting to James, and that he had already landed in
Scotland. On the 23rd, however, a courier arrived from
him with authentic news, though of no great importance.
It was perhaps at this time that Maria wrote from Saint-
Germain to the Mother Superior at Chaillot, that she
had received, "just as I was finishing my dinner, a very
long letter from the King, of a quite recent date,
which assured me that he was in quite perfect health.
. . . God be for ever praised that He has hearkened
to your prayers and those of your dear daughters."
On June 1 7th she went to Chaillot, returning in time
for poor little Prince James's first birthday on the 2oth.
A fte was held for him at Saint-Germain, a rather
forlorn merry-making.
Nothing of importance seems to have occurred during
the month of June. Porter, who had been the bearer
of letters to Rome, returned, and had an audience with
Louis, who afterwards provided him with a frigate that
he might report himself to James in Ireland. During
July came a rumour of the fall of Londonderry, though
as it came through England its truth was doubted.
At least once this month Maria dined at Marly to see
the hunt, "which was very fine."
In August she was again at Chaillot. Lord Dover
found her there when he at last arrived from Ireland
with trustworthy news of James. Londonderry was
9
1 30 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
still holding out, but Dover told the Queen the
inhabitants were living on horse-flesh, and in great
distress. Henry Jermyn, Lord Dover, was a man who
had been more notorious than famous. He had been
a friend of the ignominious Castlemaine, and a
favoured lover of Castlemaine's infamous wife. Un-
scrupulous in intrigue, he was noted as a duellist ; but
the fact of his being also a Roman Catholic was a
sufficient passport to promotion. He was made Lord
Dover, and was one of the Roman Catholics who
became Privy Councillors by virtue of James's Dis-
pensing Power. Afterwards he was given a seat at
the Treasury Board, a position for which his principal
qualification appeared to be that he had lost all his
own money at cards. "Though he was brave and
certainly a gentleman," says Anthony Hamilton, "yet
he had neither brilliant actions nor distinguished rank
to set him off, and as for his figure there was nothing
advantageous in it. He was little, his head was large
and his legs small, his features were not disagreeable,
but he was affected in his carriage and behaviour.
This was the whole foundation of the merit of a
man so successful in amours." He had been entrusted
with the secret of the Prince of Wales's escape to France,
and had gone to bring him back when Dartmouth had
refused to carry him over to France. He had accom-
panied James to Ireland, whither he returned again
on September I4th, when he had delivered his
messages.
About a week later Melfort arrived at Brest, sent by
James to solicit reinforcements. He was so far success-
ful that on the last day of the month Louis went to
Saint-Germain to acquaint Maria with the welcome
MARIA IN JAMES'S ABSENCE 131
news of his decision to send 7000 men to Ireland, with
Lauzun at their head. For a very long time after this
the weather was so bad that no news at all reached
Saint-Germain of the war in Ireland. Maria's life must
have been uneventful, except for such business as came
through her hands connected with the household. But
on November 26th she entertained a large party at
Saint-Germain. Monseigneur and Monsieur came over
to see her, accompanied by Mademoiselle and other
ladies. The Princesses, according to Dangeau, would
not go to see the Queen of England except in the
presence of Monsieur or Madame, because she only gave
them stools to sit on. In the presence of Louis XIV.'s
brother and sister-in-law they were not entitled to any-
thing else, but elsewhere they had other pretensions.
. . . The quarrels of the Princesses among themselves
were so violent and so ill-concealed as to be disturbing
to the peace of an elderly dyspeptic gentleman, and the
King threatened them with banishment from the Court
altogether, a warning of such enormity that they were
reduced at least to outward decorum.
November was uneventful. Dangeau comments on
the very generous allowance made to Lauzun for his
Irish command. He was given 10,000 florins for his
outfit, and a salary of 50,000 francs a year, while the
generals commanding in France were only paid at the
rate of 2000 ecus every forty-five days.
Early in December there was authentic news from
Ireland, for Porter returned. James had wished him to
go on to Rome, but Louis thought it better to send
Melfort, while Porter remained with the Queen at Saint-
Germain. Melfort's mission to Versailles to ask for
reinforcements had, as a matter of fact, been sanctioned
132 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
unwillingly by James ; he was only forced to consent
to it by Melfort's extreme unpopularity with the
French and Irish. John Drummond, Lord Melfort,
was brother to the Earl of Perth. He had been
Secretary of State for Scotland, and both he and his
brother had become Catholics. At Rome such a man
was safely occupied and out of the way. Porter mean-
while had an audience of the King on December
9th, and reported, with an echo of the extraordinary
optimism by which James was always blinded, that all
was going well in Ireland. In the spring, James
would, he said, be able to cross into Scotland, and
thence descend upon England with a good army.
There was a special reason for the despatch by James
of an ambassador to Rome at this time. The great
Innocent XI. had lately died, and had been succeeded
by Alexander VIII. James hoped that this new
accession to the Papacy might be beneficial to him-
self, and lost no time in sending his congratulations.
From Ireland, James wrote at once to Alexander, as
follows, in November 1689 :
"The letter written in your Holiness's own hand
demonstrating your sincere and paternal love and com-
passion for our sufferings have so much increased the
joy which we had conceived at the exaltation of your
Holiness to St Peter's Chair that they have lessened
the sense of our own misfortunes. The only cause of
the troubles raised against us is that we have embraced
the Catholick Faith : and we do not deny that we had
resolved to restore it to three kingdoms and to the
several colonies of our subjects of very considerable
extent in America. What we have done in this
kingdom doth prove the same. We have obtained
frequent though small victories over the rebels ; they
MARIA IN JAMES'S ABSENCE 133
avoided a great one by obstinately declining the same.
We improved these for the advantage of Religion, which
will I hope be soon established here, intending to doe
the like in our other Dominions as soon as we are
restored to them. This doth not seem so difficult
provided we have some releif [sic] granted, so uneasy
are our subjects under the Usurpers yoke and so
general is the desire of our return which a Peace
among the Catholick Princes will promote ; and if the
shortness of time doth not permit it, (the peace), a Truce
which will put an end to the tragedy begun in Germany
where the Hereticks gnaw the very bowells of the
Church. These need no words where things them-
selves speak and soe clearly call for help. The
Apostolick zeal of your Holiness will provide a remedy
equal to the disease, and in this confidence we pray
God to give your Beatitude a long and happy reign, and
being prostrate at your feet, with all filial love and
observances we beg your Apostolick Benediction.
"Given in Dublin, 26 Nov. 1689."
The letter is written in Latin in James's own hand,
and is translated by a contemporary. 1 It was a letter to
which the Pope replied with guarded expressions of
paternal benevolence and nothing more. Melfort,
however, on arriving in Rome was obliged to present
a memorial from the Queen merely, because James's
letter had not yet crossed the seas. Melfort assured
his Holiness "there never was a King of England
so beloved and so obeyed by his people as his Majesty,
until it appeared by his actions, that he was more
zealous to gain a heavenly crown for his subjects than
careful to preserve an earthly one for himself. This,
and the extirpation of heresy in France, gave such
1 Letters written by King James II. to Pope Alexander VIII..
contemporary manuscript (Phillips Collection).
134 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
alarm to the Protestants throughout all Europe, and
even in hell itself, that they put in practice every
means however detestable to ruin the King, and with
him all those who had the same sentiments of piety
and religion." "This mystery of iniquity" must have
disastrous consequences to the Catholic Religion.
" His Most Christian Majesty has so generously assisted
the King that he has been able to quell almost entirely
the Irish Rebellion," and it now only remains for his
Holiness to give an immediate supply of money and
to bring about a peace among Catholic princes, who
might then be persuaded to reinstate James. " As for
myself," Melfort concludes, "I reckon it a happiness to
be at the feet of your Holiness. Having nothing to
solicit, but the concerns of the King my master, which
are at present those of your Holiness ; and after having
endeavoured to discharge my duty towards God and my
King, although in a more weak and defective manner
than another would have done, I have an opportunity
of soliciting for myself your Holiness's apostolical
benediction."
Some of the statements both in James's appeal and
in Melfort's memorial were, we need hardly say, a good
deal removed from fact. In reply both to them and
to the appeal to which they were joined, Alexander wrote
an affectionate letter to James, recommending Melfort
to his good graces (a rather unnecessary testimonial)
and exhorting the King to patience and perseverance.
He promised him the assistance of prayers even of
money for his restoration ; but he never sent more
effectual aid than apostolic blessings and indulgences.
Meanwhile the year sped to its close. News of her
husband came seldom and uncertainly to the waiting,
MARIA IN JAMES'S ABSENCE 135
anxious Queen at Saint-Germain. Let us hope that
she found some amusement and distraction in the day's
gossip. . . . That the Duchess of Portsmouth, for
instance, had asked and obtained an increase of pension
on behalf of her son, the Duke of Richmond. It was
indeed a golden age for highly-placed hussies : Louise
de Querouaille now had an income of 2000 livres
from a country whose resources were rapidly becom-
ing exhausted.
Maria spent this sad Christmas quietly at Chaillot,
but on the last day of the year came a courier from
James who reported that Schomberg (William's general)
was dead or dying and had only 5000 men left news
which later intelligence proved to be untrue, but which
seemed to Maria like an answer to the prayers she had
said with tears before the altar on Christmas Day at
Chaillot, from Him who gives " light to them that sit in
darkness and in the shadow of death." Overwhelmed
with relief and gladness, she hastened to send the glad
news to the Sisters who had shared her anxiety.
"December 31, 1689.
" It is always on a Saturday, my very dear Mother,
that I have news of the King. Thus after the mercy
of God I owe all to His Holy Mother, who constantly
intercedes for me her wretched and unworthy
daughter. I believe that my dear daughters of Sion
may already begin to sing canticles of praise to the
Most High, whose powerful arm without making use
of human means has almost entirely destroyed our
enemies. They are almost all dead miserably ; a
small party with Mr de Schomberg, who was dying
himself, have returned into England ; and a very small
number has remained, of which I believe the King
entirely master, and in a position to think of going
136 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
further. May God be for ever praised, both by me
and by my dear sisters, who take part in all which
concerns me, and to whose prayers I attribute all our
good success. I have just received your letters as I
was sending this one. I have only time to read yours,
and to thank you with all my heart for your good
wishes, which are assuredly prophetic ; and a thousand
times I thank you for the pretty St John the Baptist,
which I love. This is all that I have time to tell you,
being overwhelmed with business, to the last point.
Only I beg for your continued prayers, and those of
your daughters. M. R."
But that was the highest moment of hope that the
Queen ever touched. No other confirmatory piece
of good news ever came till James returned in the
autumn of the next year with the climax of his own
disaster and the intervening months were spent by the
Queen in such business as her little Court necessitated ;
in prayer ; in gaieties at the French Court. During
January Louis had an attack of gout, and Maria went
over to sit with him, paying him a long visit. On the
1 9th she drove over to Saint-Cyr to see another
performance of Esther.
Towards the end of the month a death occurred at
Saint-Germain. Lord Waldegrave died there on the
24th. He had married a daughter of James and
Arabella Churchill, and James regarded him with
so much consideration that he left him in charge
of his affairs in his absence. He had continued to
fill the now superfluous office of ambassador of James
at Versailles. He had a high reputation for honesty
and ability, and the Court, which had few faithful and
able servants, could ill afford his loss. Perhaps it
was as a relief from the gloom it occasioned that
MARIA IN JAMES'S ABSENCE 137
Louis specially arranged a party for Maria two days
later. She arrived at four o'clock in the afternoon,
and Louis, who had hurried back from hunting on
purpose, was waiting to receive her on the steps,
with Monseigneur, Madame, the Princesses, and all
the principal Court ladies, who joined in games of
" portique " and " lansquenet."
In February 1690 the Queen was again at Chaillot,
in spite of such severe floods that she had to go home
via Montmartre and Versailles to reach Saint-Germain.
In April occurred the death of the Dauphine. She
had been ailing for some time, and had gradually
become worse. " The poor Dauphine," writes Madame
on February 8th, 1690, " is again very ill. She is now
in the hands of a Capucin called Brother Ange. They
pretend that he has cured Duke Max of Bavaria and
his wife of very dangerous maladies. God grant that
the thing may succeed here ; but unfortunately it does
not look much like it. They kill her by dint of
mortifications. They do all they can to reduce me to the
same condition, but I am a harder nut to crack than
Madame la Dauphine, and before they make an end of
me the old women will be sure to break some teeth."
Poor Marie-Anne Christine of Bavaria ! Few people
troubled themselves about this Princess, " because she
neither contributed to the fortunes of individuals nor
the gaieties of the Court." 1 But Madame at least
sincerely regretted her. "At the funeral of the
Dauphine," she writes, " I cried so horribly for six
whole hours, that I could not see for two days after-
wards. Besides that I was very sad to lose Madame
la Dauphine, of whom I was very fond, the sight of
1 Lafayette.
138 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
our arms, which were everywhere on the coffin and the
black hangings of the Church, recalled to me so vividly
the death of the Elector my father, and of Madame
my mother, and my dead brother, that I thought I
should burst with crying. The Wednesday which
followed this terrible ceremony, we went to Marly and
stayed there till Saturday. My grief ought certainly to
have been dissipated, for they led the ordinary life
there. In the afternoon they hunted ; in the evening
there was music ; but that only increased my
melancholy."
We have said that after James's letter foolishly
describing Schomberg as destroyed no news of a
reassuring kind came for months. As a matter of fact,
other letters which reached Maria from Tyrconnel, the
Irish Viceroy, were the reverse of reassuring, and, as
we read them now, promised no hope of ultimate
triumph. But at the end of July 1690 came news of
a great victory in which Schomberg had been killed,
William of Orange had been wounded, and had died
of his wounds two days later. No greater good-
fortune could have befallen France. Paris went wild
with joy. Bonfires were lighted in the streets, and
tables erected at which passers-by were forced to stop
and drink. Even the carriages of the great were
stopped and their occupants " forced to submit to this
folly." The Prince of Orange was burnt in effigy ; it
was impossible to control the wild excitement of the
mob. A curious contemporary pamphlet called "The
Follies of France, or the Relation of the Extraordinary
Rejoicings in Paris, August 8th, 1690," gives a full
account of these revellings : " One could hear nothing
but Trumpets, Drums, Hautboys, Fifes, Flutes and
MARIA IN JAMES'S ABSENCE 139
Sackbutts ; one could see nothing but tables furnished
in every street, where wine was not spared in the
least ; . . . the Religious Fraternities distinguished
themselves, and especially the good Fathers of the
Cordeliers, who spent all night long a prodigious
quantity of Petards and other fireworks in their
garden, and distributed their wine about in abundance.
All ... as they passed in their coaches through the
city were stopped on their way and forced to drink
a health to King James and the Prince of Wales,
and to cry out the Prince of Orange is dead. They
burnt the effigies of the Prince and his Royal Spouse
the Princess in several places. . . . They dragged
them through the city, where they made a solemn
procession, and there was neither man nor woman
who did not throw dirt and stones at them." A
few days later it was known that James's hopes had
ended in failure and defeat, that he was coming back
to France, while William was entering Dublin in
triumph.
Part II
Ireland
CHAPTER VIII
THE EXPEDITION TO IRELAND
IN the declining fortunes of the Stuarts, the expedition
of James to Ireland seems to mark a distinct step
downwards. After its failure every succeeding attempt
to regain the throne that had been lost resembles a for-
lorn hope. The effort which was to have given James
access to England through the side door of Ireland was
neither ill conceived nor impracticable. It seems less
so now than when defeat and mismanagement obscured
the strategical value of the attempt, and when the
failure was bitterly ascribed to the incompetence of its
leader. Its failure, as we read it now, was due chiefly
to the fact that the one person who perceived its true
importance was the leader who thwarted it, William of
Orange. James, who commanded it, was so preoccupied
with the superior advantages which to his mind would
have been offered by an expedition against England,
that he regarded it rather as a makeshift than as a
means, the only means, to an end. To Louis XIV.,
who financed and equipped it, the expedition seemed a
promising way of diverting the attention of William,
but scarcely a flank attack into which the whole weight
of French resources should be thrown. To Louvois,
i 4 4 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
whose clearness of vision was obscured by his dislike,
from economical and personal reasons, of the Court of
Saint-Germain, it seemed merely an expedition on
which too much should not be spent. In short, the
expedition to Ireland was a raid ; and it suffered, as
more than one raid has suffered since, from being under-
financed.
The way in which ministers of State regarded the
prospects and probabilities of James's expedition to
Ireland is reflected in the gossip of the Court.
Madame de Sevigne writes apprehensively of the ill-
fortune of the English royal family. Even when she
is speaking of the departure of the royal Ulysses, " Was
ever family so unfortunate ? " she exclaims ; and she
goes on to opine that the difference of religion between
James and his English subjects must ever be a hindrance
to his restoration. Her correspondent, the Comte de
Bussy-Rabutin, responds that there is nothing impossible
to a nation which on occasion cuts off the head of its
King ; perhaps James's children may succeed where
their father has failed ; but for his part he expects to
be paying his respects to James at Saint-Germain again
within the year. Madame de Lafayette is even more
sceptical and more plain-spoken. The departure of
the King of England for Ireland, she writes, does not
fill the King (Louis XIV.) with any great hope of
seeing him re-established on his throne. King James
was not long in France, she continues contemptuously,
before he was perceived for what he was a priest-ridden
fanatic. But that was not his greatest failing in the
eyes of the Court of Versailles. He was feeble ; if he
bore his misfortunes well, it was not from fortitude
but from insensibility though he might be physically
THE EXPEDITION TO IRELAND 145
brave, for " like most of the English he despises death."
Poor James ! even that merit was not long to be
allowed him.
In short, the more one considers the outset of the
expedition, the more it seems to resemble a diversion
which was royally gilded to appear important rather
than an attempt in force to change the history of a
nation. It was fairly well but not brilliantly officered ;
it was not well equipped either in men or munitions of
war. Of General Rosen, a bluff German who had
shouldered his way up to the rank of a major-general
in Flanders, who was to command it, and of Maumont,
of the Guards, Pusignan, Lery-Girardin, and Boisseleau
and L'Estrade, who took subordinate rank, Madame
de Lafayette observes that they were good honest men,
no doubt, but they were among the more mediocre
of the King's officers. Possibly they might shine
when compared with the Irish. James would have
preferred to take M. de Lauzun a choice dictated
not by discrimination but by the obstinate preference
which James always had for his own favourites. He
was not allowed to do so ; and to make up to Lauzun
for a disappointment which that graceless courtier
could no doubt sustain with composure, James con-
ferred on him the Order of the Garter, giving him the
self-same diamond star which had belonged to Charles I.
By a rather significant coincidence, the vacant knight-
hood of the Order was conferred at this time in
England on another recipient. William gave it to
General Schomberg, who was to oppose James in
Ireland ; and added a more material reward than James
could afford a pension of .4000 a year.
Lauzun was made a Knight of the Garter with due
10
i 4 6 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
form and ceremony. James went to mass at Notre
Dame, and after mass a Chapel of the Order of the
Garter was held : a circumstance which seems to have
impressed Madame de Lafayette almost as much as
the value of the diamonds on the star, or the motto of
" Honi soit qui mal y pense " on the Garter. " The
luck of this little Lauzun," she exclaims, " is truly
extraordinary ! " James then went to dine with the
Papal Nuncio, the Archbishop of Paris, and other
ecclesiastics ; and " his friends the Jesuits " came in to
bid him adieu. After dining he paid first a visit
to the English Brotherhood, and touched a number of
suppliants for the king's evil. A visit to Chaillot con-
cluded the ecclesiastical part of James's leave-takings.
He paid visits also to Mademoiselle at the Luxem-
bourg, to Monsieur at Saint-Cloud, and finally to
Louis at Versailles. Next day Louis came to Saint-
Germain to speed his parting guest. " Their parting,"
says Madame de Lafayette sentimentally, "was most
tender." It was at any rate marked by a valedictory
phrase on the part of " le Roi Soleil " which has
deservedly passed into history. "You can never
believe," said he, " that I am not grieved to see you
go. None the less, the best wish I can give you is that
I hope I may never see you return. Yet if by evil
fortune you must, you may believe that you will ever
find me as you leave me." 1
The ceremonial visits of leave-taking having been
paid, the journey began. James lost no time. He sped
1 " Vous ne sauriez dire que je ne sois louche de voir vous partir.
Cependant je vous avoue que je souhaite de ne vous revoir jamais. Mais
si par malheur vous revenez, soyez persuade que vous me retrouverez
tel que vous me voyez." Nothing, adds Madame de Lafayette, was
ever better said, or said more rightly.
THE EXPEDITION TO IRELAND 147
through Brittany, says one admiring chronicler, like a
meteor : though there were two accidents on the way
which aroused the usual comments of the superstitious.
His carriage broke down at Orleans ; and when it
was being taken on board at Brest again exhibited a
disastrous unmanageability. The raft carrying it swung
against the piers of a bridge, and James's valet was
drowned. In other respects the journey, rapid as it
was, had some of the aspects of a triumphal progress.
The Due de Chaulnes, one of the plainest but one
of the courtliest men of his time, did the honours of
his province in the most princely manner. Madame
de Sevign6 recounts them with a note of admiration.
He had prepared not one but two suppers for James
on the way one at Roche Bernard for ten o'clock, one
at Nantes for midnight. James was extremely touched
by this mark of attention, embraced the Duke, who
was in waiting to receive him, and protested that he
did not want anything to eat. To no avail. He was
ushered by the hospitable governor into a dining-room
where not merely a supper, with all the delicacies of
the season, was served, but where an obsequious
company of ladies and gentlemen waited to receive
him. Chaulnes desired to wait on the King at table :
James wished that he should sit on his right hand ;
and " the King ate as hearty a supper as if there were
no Prince of Orange in the world." The next day he
embarked at Brest.
The ceremoniousness of his departure was not very
well proportioned to the meagreness of his equipment
for war. Louis was not prepared to stake an army on
the fortunes of his royal protege. Ireland was to
furnish that. James was only given what we may
148 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
describe as the advisory staff, and a magnificent personal
equipment, of which the most solid item was i 12,000
in money. Otherwise "the Most Christian King
gave him 6 general officers, 20 captains, 30 lieutenants,
40 cadets, 4 engineers, various artillery officers, cannons,
munitions, arms to arm 20,000 men, a vessel loaded
with hand grenades, 1 2 saddle-horses with rich harness,
3 calashes, 4 changes, a service of silver for his
Majesty when eating with other people, and another
service vermeille dorte^ tents for camping out when he
is at the head of his army, a bed, linen, toilette, and
finally all the equipage necessary to a King when he
goes on a campaign. His Majesty has also given him
a cuirass, and the pistols that he carried on his saddle-
bow, and prayed him to make use of them." *
If Louis thought it superfluous to furnish James on
his expedition with the highest military talent, he and
Louvois were more fastidious in the choice of the
diplomatic adviser who was to counsel James and to
supervise the interests of France. The Comte d'Avaux,
who had taken the place on the expedition which
Barillon had been expected to fill, was one of the
shrewdest intellects that served Louis XIV. in his
duel with William of Orange. A great-nephew of the
Comte d'Avaux who had been French Minister of
Finance under Mazarin, and who had received the
doubtful honour of exile for having been " indiscreet,
and too little respectful " to that powerful Cardinal, the
younger D'Avaux shone with some of the reflected
glories of his relative. If he did not belong to what
may have been regarded then as the old school of
diplomatists, he was at any rate a supple courtier, and
1 Quoted from Cavelli.
THE EXPEDITION TO IRELAND 149
he was not likely to imitate some of his great-uncle's
mistakes one of which was that of delivering a sermon
to the Dutch on the superior advantages of the Roman
Catholic religion. Saint-Simon is not sure if he had as
great talents, but assigns to him a suave and ingratiating
manner, and a perfectly cool and detached judgment.
In Holland, though he was the ambassador of Louis,
he achieved both the friendship and the respect of the
Dutch ; and he was credited at the French Court with
having penetrated the designs of William on England
before either Louis or Louvois had done so. " He
was one of the first," says Saint-Simon, " to hear of the
project of William upon England when that project
was only in embryo and kept profoundly secret. He
apprised the King [Louis] of it, but was laughed at.
Barillon, then an ambassador in England, was listened to
in preference. He, deceived by Sunderland, assured
our Court that D'Avaux's reports were mere chimeras.
It was not until it was impossible any longer to doubt
that credit was given to them. The steps then taken,
instead of disconcerting the conspirators, did not
interfere with the working out of any of their plans.
All liberty was left, in fact, to William to carry out his
scheme. . . ." It is possible that Saint-Simon's con-
tempt of Louvois may have led him to overestimate
the penetration of D'Avaux ; but it is significant that,
when D'Avaux, on behalf of Louis XIV., made his
famous declaration to the Dutch States General of
September 9th, 1688, in which he threatened them
with the intervention of Louis if they began hostilities
against James, this threat merely served to convert
the possibility of William's invasion into an accom-
plished fact.
1 50 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
D'Avaux, who was not of the ancient nobility, was
perhaps regarded as the pushing attorney of diplomacy.
He had the cleverness and the complete absence of
scruple associated with that term ; but he had what is
not associated with it, a perfect loyalty to the master
and the cause he served. His policy with regard to
Ireland was perfectly definite, and it was perfectly
well understood both by Louis and by Louis's minister
Louvois. It was less the restoration of James to the
throne of England, than the infliction of an injury
on France's most pertinacious opponent, William of
Orange.
It was James's belief, in which he was encouraged by
the English Jacobites, that he had only to appear in
England to find his subjects rally to his side. D'Avaux
did not think it at all likely that William, whose
resolution and ability he had had abundant opportunity
of apprehending, would let go what he had won. But
if that could not be hoped for, the next best thing that
could happen would be the detachment of Ireland from
the English crown, the possible establishment of James's
son there as a king or prince of Ireland under Bourbon
protection and French suzerainty. Louvois said as
much in one of his letters. " The best thing that King
James could do," he remarks, "would be to forget
that he has been King in England, and to apply himself
solely to putting Ireland into a sound condition and
to attach her people solidly to himself." l It was un-
1 Archives des Affaires Etrangeres (Paris) : Louvois to D'Avaux,
June-i, 1689. The frequent references to D'Avaux in the subsequent
chapters are taken from D'Avaux's correspondence with Louis and
Louvois, a volume of which was published by the English Foreign
Office.
THE EXPEDITION TO IRELAND 151
fortunate for the success of these admirable French
precepts that the difficulties of putting them into
practice were not understood soon enough.
D'Avaux soon saw one of the difficulties. He per-
ceived it on the first day he stepped aboard the French
ship which floated James's royal standard at the main.
It was the irresolution and want of judgment of the
Prince whom he was ostensibly to serve. James has
had many critics, bitter, bigoted, abusive ; but none
more acid than this polite ambassador, whose estimate
of the King and Court in Ireland is as contemptuous
as that which Saint-Simon penned of the Court of
Versailles. There is an essential distinction between
them. Saint-Simon's biting summaries of men and
women were written for none to see, till their author
should be safe from the punishment which they would
have brought on his head. D'Avaux's correspondence
with Louis was candid observation which was written
with no basis of egotism, but which was solely intended
to inform his master in the clearest possible manner of
the way in which his affairs were going, and his arms
and money being spent. His first letter seals a
judgment which he never reversed he speaks of
James's irresolution ; observes that he is always busy-
ing himself with petty things, and passing over those
which are essential ; and complains of his foolish want
of reticence " His Britannic Majesty speaks of
everything before all the world."
The voyage was calm and pleasant ; and though the
King's retinue, whether of English gentlemen or
French soldiers, experienced little of that strong
assurance of victory which is one of the essentials of
a successful adventure, there must have been some sort
152 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
of curious expectancy in the expedition. With King
James went Arabella Churchill's two sons, the Duke
of Berwick and Henry Fitzjames, Lord Dover, Lord
and Lady Melfort, Lord and Lady Powis, Lord
Seaforth, the Bishop of Chester, John Gordon, Bishop
of Galloway, a Protestant Churchman who afterwards
became a Romanist, the Hamiltons, a retinue of
officers, and the King's chaplains and his confessor
a discreet cleric who is several times commended
by the French ambassador for his good offices in
persuading James when other means had failed.
The fleet arrived at Kinsale, in Ireland, on the i2th
of March, and after the Earl of Clancarty, commanding
at Kinsale, had paid his ceremonial visit to the King
on board the St Michel, his Majesty landed, and with
his sons, Berwick and Fitzjames, accompanied by
Lord Powis and the Bishop of Chester, went on shore
and up to the Fort, glad to put his foot on land that
was his own again. He wanted to press on at once,
to the annoyance of the scandalised D'Avaux, without
even landing the arms and ammunition, in spite of
the fact that his expectant subjects had not been ready
with enough horses to take the King and his escort to
Cork. With difficulty some carriages were found to
carry the most necessary portion of the royal equipage,
the money, to Cork, and there three days later they
went, to be received by MacCarty, afterwards Lord
Mountcashel, in whose house James stayed. Cork,
poverty-stricken little town as it was, did its best to
welcome the King, and made up in heartiness what it
lacked in ostentation : James, observes a Protestant
leaflet sourly, "being received by the Irish in their
rude and barbarous manner, by bagpipes, dancing,
THE EXPEDITION TO IRELAND 153
throwing the mantles under his horses' feet, making
a garland of a cabbage stump, and such like expressions
of joy." The leaflet maliciously adds that in the midst
of this rejoicing the Irish rapscallions did not omit to
ply their usual practices of thieving " the Rapparees
plundering, not sparing either party, insomuch that of
ten oxen sent the King two of them were by these
villains taken away." D'Avaux saw no humour in
this state of things : he perceived only with disgust
that the plundering of cattle and sheep in Ireland was
a commonplace ; that no one was punished for it ; and
that the easy-going James could hardly be persuaded
to dismiss drunken officers who had been concerned in
a riot.
" The King listens to everyone," says the ambassador
morosely, " and it takes as much time to destroy the
wrong views which he assimilates as to put good ones in
their place." A letter from General Rosen to Louvois
shows that the disgust of the French ambassador at
the confusion and disorder, the theft and the pillage,
was shared by the French soldiers. They expected
too much of Ireland. Under the splendid adminis-
trative capacity of Louvois the armies and expeditions
of France were organised and equipped down to the
last gaiter button ; and to this standard a French
soldier expected other peoples to conform. But it
was not so in other armies. It was not so in the army
which the veteran Schomberg was to lead from England
into Ireland ; and when the difficulties of raising,
equipping, teaching, and paying an Irish army are
considered, the expectations formed by their critics in
the seventeenth century seem absurd.
The deepening gloom lifted with the arrival of the
154 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Viceroy, Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnel, whose
name, first immortalised by Wharton l in " Lilli Bulero,"
is still sung in the ballads of Ireland. Tyrconnel's
arrival gave to the Irish reception the military glamour
which Mountcashel's meagre forces in Cork had not
been able to display. He came from Dublin with an
escort of a hundred gallant Irish gentlemen to salute
the King. The King met him, nay more, went out
from his room to meet him, and embraced him as a
brother. At the dinner which followed, James placed
his Viceroy on his right hand, while Berwick sat on
his left. The Viceroy received through D'Avaux marks
of regard hardly less considerable from the French
King. Louis sent him the Ordre Bleu, a sword with
a jewelled hilt, together with a casket containing
12,000 louis-d'or. The anonymous chronicler of the
occasion does not relate with what words the French
ambassador conveyed these blushing honours, but he
does add that Tyrconnel responded to D'Avaux that
there were fifty gentlemen in Ireland equally worthy
to receive them.
This moment, we may take it, was the proudest of
Tyrconnel's life. It also marks the summit of his
career. He was the most powerful adviser of the
King for whom he had declared, and from whose
gratitude he might expect many favours to come ; he
was the honoured protege not only of James, but of
1 "Lilli Bulero" (written when Dick Talbot was made Earl of
Tyrconnel). We quote two stanzas from Wilkins's Political Ballads,
vol. i. :
" Dare was an old prophecy found in a bog,
Ireland shall be rul'd by an ass and a dog.
" And now dis prophecy is come to pass,
For Talbot's de dog and James is de ass."
THE EXPEDITION TO IRELAND 155
the most powerful monarch in Europe, Louis XIV.
That was no small advancement for an Irish gentleman
of no very distinguished family, who had begun life
as a cornet of horse, and had been obliged to earn his
pay as a soldier in Flanders.
He was the youngest son of Sir William Talbot,
and he was the most energetic and the most successful
of a family which had little but its wits to prosecute
its fortunes. Peter Talbot, the eldest, was a Jesuit
who was with the Stuarts during their exile before the
Restoration, and was said to have received Charles II.
into the Roman Catholic Church. For the Order of
Jesus, the temperamental failings of the Talbots, as
exemplified in Peter, proved too strong, and they ex-
pelled him, though he remained on good terms with
them. His appointment as Archbishop of Dublin was
favoured by Charles ; and his archbishopric is chiefly
memorable for his quarrels with Archbishop Plunket
of Armagh. He closed a stormy life in prison, send-
ing for his old opponent at the last, and being absolved
by him. Peter's enemies called him " lyingest villain
and desperate rogue " ; but it was a day when invective
was the commonest form of dialectic ; and much that
was said of Peter was said also of Brother Tom, the
Franciscan friar ; or of Colonel Gilbert Talbot, who was
denounced as one of Cromwell's spies ; and of Dick
Talbot, the soldier of fortune, duellist, gamester, and
Duke of York's gentleman, who raised his family's
fortunes to their highest point, but left little more than
a tradition behind him at his death. This much, at the
distance of more than two centuries, we may say of him
that in a day when politicians were commonly time-
servers, and exceptional if they did not sell their con-
156 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
victions to the highest bidder, he died as he had lived,
in the service of a losing cause. If he was unscrupu-
lous, he made no secret of it ; if he was venal, he
carried it off with a robust humour that has its attractive
side ; and if he pretended, his pretences were generally
made to those who did not profess to believe him.
He was, as the shareholders of the East India Company
complained of Governor Pitt, a " roughling immoral
man " ; l but to his haughty, huffying temper he added
intrepidity and an Irish carelessness of appearances.
He had been used to taking hard knocks. He
fought against Cromwell at seventeen, and was wounded
and left for dead in the rout of Preston's army. His
boyish face served him while a prisoner, for he escaped
in women's clothes, and began again as a soldier of
fortune in Madrid. From Madrid he went to Flanders,
and his brother Peter presented him to James, then
Duke of York, and a Prince whom Cond extolled for
his intrepidity. That was in 1653, and Talbot was
thereafter attached to James's household and fortunes.
He was in England once before the Restoration, and was
arrested and examined on suspicion of being in the plot
to assassinate the Protector. But he escaped, and got
back to Brussels. The uncharitable said that his
escape was owing to the arrangement which his brother
Gilbert made for him with Cromwell to act as his spy
on the Stuarts. It is not unlikely. An arrangement
of that kind would never have stuck in Dick Talbot's
throat especially when its conditions could not be
enforced. Cromwell would have learnt little from him
that was of value. At the Restoration he came back
as the Duke of York's gentleman, with the kind of
1 Lord Rosebery's Chatham.
RICHARD TALBOT, DUKE OF TVRCONNEL.
THE EXPEDITION TO IRELAND 157
reputation that a man of thirty who had spent thirteen
years of his life in camps would be likely to have. He
was a duellist, and he was too successful as a gamester
to be popular. He was appointed Gentleman of the
Bedchamber to the Duke of York, and we need not be
astonished to find that he was a boon companion in
James's vices. The worst that can be said of him is
that^ when James was meditating a way of escape from
the consequences of marrying his first wife, Anne
Hyde, the Irishman allowed himself to be one of a
party of four " gentlemen of honour " instructed by
Lord Falmouth to give personal testimony against her
reputation. The story is told by Anthony Hamilton
in the Memoirs of Gramont^ and has often been
quoted. The most singular part of it is that James,
after having heard the scandalous accusations of the
four gentlemen of honour with as few qualms as they
experienced in making them, and having indeed thanked
them for their frankness, announced his marriage
publicly to two of them an hour afterwards. " As you
are the two men of the Court whom 1 most esteem,"
said James with serene and pleasant countenance, " I
am desirous you should first have the honour of
paying your compliments to the Duchess of York ;
there she is." l
One might have expected that Colonel Talbot's
career would not survive an unpleasant surprise of this
nature ; but it seems to have made no difference in
James's regard for him, though Talbot was not much
at Court in Charles's reign. He lived very largely in
Ireland. That, however, did not arise out of his dis-
grace. It was more likely due to the fact that he had
1 M/moires de Comte de Gramont.
158 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
not the means to keep his head above water in Charles's
spendthrift Court : for though Anthony Hamilton says
that he played deep (and was " tolerably forgetful "),
the Talbots could have inherited but little from their
grandfather the judge ; and in Ireland, or between
Ireland and England, he found a means to recruit his
slender fortunes. This was as an advocate of Irish
claims, an office which is a little difficult to define, but
which, from the circumstances of the case, Talbot pro-
bably found lucrative.
During the Commonwealth nearly all the land of
unhappy Ireland had changed hands. The lands of
those who had fought for the King and had been
defeated, as well as lands of the Crown and of
the Church, had been confiscated. This was followed
by a gigantic eviction it amounts to that of native
Irish who had incurred the hatred of Englishmen on
account of the savage atrocities during the great rising
of 1641-3. All of them, except such as were needed
to serve as labourers, were compelled to choose between
exile and migration to Connaught or the county of
Clare, where lands were to be allotted to them. Between
30,000 and 40,000 chose exile, and, like Talbot, found
employ as soldiers in the wars of Europe, in France,
Spain, Austria, Venice, but ever with the object of aiding
the exiled Stuarts. The lost lands of the Irish went to
the men who had aided in the suppression of the Irish
rebellion of 1 642 by advancing money, or to the soldiers
who had effected the conquest. The distribution was
carried out on a scientific basis, and the country was
mapped out by Sir William Petty with a care which we
may be sure would never have been exercised except
by those who had some profit to gain by it.
THE EXPEDITION TO IRELAND 159
We need scarcely inquire whether there was jobbery,
plunder, and corruption in this neat settlement. When
the Restoration brought Charles back to the throne,
there arose in the hearts of the exiled Irish a joyous
hope of loyalty rewarded, of lands restored, of land
usurpers flung out again. A disappointment more
bitter than their loss awaited most of them. To most
of them the Act of Settlement, which Charles's ministers
evolved after long survey of a vastly complicated
question, restored nothing and confirmed nothing ex-
cept their discontent. Their services were acknowledged
on paper in the Act of Settlement, " some as having for
reasons known to us in an especial manner merited our
grace and favour, others as having continued with
or served faithfully under our ensigns beyond the seas."
The Stuarts were incompetent to do more ; but during
the years when the question was being thrashed out,
and the baffling intricacies of the conflicting claims were
being considered before the Irish Council in London,
or the Court of Claims in Dublin, Talbot was prominent
among those who pressed the claims of his fellow-
countrymen. The President of the Irish Council in
London was the Duke of Ormonde, who was the chief
of the Protestant noblemen in Ireland, and the ablest
man of affairs. It says a great deal for his sense of
public duty that he was prevailed upon at this time to
leave the comfort of England for the uneasy position
of Viceroy in Ireland. His post as President of the
Irish Council was not less thankless ; and it was during
its occupancy that he came into conflict with Talbot.
Talbot was doubly engaged in the claimants' interest.
He had the fierce dislike of the Irish Catholic for the
Irish Protestant, and he took no doubt a commission
160 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
on the claims which he prosecuted successfully. 1 His
lively tongue was no respecter of Ormonde, and after
some bitter repartees he threatened the Viceroy in
language which would have been In place on the fields
of Flanders, but was intolerable in a court. Ormonde
indignantly asked the King if at this time of day he
should be forced to fight a duel with Dick Talbot
and Talbot found himself, to his dismay, lodged in
the Tower. It was a check from which he took some
time to recover and he recovered in Ireland.
According to Anthony Hamilton, he had another
reason for going. He had been in love with the
beautiful Miss Hamilton, Anthony's sister, and his
quarrel with the Duke of Ormonde, who was her
uncle, made the prospect of a marriage with her remote. 2
But we take it that Talbot was never the man to cry
over spilt milk, and he seems to have retired to Ireland
1 A petition is still preserved in the Dublin State Records of some
of the officers who remained in London till 1665 to prosecute their
claims. It runs :
" The humble Petition of the Officers who served under your
Majesty's Royall Ensignes beyond the Seas.
"That most of the Officers who served under your Royall Ensignes
beyond the Seas have perished by famine since your Majesty's happy
Restoration in solliciting for their Estates, and the few of them remain-
ing are now like to perish of the Plague, having not any meanes to
bring them out of this Towne nor knowing whither they shall goe.
"Your Petitioners humble request is that in regard that they are
but few in number and their estates but small, your Majesty will be
pleased to put an end to their sufferings by ordering that a proviso
be inserted in this Bill to restore to the Petitioners their former estates."
2 Miss Hamilton afterwards married the Comte de Gramont.
The story goes that her brothers, Anthony and George, when the
Comte de Gramont was leaving England to return to France,
hastened after him, and finding him at Dover remarked politely that
he had forgotten something. "Pardon me, I forgot to marry your
sister, so lead on and let us finish that affair," agreed Gramont, and
returned to do so.
THE EXPEDITION TO IRELAND 161
cheerfully enough, with a jest on his lips at the loss
of his mistress. If his departure left Miss Hamilton
unaffected, it depressed another more sentimental lady,
the maid of honour whose picture Anthony Hamilton
has preserved for us in the languishing Miss Boynton.
Miss Boynton seems to have belonged to a later day
than that of the robust shamelessness of the Restoration
Court, and to have had a habit of swooning on very
slight provocation. She swooned like an early Victorian
heroine the first time she saw the handsome Dick
Talbot, and that stalwart giant was so affected by this
instance of feminine weakness that he conceived a
tenderness for his admirer which at last ended in his
marrying her. Not, however, by any means at once.
His mobile heart was first to be disturbed by another
love affair. He was one of the suitors for the beautiful
but cool-headed Fanny Jennings, the sister of the
greater Sarah, who married Marlborough. But she
preferred George Hamilton's more settled prospects.
So, not knowing why or wherefore, Talbot married his
large-eyed adorer, and, we think, lived with her happily.
They left England for Dublin, where she died, and
where, in Christ Church Cathedral, she lies buried with
her child.
But the world moved on with Talbot as with Fanny
Jennings, the mother of George Hamilton's children.
The "Popish Plot," the outcome of the perjuries of
Titus Oates, spread out its tentacles even to Ireland,
and Talbot, like James, was one of the persons impli-
cated. He fled to France, and there once again he
met Fanny Jennings, now a widow. He married her,
and from this point his fortunes, just before at their
lowest ebb, moved upwards again, till with the accession
ii
1 62 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
of James they began to soar. James had seen in Ireland
a country which would be bound to him by the double
bond of loyalty and religion, and which would help
him to coerce England. It was a delusion born of his
ignorance of the nature of Irish loyalty and of the
Irish memory. But it was a delusion fostered by an
Irishman whose memory contained no bitter recollection
of Stuart neglect and ingratitude. Talbot encouraged
James's visions partly out of self-interest, partly from
an Irishman's natural enthusiasm for what he wishes
to believe, and what he wishes others to believe.
James selected two instruments for his purposes.
One was Clarendon, the son of the great Chancellor, and
James's brother-in-law, a man of second-rate ability, of
cautious temper and half-hearted resolves. The other
was Talbot, a man of little judgment and no states-
manship, but of confident resolution. To Talbot was
given an independent military command in Ireland,
and the title of Earl of Tyrconnel. He was something
more than military administrator : he made himself
military dictator. The compromising Clarendon was
no match for Talbot, who opposed to his cautious
schemes the ready truculence of the soldier of fortune.
An example of their methods it is related by Clarendon
himself will suffice. It arose over the question of
the appointment of sheriffs for the counties. " By
God, my Lord," said Tyrconnel, " I must needs tell
you the sheriffs you have made are generally rogues
and old Cromwellians ! " To which Clarendon feebly
rejoined that the sheriffs were as good a set of men as
any chosen for a dozen years. " By God, I believe
it ! " retorted the Irishman, " for there has not been an
honest man sheriff for twenty years." It is extremely
THE EXPEDITION TO IRELAND 163
likely that Clarendon went down to his grave without
appreciating his rival's humour. He did not long
oppose his wits to it ; for what he was afraid to do
in Ireland, Talbot was eager to do.
Talbot set about remodelling the army and the civil
authority on the plan of converting both to a weapon
for James's use. He did the work thoroughly, as may
be gathered from the bitter indictment penned by
Archbishop King, the then Dean of St Patrick's :
" This person was the true enemy of King James.
He drove his Master out of his kingdom ; he destroyed
him by his pernicious counsels, and the kingdom of
Ireland by his exorbitant and illegal management ; and
therefore he and such other wicked Counsellors and
Ministers are alone answerable for all the mischiefs
that have followed." l But there is another way of
looking at Tyrconnel's work. " There is work to
be done in Ireland," said James, on appointing him,
" which no Englishman will do." The blame does
not lie in the first place on Tyrconnel. But what
he did was accomplished without any refinements of
subtlety ; it was done with the " bagonet and the butt."
He disarmed the militia and the Protestants ; he dis-
missed 300 Protestant officers from the standing army
of 7000 (in 1686), and replaced them with Roman
Catholics. Many of these, cashiered without com-
pensation, went abroad to fight in Holland, and
returned in after days to serve under William in
Ireland. The dismissal of the men followed on that
of the officers. Some 6000 of them were turned
adrift. Thus far the " reform " of the army proceeded.
But the civil authority was handled with the same
1 King's State of the Protestants in Ireland.
1 64 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
mailed fist. The Privy Council, the judiciary, the
sheriffs, the corporations, all were altered by Tyrconnel
in the way suited to what he conceived to be the
pattern desired by his master. What was gained by
this policy in Ireland was, of course, lost in England ;
though equally fatal, perhaps more fatal, was the belief,
even more firmly fixed in Ireland than in England,
that the end and aim of these changes was not merely
the coercion but the extinction of the Protestants. It
was fear which raised rebels against James in Ireland,
and which was ultimately to wrench it from his
grasp.
The remainder of Tyrconnel's rule before James's
arrival may be briefly told. He had hoped to
preserve Ireland intact to King James when William
of Orange was marching on London. Even when
Protestant Ulster showed the first signs of revolting
to the usurper's colours, he believed that he could
keep them, and sent Lord Mountjoy to* reassure
them, at any rate till he was in a position to threaten
them. Events seemed to be moving too quickly
for him so much too quickly that he has been sus-
pected of wishing at this juncture to parley with
William, and perhaps to betray the interests of James.
We prefer to believe that he was too old a campaigner
to change, and that any indecision he showed was due
to a wish to gain precious time. William sent one
of the Hamiltons Richard Hamilton to treat with
him. Hamilton had turned his coat once : when
he came to Dublin he changed it again, not light-
heartedly perhaps, but because he must quickly have
seen that Tyrconnel could not change.
It was possible, it would have been possible, by
THE EXPEDITION TO IRELAND 165
disarming Ulster and the north, to preserve Ireland
for James ; or, at all events, to make its subjugation
by William a task of extreme difficulty. This was
the problem which Tyrconnel and Richard Hamilton
took in hand. The degree of effectiveness which they
had reached is described in the report which Tyrconnel
gave to James when they met at Cork : " That
he had sent down Lieftenant General Hamilton with
about 2500 men, being as many as he could spare from
Dublin to make head against the Rebells in Ulster,
who were masters of all that Province except Charle-
mount and Caricfergus : that most of the Protestants
in other partes of the Kingdom had been up : that
in Munster they had possessed themselves of Castle
Marter and Bandon, but were forced to surrender
both places and were totally reduced in these parts
by Lieftenant General Macarty (Lord Mountcashel)
and were in a manner totally suppressed in the
other two provinces.
" That the bare retention of an Army had done it,
together with the diligence of the Catholick nobility
and gentry who had raised above fifty Regiments of
Foot and several troops of horse and Dragoons.
" That he had distributed among them 20,000 armes
but were most so old and unserviceable that not above
1000 of the firearms were found to be of any use.
"That the old troops consisting of one Battalion
of Guards together with Macarty's, Clancarty's and
Newton's Regiments were pretty well armed, as
also seven companies of Mountjoy's old regiment,
which were with him the other six having stayed
in Derry.
" That he had three Regiments of Horse, Tyrconnel's,
1 66 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Russel's and Galway's and one of Dragoons : but the
Catholicks had no arms, while the Protestants had
plenty and all the best horses in the Kingdom ; that
for artillery he had but eight small field pieces in a
condition to march, the rest not mounted no stores
in the magazines, little powder and ball, all the officers
gon for England, and no mony in cash." l
1 Clarke's Life of James II.
CHAPTER IX
JAMES'S IRISH ARMY
IT is certain that what Tyrconnel welcomed most in
his master's equipage was the 500,000 crowns with
which Louis had supplied him. In a letter sent from
Tyrconnel in January 1688-9 to Queen Maria, which
was clearly intended for James's eyes, he says that
what he wants more than arms or ammunition is money,
and without it the kingdom must be infallibly lost.
" True it is that with arms and ammunition I may
assemble a considerable body of naked men without
clothes, but having no money to subsist, all the order
and care I can take will not hinder the ruin of the
country nor a famine before midsummer. . . .
Before the middle of March at the furthest,
there ought," he says, " to be sent to me 500,000
crowns in cash, which with our own industry shall
serve us for a year." Tyrconnel further draws up
a list of practical requirements for his army, and
suggests the necessity to send him at least " 6000
matchlocks and 5000 firelocks. To send me at
least 12,000 swords. To send me 2000 carbines,
and as many cases of pistols and holsters. To
send me a good number of officers. . . ." His
167
i68 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
account of the Irish army is not unfairly descriptive
of its threadbare magnificence : " . . . Four regiments
of old troops and one battalion of the regiment of
guards, three regiments of horse, with one troop of
grenadiers on horseback. I have lately given out
commissions for nearly forty regiments of dragoons
and two of horse, all which amount to 40,000 men,
who are all unclothed and the greater part unarmed,
and are to be subsisted by their several officers until
the last of February next, out of their own purses,
to the ruin of most of them ; but after that day I
see no possibility for arming them, clothing them, or
subsisting them for the future, but abandoning the
country to them" 1 that is to say, letting them live
as best they can on the country.
Tyrconnel's account of his army is confirmed by his
allies and by his enemies. Captain John Stevens, who
took service under the Duke of Berwick, and wrote
afterwards A Journal of my Travels since the Revolution^
is a very candid critic of the army, in which he rather
bitterly complains that promotion did not appear to
be regulated by merit or experience. The army was
over-officered, and the Irish officers were ignorant and
had no experience of war. That, of course, was not
true of the Irish gentlemen who, like Tyrconnel him-
self, had fought in the wars of the Continent ; but it
was true of those who had been hastily commissioned
to command the raw levies of Tyrconnel's army.
D'Avaux wrote to Louis that the greater number of
these Irish regiments had been raised by Irish gentle-
men who had never seen fighting, and the companies
were captained by the butcher, the baker, the candle-
1 Add. MSS., Brit. Mus., 28,053.
JAMES'S IRISH ARMY 169
stick-maker. Another witness, a partisan one, is no
less emphatic : " And as to the inferior Officers of the
Army such as Captains, Lieutenants, and Ensigns, some
hundreds of them had been Cowherds, Horseboys, or
Footmen, and perhaps these were none of their worst
men ; for by reason of their education among Pro-
testants, they had seen and understood more than those
who had lived wild on the Mountains " 1 : such is
the summary of Dr King, Archbishop of Dublin ; and
though both these contemporary opinions were coloured
by the prevalent attitude of contempt to all things that
were native Irish, it is certain that the officers in the
lower ranks were far from being " quality." The
army as a whole was very raw, very undisciplined.
In the scurrilous little pamphlet on Tyrconnel, " The
Popish Champion," the author remarks of his Irish
army, that they had straw bands instead of hats, and
were armed with ash-poles in lieu of swords, bayonets,
and firearms. " Stockings and shoes were in a manner
strange to them ; and as for shirts, one among three
proved a miracle, . . ." with some further ribald
details. But Stevens is not far from a similar esti-
mate. Most of the troops, he said, had never fired a
musket in their lives. They were as undisciplined
as conceited, and followed none but their own officers,
who knew no more than they did how to train them.
" For want of arms most of the army were taught
the little they knew with sticks, and when they came
to handle pike or musket they had to begin again.
Many regiments were sent upon service who had
never fired a shot, ammunition being kept so choice.
It is hard to guess when these men were upon action
1 King's State of the Protestants in Ireland.
170 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
whether their own or their enemies' fire were more
terrible to them." The French officers who came
to train these raw levies were prejudiced against
them ; and their prejudices were not reduced by the
way in which their tutorial efforts were received. The
neglect of French officers was a constant source of
complaint throughout the whole of James's campaign
in Ireland. That James knew that such complaints
were being made is evident from one of the letters
of the French ambassador to Louis, in which D'Avaux
narrates at length the reproaches which were levelled
at him by James. One of the grievances was that
D'Avaux had told Louis that James " treated the French
generals ill." D'Avaux (as he coolly responded) had
never been so imprudent as to put such a statement
in a letter, whatever his thoughts may have been.
The imputation came from other sources. D'Avaux
had been restrained by no such considerations from
saying from time to time that he thought very little
of James's English officers ; but his criticism in chief
was levelled, not at the lesser grades of officers, but
at the organisation of the army as a whole at its
want of discipline, at its deplorable equipment.
In a late letter to Louvois, in which D'Avaux speaks
of the despatch of French regiments to the aid of Ireland,
he enumerates what in his opinion should be sent with
them : " A doctor, surgeons, apothecaries, a hospital
director, and medicaments as well as munitions, a
complete train of artillery, farriers, shoeing-smiths,
carpenters. Bakers we have " ; and he adds satirically,
" There is no need to send butchers, for they are here
in plenty. It appears to be the sole metier of the Irish ;
not a soldier but is one. But send shoemakers, for
JAMES'S IRISH ARMY 171
the soldiers will go barefoot as soon as they have worn
out the shoes they bring with them from France ; and
if you could despatch a shipload of old brandy there
would be something in this country for a Frenchman
to drink." From which it will appear that the first
impressions which D'Avaux received of Ireland were
not mellowed by time. His inj unctions concerning what
we now call medical comforts were prompted by his
acquaintance with the hospitals where the sick and
wounded of James's army were lodged. It is a deso-
lating picture. In the campaign which was to follow
James's arrival in Ireland the weather was bad even
for that rainy country, and the sickness in the armies
of both James and his opponents was appalling. With
the knowledge of what military hospitals could be like
even in the nineteenth century, we may not wonder at
the state of things in the seventeenth which shocked
the ambassador's mind. In the hospitals between
Ardagh and Drogheda hundreds of sick men lay for a
day at a time on the floors of churches or empty
houses, without food or drink, without light or fire,
without a doctor or a surgeon. Things were little
better in the face of the enemy. Maumont and
Pusignan were both killed at the siege of London-
derry, one of them complaining with his last breath
that he died because there was not a proper surgeon
to attend him. When Louis heard of the deaths of
these two officers he angrily remonstrated. General
officers of this kind, he implied, did not grow on every
bush. His complaint reminds one of the jest of an Irish
wit two centuries later that to lose one parent
might perhaps be a misfortune, but to lose two was
something suspiciously like carelessness.
172 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
D'Avaux and the French officers of the expedition
were unable to perceive any good points in the Irish
army. They found no health in it. To them it was
an ill-disciplined mob ; its superior officers venal ; its
lower ranks incompetent or untrustworthy. History
was to prove, on the battlefields of Europe, that the
sweeping condemnation levelled at the Irish was un-
justified. Under adequate military guidance they
proved themselves the equals of the best troops in the
world ; and we are not disposed to take all the French
strictures at this time for granted. D'Avaux is himself
not consistent. At one point he accuses the Irish
colonels of stealing the regimental money and leaving
their captains to shift for themselves ; at another point
he admits that a number of the colonels of the Irish
regiments raised and kept their men together at their
own expense. He protests that if the French officers
complain (like himself) of the want of discipline among
the soldiery they render themselves odious, and he
implies that in consequence quarrels were forced on
them. But he also writes in a letter a few weeks
before he left Ireland that there were a good many
fire-eaters among the French officers, and that they
were a potent cause of disorder and brawling. It is
extremely likely, having regard to the temperaments
both of Irishmen and Frenchmen, that there was a
good deal of friction between them. It is also probable
that the exigencies and comradeship of warfare led to
a better understanding and appreciation of one another.
The Irishmen who were loudest in their denunciations
of General Rosen, for example, were the quickest to
regret his subsequent recall to France.
What the French critics did not sufficiently keep in
JAMES'S IRISH ARMY 173
mind, though D'Avaux was continually aware of it, was
that, as the Turkish proverb puts it, a fish begins to
stink at the head. The impotence of the Irish army
as a weapon of warfare was partly due to the haste
with which it had been raised ; it was still more due
to the absence of an organiser or an iron-fisted dis-
ciplinarian. Hardly had James landed than D'Avaux
has to record an instance of the King's fatal leniency.
Two captains had been dismissed for cattle-stealing,
and had raised a riot by way of reprisal. There was
the greatest difficulty, writes D'Avaux, in persuading the
King to make an example of them. " He listens to
everyone," adds the ambassador querulously, "and it
takes as much time to destroy the effect of the bad
advice he receives, as to substitute sound views in its
place."
If the King was lenient, his subordinates were
incompetent. Tyrconnel had raised an army, and
had done so in an incredibly short space of time ; but
his bolt was shot. Illness and debility were creeping
on him with years, and he was in the position of some
of the English generals in the Boer War, of being
unable to sustain a reputation won in earlier campaigns.
Lord Dover was perhaps the most incompetent com-
missary-general who was ever entrusted with the
supplies of an army. Richard Hamilton was (almost
in D'Avaux's words) too small a man for his job.
Berwick, whose subsequent military reputation was to
stand so high, was too young and too inexperienced ;
Mountcashel was a more conspicuous failure ; and
the discovery of born leaders and born fighters among
the Irishmen had to be left to the sifting hands of time
and the undeviating judgment of warfare. James had
174 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
no more ability to pick out competent officers than to
select competent advisers.
Yet this disordered Irish army possessed the raw
material of leadership : men sagacious of military
counsel ; quick to execute, able in attack and defence.
The first name which leaps to the mind is one which is
still preserved in Irish memory as a national hero,
Colonel Patrick Sarsfield, afterwards Earl of Lucan.
He is a typical figure in the double sense of combining
in his person all that was attractive in the gallant Irish
gentlemen who stood by the Stuarts, and in his history
the career that was usually their portion. Handsome,
and as brave as he was handsome, his was a form
which, in the time-honoured phrase, was equally fitted
to grace the camp or the court. He had been in the
English Guards and had seen fighting in Flanders ;
and he had something of the reputation of a General
De Wet among the Irish soldiers. But though his
ability had attracted the observant eye of the French
ambassador, there was the greatest difficulty in pro-
curing brigadier rank for him, because James was of
the sage opinion that, though he was brave enough,
yet he had " no head " (Avaux's phrase is : " Le Roi
disant que c'estoit un fort brave homme, mais qui
n'avoit point de tte "). But it was Sarsfield who by
his own exertions kept Connaught for the King, and
who strove with an unabated loyalty and spirit to keep
Ireland for him when the hopes of James sank into
a heap of ruins after the battle of the Boyne. 1
1 In Ireland Sarsfield's abilities were continually shrouded by the
blunders of others ; in France, where the discriminating influence of
D'Avaux would have placed him at the head of the Irish regiments
which migrated there, he had a brief opportunity of revealing his
martial genius. But before his reputation could be sealed with the
JAMES'S IRISH ARMY 175
To most of those who fought for James in Ireland,
and whose names are to be found in his army lists, the
futile campaign brought as little honour as profit :
their honours were to be gained on the stricken fields
of the Low Countries or Spain. But in the army lists
are many names of those who won a place in history,
sometimes of an ill eminence, sometimes among those
who sacrificed their all for an idea, sometimes as
one of that company whose persistent loyalty is one of
the ironies of history. One may picture among the
gallant gentlemen who rode with James from Cork to
Dublin, their numbers rising to two hundred as they
approached the gates of the capital, many whose
personalities remain distinct and striking.
Among them was Lord Galmoy, one of that great
Irish Butler family which was so torn asunder by its
warring scruples of loyalty and religion. Galmoy's
eminence was not of the kind of which his family
could be proud. Before the arrival of James he had
been zealous in harrying those of the Protestants who
seemed inclined to side with William of Orange, and
had besieged the castle of Crom. He employed a
curious device to conceal his lack of cannon. Two
cannon were constructed of tin, bound with whipcord,
success which his ability deserved, he fell at the battle of Landen.
Associated with his memory are two sayings which not unjustly sum
up the attitude of the Irish Jacobites and the hopes he fought for.
When, after all the hopes and useless triumphs of Limerick, the city
at last surrendered, it is said that Sarsfield, on hearing some comment
from an English officer concerning the Irish soldiers, said bitterly :
" As low as we now are, change kings and we will fight it over again
with you." The other is a nobler utterance. As he lay bleeding from
the wound of which he died at Landen, a battle which his gallantry did
so much to win, he exclaimed sadly : " Oh that this had been shed for
Ireland ! "
1 76 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
and covered with buckram. They were drawn by
sixteen horses, as if they were real guns, and with these
he threatened to batter down the castle. He was com-
pelled to raise the siege by the arrival of Protestant
reinforcements, and retreated, routed, to Belturbet.
Here he stained his name by an act of gross treachery,
hanging two of his prisoners, Dixie and Charlton, for
treason. He had already offered to exchange Dixie
for a captain of his own troops, Maguire, and Maguire
had been released. " Maguire, to his honour be it
said, was so indignant with Galmoy that he resigned
his commission. This fruitless deed left a marked
impression in Ireland, for the tale speedily went abroad.
It embittered the whole contest, and made many men
resolve not to give or take quarter from a Jacobite." l
In other respects Galmoy appears to have been a com-
petent cavalry leader, and Galmoy's Horse became the
terror of the Irish Protestants, not merely because of
the treachery of their namesake, but because of the
degree of efficiency to which he brought them.
In Galmoy's Horse, Captain Denis O'Kelly held a
commission. He was the son of the greater Colonel
Charles O'Kelly, who had fought for the Stuarts since
the days of Cromwell, and had taken the first Hispano-
Irish regiment to Spain. Colonel Charles O'Kelly has
a claim on history higher than any conferred by his
ability as a soldier. He was nearly seventy when
Sarsfield gave him the command of a regiment in
Con naught, and he managed none too well, for he was
beaten by Captain Thomas Lloyd, popularly styled
" the little Cromwell." He escaped with some of his
cavalry, and his name hardly again appears in the
1 The Revolution in Ireland, by Dr R. H. Murray (Macmillan).
JAMES'S IRISH ARMY 177
records of the campaign till after James had returned
to France and the siege of Limerick heralded the end of
the war. After the conclusion of the Treaty of Limerick
(to the making of which it was advised that he should
not be a party, because if he had been there would
be no agreement) this obstinate old soldier retired to
his residence at Aughrane, where he spent the rest of
his life in writing his history of the Irish wars.
One writing, an invaluable manuscript, the Macarite
Excidium, has been preserved, and is the premier work
of reference for any comprehension of the events
of the campaign. It affects to be a history of the
destruction of Cyprus, and to have been originally
couched in the Syriac tongue. It therefore substitutes
ingenious appellations for the men and places of the
time, as, for example : Cyprus for Ireland ; Cilicia for
England ; Pamphilia for Scotland ; Syria for France ;
and Egypt for Spain. Similarly-, James becomes Amasis,
and William is Theodore, while Louis is the famed
Antiochus ; Tyrconnel is Coridon ; the Comte d'Avaux
is Demetrius ; Sarsfield is Lysander, " a young Captain
beloved of the soldierie " ; and Lauzun, with (we cannot
but believe) malicious intent, is Asimo. O'Kelly de-
scribes himself as Philotas Philocypres. It is a very
able and most trustworthy record. There is another
point of interest in this family of the O'Kelly's, in that
they are almost linked with our own time. Captain
Denis O'Kelly, an ardent and persevering Jacobite, had
little else to recommend him. He married Lady Mary
Bellew, a daughter of one of Queen Maria's maids of
honour, and neglected her after spending her money.
One of his daughters " Miss Kelly a very pretty girl
and the beaux showed their good taste by liking her "
12
1 78 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
was a correspondent of Dean Swift, and is spoken of
by Sir Walter Scott.
Still, as we have said, Captain Charles O'Kelly was a
persevering Jacobite, and nearly lost his head in George
I.'s reign, on a charge of plotting to restore the Stuarts.
Nothing is more remarkable, in examining the army
lists of King James's forces in Ireland, than the
names which appear over and over again in the
subsequent history of the Jacobite cause. For example,
one finds in these lists the names of Wogan, O'Toole,
Misset, and Gaydon, a nephew of Tyrconnel. There
was a Wogan who was one of King James's pages when
he lodged, on his landing, at Cross-Green House in
Cork; another, Colonel Charles Wogan, who was killed
before Deny ; and Captain John Wogan, and Major
James Wogan, who at last went to Saint-Germain and
took service with the King of France. From these
Wogans descended that daring Charles Wogan who
chose Princess Clementina Sobieski of Poland as wife
for the Old Pretender, the young prince whose child-
hood was passed at Saint-Germain. The story of how
Wogan plucked her out of captivity at Innsbruck, and
with his chosen comrades, the Irish soldiers Captain
Misset, Major Gaydon, and Lieutenant O'Toole,
brought her to Italy to marry his master, has been
made the subject of romance and of melodrama. But in
truth it belongs to history. Colonel Sir Charles Wogan
died in Spain, more than a generation after the period
of our chronicle ; but we cannot refuse to quote a
passage from a letter of Dr Swift to him, which is
relevant. " We guessed you to have been born in this
country," writes the Dean. "... Although 1 have no
great regard for your trade, from the judgment I make
JAMES'S IRISH ARMY 179
of those who profess it in these kingdoms, yet I cannot
but esteem those gentlemen of Ireland, who with all
the disadvantages of being exiles and strangers have
been able to distinguish themselves by their valour and
conduct in so many parts of Europe, I think above all
other nations."
Like the Butlers, the Hamiltons owned a divided
allegiance. The head of the family, Lord Claud Hamil-
ton, created Earl of Abercorn, accompanied James from
France, and was wounded in MacCarty's (Lord Mount-
cashel's) expedition against Enniskillen, one of the two
places which obstinately kept the Protestant flag
flying. By the fortune of war it fell to Abercorn to
endeavour to persuade the people of Derry, the other
Protestant stronghold, to submit. Derry had been just
furnished with arms and ammunition by Colonel James
Hamilton, a kinsman of Abercorn and a strong
Protestant Ulsterman. "This Lord Claud," says Walker
in his work on the siege, " came up to our walls,
making us many proposals and offering his King's
pardon, protection and favour, if we would surrender
the town ; but these fine words had no place with the
garrison." 1
Of Richard Hamilton, who betrayed his trust, we
have already spoken. He has the unhappy distinction
of having received, and having deserved, one of the
most stinging rebukes in history. After the battle of
the Boyne he was captured, and, having been brought
before William, was asked by him whether certain of the
Irish horse would continue to make a stand. " On my
honour," said Hamilton blithely, " I believe they will."
King William turned his head " Your honour ! " he
1 A True Account of the Siege of Londonderry (1689).
i8o THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
repeated. But in spite of a treachery which (we
may perhaps admit) he had seen no way of avoiding,
Hamilton was a brave and conscientious officer.
D'Avaux thought, and thought correctly, that he had
not enough military talent for the task of reducing
Derry ; and it is rather an interesting thing that during
the war he was suspected by the Jacobites of com-
municating with William. D'Avaux mentions a curious
incident in his correspondence. A spy, who was being
interrogated in the presence of the King and some of
his officers, mentioned a report that Richard Hamilton
was in communication with the rebel leaders. Richard
Hamilton was standing at the window, and turning
round said angrily : " Take care what you say, you
rascal, here I am." D'Avaux thought the incident
significant ; and it is certain that, either through
him or through some other correspondent with the
Court of Versailles, the suspicion reached the Court
of Saint-Germain. In one of Tyrconnel's letters to
Queen Maria, dated April 1689, he is at pains to deny
the reports of Richard Hamilton which have reached
her, and to pay the highest compliment to his loyalty
and good faith. As for the tale of his treachery, " the
thing in itself bespeaks the ridiculousness of it." No
doubt the tale was an example of what O' Kelly calls
" the suspiciousness that too frequently is the sole
response to Irish patriotism."
Another of the family was Count Anthony, who came
over with James, and was wounded once and taken
prisoner before he was able to return to the comparative
peace of Saint-Germain, where he died thirty years later
no doubt a very entertaining old gentleman in his
later years. Even more Hamiltons fought against
JAMES'S IRISH ARMY 181
James, however, than with him. The Parliament which
he convened attainted forty-six of the name.
Next to Abercorn's Horse comes Luttrell's Horse,
headed by the name of Colonel Henry Luttrell, who
had seen service in France, and who served James well
till it became clear that his loyalty would cost him dear.
He was not one of those faithful to the death. One
might rather say of him that he was faithful till the
Boyne. After that his preference for peace and for
his own comfort steadily overbore his patriotism, and
after having been nearly hanged by his infuriated
colleagues at Aughrim and Limerick, he passed finally
over to the English interest.
Colonel Simon Luttrell has a nobler history. He
was made governor of Dublin by Tyrconnel on James's
arrival ; and in the general disorder of that time, he is
one of the few men who earned the approbation of
D'Avaux as having displayed the elements of organising
ability. He made the defences of Dublin sound, and
he maintained as good order as was possible in a town
overrun with half-disciplined and quarrelsome troops.
He may be said to have welcomed James to Dublin in
his official capacity as governor ; and it was his troops
which covered the King's retreat thither and thence
when the battle of the Boyne filled the city with
fugitives.
Colonel Justin MacCarty, created Lord Mountcashel,
was eminently one of those soldiers whose parts were
wasted in Ireland. James had a great opinion of his
judgment, and commissioned him with the arduous
task of reducing Enniskillen. The expedition was a
disastrous failure, owing less to MacCarty's incapacity
than to the extremely inefficient character of his troops
1 82 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
and their equipment ; and MacCarty was captured.
He afterwards escaped ; and the incident was cited by
partisans as an instance of very sharp practice, for he
had been put on parole. But Mountcashel appears to
have acted with what he regarded as quite fair ingenuity.
Though on parole, he contrived to be arrested for some
trifling breach of prisoner's etiquette ; and then being
under nominal arrest escaped. He subsequently
went with the first Irish brigade to France ; and the
reputation he lost in the bogs of Ireland he regained
brilliantly on the hills of Savoy and on the plains of
Piedmont. He died four years afterwards. His old
colleague O'Kelly says of him in his Macari<e Excidium :
u He was a man of parts and courage, wanting no quality
for a complete captain, if he were not somewhat short-
sighted." It is perhaps characteristic of the time that
this short-sighted officer was appointed inspector of
ordnance and arms.
Lord Dungan, the son of the Earl of Limerick, has
but a small share in history, or in the war ; but his
name endures because of its mention in the despatches
of the time. He was the son of a house which had
spent most of its goods on the Stuart cause, and which,
like many others, had suffered as much pains to obtain
recompense from them on the Restoration. The family
were still pressing Clarendon for, at least, a post for
Lord Dungan in 1687, for in two letters to England
(to Lord Rochester) he alludes to it. " Pray give me
leave," he says, " to put you in mind of a letter I since
sent you from Lord Dungan. . . . You cannot imagine
how impatient people here are who expect everything,
even those who think themselves the best bred." He
speaks also of Dungan's journey to England, "which
JAMES'S IRISH ARMY 183
makes a great discourse here, as in truth most things
do, for some or other will comment on all that is done.
Those officers of the army who are lately come out
of England say he is gone, upon his uncle, Lord
Tyrconnel's direction, to kiss the King's hand for a
Troop of Horse." Clarendon adds sourly that " this
young lord is a very prattling and impertinent youth,
and forward enough, and is so looked upon here."
D'Avaux seems to have had a better opinion of him,
and speaks of sometimes " having conference with him.
I know he wishes to draw a close tie between Tyrconnel
and me " ; and James employed him to carry despatches
to Derry. He was killed at the Boyne at the very
beginning of the engagement, and his body was
carried from the field to be buried in the parish
church of Castletown. The church fell long ago into
ruins. The old Earl of Limerick followed his son's
body to the grave, and when there was nothing more
to fight for went with the rest to France, where he
died, and lies buried in some unknown grave.
The fate of this family is the fate of scores of others,
who fought for two generations of Stuarts and then
vanished out of Ireland as if they had never been.
The O'Donnells, the Iveaghs, the Burkes, the
Galways, the O'Neills, the Dillons, the Lynchs, the
O'Donovans gave their bravest and youngest to the
cause, and paid for their loyalty in blood and estate
and paid again. A generation earlier the Roman
Catholic Irish nobility had been wrecked on the in-
secure raft of Irish promises. If, as Macaulay says,
they emerged from poverty in order to seek restitution,
as much as to fight for a King and for their religion,
yet it is not to be gainsaid that in this final throw they
1 84 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
staked their all. They staked their all and lost, and
at the last passed almost as completely from Ireland as
the Irish emigrant who to-day leaves his country for
the United States or the Argentine. Let not honour
be begrudged those who, in the words of Ecclesiasticus,
"perished as though they had never been, and their
children after them. . . . Their children are within the
testaments : and their glory shall not be blotted out."
Enough has been said to show that, despite all lack
of comprehension on the part of those who raised this
army of what an army should be, and despite an entire
want of organisation or of organising ability, there was
a great amount of good material in it. The ordered
regiments were supplemented by a cloud of irregulars,
the " Rapparees " or " Creaghts," the first a nickname
derived from the weapons with which the native
Irish peasants were armed. " Robbers, Tories, and
wood-kernes " is the description with which the William-
ite writers of the period assail them ; and they seem
from Dalrymple's * account to have resembled, though
not in equipment, some of the adversaries of the
British in that Boer War of '99-^2 which took place
two hundred years later and to have caused similar
inconvenience. Dalrymple has the smallest opinion of
them they were the lowest of the low ; they lived on
potatoes, " and on that root alone " ; their cabins could
be put up within an hour ; " the Rapparee was a part
rather of the spot on which he grew than of the com-
munity to which be belonged." ..." They rendez-
voused during the night, coming to some solitary
station from an hundred places at once, by paths which
none else knew. There in darkness and deserts they
1 Dalrymple's Memoirs.
JAMES'S IRISH ARMY 185
planned their mischievous expeditions. Their way of
conducting them was, sometimes to make incursions
from a distance in small bodies, which as they advanced,
being joined at appointed places by others, grew greater
and greater every hour. And as they made these
incursions at times when the moon was quite dark, it
became impossible to trace their steps, except by the
cries of those whom they were murdering or the flames
of the houses, barn-yards, and villages which they burnt
as they went along. At other times they hung about
the cantonments of the troops, under pretence of
asking written protections, or of complaining that they
had been driven from their homes by the other army."
" It was difficult to detect or to guard against them
till too late, seeing they went unarmed, and more with
the appearance of being overcome with fears themselves,
than of giving them to others. But they carried the
locks of their muskets in their pockets, or hid them in
dry holes of old walls, and they had the muskets them-
selves charged, and closely corked up at the muzzle
and touch-hole, in ditches with which they were
acquainted. So that bodies of regular troops often
found themselves defeated in an instant, they knew
not how or from whence. Their retreat was equally
swift and safe ; ... it became more easy to find game
than the fugitives."
Change " Rapparees " into the " commandoes " of
Viljoen or of Lynch, and "barn-yards" into "railway
culverts," and the exploits of 1689 in Connaught and
Ulster begin to resemble those of 1900 in the Trans-
vaal and the Orange Free State. It appears probable
that William's commanders attempted to utilise the
Rapparees ; but the guerillas were given no more
1 86 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
quarter than they accorded. Story gives a list of 1928
Rapparees killed, and "112 killed and hanged by
soldiers and others without any ceremony." On the
debit side he puts : " Murdered privately by Rapparees,
800." They owned some chieftains, though more as a
matter of tradition than of discipline.
Among these may be counted perhaps Balldearg
O'Donnell, who was believed by the Irish to be the
saviour destined by prophecy to deliver them from the
English yoke. He was the heir-presumptive to the
Prince of Ulster, that O'Donnell who, at the end of
Elizabeth's reign, retired into Spain, where he died.
Balldearg on his kinsman's death went to Spain also,
and, entering the King of Spain's service, fought against
France in the Spanish wars. He asked for permission
to fight for James and Ireland, but, having been refused
it, sailed for Kinsale without it. He seems to have
been neither well received nor trusted by Tyrconnel,
and James's memoirs speak very slightingly of him :
" He had set up for a kind of independent commander,
and having got together no less than eight regiments
newly raised, with a crowd of loose men over and above,
he lived in a manner at discretion, so that these troops
were in effect but a rabble, that destroyed the country,
ruined the inhabitants, and prevented the regular forces
from drawing that subsistence they might otherwise
have had from the people." l He was at any rate
believed in by the native Irish ; and although his
career and conduct in Ireland were alike ineffective to
the cause which he ostensibly served, it does not seem
that he received at any time either assistance or even
fair play.
1 Clarke's Life,
JAMES'S IRISH ARMY 187
The charge of plundering the country laid against
the bands of wandering Irish was only too true.
D'Avaux noted, on the way from Cork to Dublin, that
between Kilkenny and Dublin the valleys and fields
were fertile though little cultivated, and that there was
abundance of pasturage. But the brief viceroyalty of
Tyrconnel, which had endeavoured to divert the tenure
of power and estate from Protestant to Roman Catholic
hands, had also unloosed the ancient feuds between
them. The balance never oscillates slowly in Ireland,
but always with violence. Robbery and plunder had
accompanied the transition. The Protestants had the
flocks and herds ; they were robbed of them and their
possessions despoiled and destroyed with appalling
waste. The Protestants had also the money : and it
seemed not improbable that they would lose that too.
But the effort to obtain their money was accompanied
by a phenomenon not dissimilar from that of the
destruction of the flocks. It disappeared ; and James
landed in a moneyless country.
In describing James's Irish army, and in recalling
the careers of those who took part in it, we have over-
shot the chronological order of our narrative ; and it
now becomes necessary to retrace our steps, to take it
up at the point where James first attempted to guide
the difficult course of Irish affairs.
CHAPTER X
DUBLIN
BENEATH the horizon lurked the whirlwind of dis-
appointed hopes, rising enmity, and devastated
prosperity of which Tyrconnel's uncompromising
policy had sown the seed ; but the first days of
James's progress were days of serenity and even of
jubilance. If Ireland did not impress the Court he
had brought with him, even D'Avaux acknowledged
the warmth of the Irish welcome, and was flattered to
observe that " the Irish love the French and are the
irreconcilable enemies of the English." The journey
to Dublin was a triumph such as must have been
grateful to a King who had enjoyed little popularity
at any time in his life, and had indeed been more
familiar with tokens of public feeling of an opposite
kind. The people came out to meet him wherever they
passed, and at Carlow some "young rural maids" wildly
kissed him a tribute which he received with embarrass-
ment and sought to avoid. His fortunes seemed to
turn with his popularity. At Lismore Castle he learnt
that in Scotland the Duke of Gordon was holding
Edinburgh Castle for him ; and good news continued
to come both from Scotland and the North of Ireland.
in
DUBLIN 189
It was news which was speciously fair, especially in
regard of Enniskillen and Derry, the two Protestant
strongholds, which, as a matter of subsequent history,
never faltered or fell. They were in truth the rocks
that were to wreck the Stuart hopes. But at this
moment it was believed to be all but certain that they
must yield to the pressure brought to bear on them.
James wrote letters to all the Princes of Europe,
informing them of his arrival in Ireland, and of his
hopes, and begging their help. More especially he
pressed the Pope for assistance.
Dublin welcomed him as London had never done.
The narrow streets were packed, the windows thronged
and, where there was neither tapestry nor velvet,
bravely hung with blankets ; the streets lined with the
King's Irish Guards from St James's Gate to the Castle ;
"the Papist inhabitants shouting, the Souldiers musquets
discharging, the Bells ringing, and at Night, Bonfires in
all parts. . . ." The Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and
Common Council met him " with their formalities " ;
and at the entrance to the portion of the city called the
Liberties, emblematic enthusiasm had erected a stage
hung with tapestries, on which two harpers were
playing ; and forty young ladies dressed in white joined
the procession to strew flowers before the King.
In the midst of the procession of the Corporation
and the Guilds in their robes, the judges in their
scarlet and ermine, the peers, the gentlemen at arms,
the guard of honour of Irish gentlemen, rode the King l
" on a pad nag, in a plain cinnamon-coloured cloth suit,
and black slouching hat, and a George 2 hung over his
shoulder with a blue ribbon. . . ." In spite of the
1 Ireland's Lamentation. 2 The Garter jewel.
190 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
intentional baldness of the description, one cannot but
see him as a kingly figure. By his side rode the
Duke of Berwick, Lord Granard, Lord Powis, Lord
Melfort. Tyrconnel bore the sword of state ; and
there was a string of coaches, in one of which was
Henry Fitzjames, James's second son. At the
Castle gates, the heralds and coaches and horsemen
were met by a cortege of a different kind, an assemblage
of priests, headed by the Roman Catholic Primate.
James alighted, and knelt ; and it was under a canopy
borne by four bishops that he entered his Castle. Over
it floated a banner hung there by Tyrconnel, and
bearing the inscription, " Now or Never ; Now and
Forever." The King and his suite went straightway
to the chapel in the Castle, where the " Te Deum " was
sung. Afterwards a banquet was held in the new
banqueting hall which Tyrconnel had built ; and
thus to the strains, actual and metaphorical, of " The
King enjoys his own again," James entered into his
brief tenancy of a throne in Ireland.
The ceremonies were not over. The Comte
d'Avaux was installed in " a house in a good quarter,"
Lord Clancarty's, and was next escorted to the Castle
to present his formal credentials as the ambassador
of Louis to King James at the Court of Dublin.
Tyrconnel came to fetch him with six of the King's
royal state carriages ; nearly twenty carriages followed.
The Mayor of Dublin's Regiment lined the streets ;
and D'Avaux notes with an unusual touch of approval
that he was nearly as well received in Dublin as he
could have been in London, and better than he should
have thought possible in this country. The populace,
he thought, were immensely impressed. Lord Powis
DUBLIN 191
as Lord Chamberlain received him at the entrance to
the Long Gallery ; and D'Avaux, advancing, delivered
to him the autograph letters of Louis. James replied
that he was beyond words grateful for the help that
Louis had given to him, and that when he was re-
established in his realm he hoped he might be able to
give proofs of his undying friendship to his benefactor.
He was grateful, he added, with a burst of feeling,
not merely as a king, but as a gentleman.
At this distance of time it seems that in these brief
hours James touched the highest point of his fortunes
in Ireland. D'Avaux was well disposed : James had
heard further good news from Scotland : he was
persuaded by the enthusiasm of his new-found Irish
that he had little to fear from the disloyalty of Ulster.
The task of satisfying the Roman Catholics and of
obtaining supplies from the Protestants without entirely
alienating them had not arisen in all its magnitude.
His only discomfort was that of having to make the
best of material which was not of the best quality.
That difficulty might have suggested itself to him
as he glanced about the castle which was to house him
and his Court. It was a roomy building too roomy
for those who brought an insufficient income to keep
it up, and showing in its neglect and decay the uneven
but usually declining prosperity of Irish affairs. Its
general construction was that of a high curtain wall
embracing a large castle yard and the inner buildings,
and linked by a series of towers, picturesque but
crumbling. One of them had fallen down half a
century before ; one had been taken down " and the
rest are so crazy," said the then Lord Deputy, " as we
are still in fear a part might drop down on our heads."
1 92 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
One tower rebuilt by Boyle, Earl of Cork, was called
after its founder. His example was followed by
several of his successors, of whom Henry Cromwell,
son of the Protector, was the most energetic. Henry
Cromwell built a new stable with granaries and stalls
for sixty horses, cleared the ground about the Castle
for gardens and storehouses for fuel, and removed
the bakehouse which had smoked under his writing-
room to a more convenient distance. Neither James
nor Ireland were likely to own any debt to one of the
name of Cromwell, but the Protector's son did at any
rate make the Castle habitable (" whereas by my faith
'tis little better than a very prison " *), and did it at such
cost to his own purse that he could not raise enough
money to charter a ship to take him back to England.
Succeeding Lord Deputies grumbled or patched.
Fires destroyed a number of the storehouses in Charles
I.'s reign, and Lord Clarendon wrote that the " repara-
tions of this old castle are very great, and it is the
worst and most inconvenient lodging in the world.
In good earnest, as it is now 1 have no convenient
room : no gentleman in the Pall Mall is so ill lodged.
I might add, that the keeping up that is keeping dry
this pitiful bit of a Castle costs an immense deal. . . ."
He adds more than that : the Castle moves him to
pathos. " I can only tell you that it is the worst
lodging a gentleman can lay in, so it will cost more to
keep it in repair than any other. Never comes a
shower of rain but that it breaks into this house, so
that there is a perpetual glazing and tiling, but I assure
you not so much as a chimney, or anything, done new
upon the King's account." The Viceregal apartments
1 Henry Cromwell's Letters.
DUBLIN 193
had been rebuilt in 1684, and Tyrconnel had added a
new banqueting hall ; but the Court could not have
been very well housed. The Castle had its own chapel ;
it contained also a mint, from which James proceeded
to issue his new coinage, and a mill known as the King's
Mill. One or other of the old towers, of which only
two were standing, was used as a prison, and possibly
Dr King, then Dean of St Patrick's and afterwards
Archbishop of Dublin, and other prisoners were con-
fined in what he would call the Wardrobe Tower, but
which is now the tower where State records are kept.
He speaks of being prisoned in a " cold nasty garret " ;
and he also mentions that on the old Bermingham
Tower ordnance were placed on a report of a projected
attack on Dublin from the sea. Nobody could have
enjoyed very ample accommodation, for the rooms
were very small ; and in the Castle was packed an
imitation on as large a scale as possible of a royal
household, together with the considerable establish-
ment of the Tyrconnels.
Lady Tyrconnel, the wife of the Viceroy, is one of
the women of her time only less striking in character
than her sister, Sarah Jennings, the Duchess of
Marlborough. She had been one of the beauties of
Charles II. 's Court, witty, gay, but with a coolness
of head which preserved her reputation even from
Anthony Hamilton's graceless pen. She married his
brother, and perhaps the family credit may have
influenced his description of her ; but in an age when
nobody's character was spared calumny, and when if
a woman protested virtue nobody believed her, Fanny
Jennings could hardly have earned her immunity from
reproach unless she had deserved it. She is said by
13
194 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Sir Bernard Burke to have had " the fairest and
brightest complexion that ever was seen ; her hair a
most beauteous flaxen ; her countenance extremely
animated though generally persons so exquisitely fair
have an insipidity. . . ." She was slender and not
tall, but " her whole air and person was fine "
exquisite compliment ! Tradition has preserved the
quickness of her wit ; history has recorded of her at
least one instance of a determination of character
which resembles that of her greater sister. She
inspired White, the Westmeath poet, to the enthusi-
astic tribute :
Tyrconnel, once the boast of British Isles,
Who gained the hearts of heroes by her smiles,
Whose wit and charm throughout all Europe rang,
From whom so many noble peers have sprang,
Whose virtue, courage, parts, and graceful mien
Made her fit companie for a Queen.
She was, like James's Queen, very popular in Ireland ;
but, unlike Maria d'Este, she herself loved Ireland
well enough to wish to die there. 1
Among other ornaments of the Court was Lady
Melfort, a handsome lady, of whom Melfort was
extremely fond, and, says D'Avaux, extremely jealous.
He was hardly ever out of her company, comments
the ambassador, with something approaching indigna-
tion, and was constantly to be seen taking long walks
in her company. One may surmise that Melfort, who
1 She went to Saint-Germain after her husband's death, and a tablet
to her memory was put up in the Scots College in Paris ; but she
returned to Dublin, and died in the Nunnery of Poor Clares which she
had founded. She outlived the events we are describing by nearly
half a century.
-s*Sj.
FANNY JENNINGS, LADY TYRCONNEL.
DUBLIN 195
had not many friends and no confidants, found both in
his wife. Lady Powis was more generally attractive,
a clever, witty woman, but " tres intrigante." If she
were intriguing she was in the fashion with the rest of
the Court, who seem, from various cross-references in
the correspondence of the time, to have spent a good
deal of their leisure in writing letters to Saint-Germain
complaining of one another. One of Tyrconnel's
despatches to the Queen contains a sentence apparently
protesting against some of the scandals in "these
foolish letters." Of Lady Dover, Irish history makes
no mention, except to record that she was given a pass
out of Ireland by William III., together with her
household, " Mrs Duckett, Betty Smith, and Richard
Lucas." Lady Arabella MacCarty, a daughter of
Strafford, the Minister of Charles I., and Lady Seaforth
were attached to the Court. There is a scandalous
mention in a letter of the Duchesse d'Orleans of
other ladies of no importance in whom the King was
interested ; and there is no reason to suppose rather
the reverse that the Court of Dublin was conspicuous
in a licentious age for the austerity of its morals.
It was, at any rate, a Court which, gaily improvident
for the future, made the best of the present. Banquets
and balls were given, one great levee- rilling the Castle
yard with coaches ; one great ball, according to the
surmise of the imprisoned Dean of St Patrick's, in
order to celebrate the birthday of the Queen l ; and we
can picture the Long Gallery laid out with counters
on which were dishes, wine, and sweetmeats ; and a
gay and brilliant company, radiating high spirits with
1 The Dean was, however, clearly unaware of the date of Queen
Maria's birthday.
196 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
not a little horse-play and crowding in and out the
rooms lighted with flambeaux and candles.
Dublin participated in the gaiety, not in a half-
hearted manner, but, let us say, with a portion of its
population the Roman Catholic portion. It was not,
to adapt a phrase used by a recent Irish Secretary, a
gilt-edged time for Protestants. While the Papists
were thronging to acclaim the King and his French
allies, the Protestants were stealing off at night by
every tide. Those that remained quickly felt the
burden of their unpopularity. The Dean of St Patrick's
and several other Protestants, as we have noted, were
apprehended and imprisoned, though there seems
reasonable ground for supposing that the charge
against the Dean of being in communication with
James's enemies was justified. Soldiers were quartered
on the Protestant inhabitants in oppressive numbers ;
and since the Protestants were for the most part the
people who had the money which was imperatively
necessary to James and the carrying out of his projects,
they naturally were the persons on whom the burden
of levies fell.
No one was ever placed by his allies, by his chosen
servants, and by his previous policy in a more in-
extricable dilemma than was James in Ireland. Tyr-
connel's filibustering strategy had hopelessly alienated
the Protestants ; yet it was from the Protestants alone
that James could obtain money. For a campaign that
must cost a million, France had sent a sum that would
not buy powder, and D'Avaux's interpretation of
France's interest and intentions might be signified by
saying that he did not mind who paid so long as France
did not. There was only one source of revenue the
DUBLIN 197
Protestant and if money could not be gotten it would
have to be created. It is easy to overrate the amount
of money in a country, for money is like a stage-army :
by its circulation it always seems more ample than it
is. Disturb its circulation by a destruction of con-
fidence or credit, and it disappears like water into the
earth.
In a letter written by Tyrconnel to the Queen at
1 2
Saint-Germain, he says (December , 1689): "There
is not a farthing of silver or gold to be seen in
the whole nation." In another letter he says, with
courageous humour : " We are, as the old proverb says,
' heart-whole and moneyless.' ' But the general tone
of his letters is far from gay. He estimates the cost
of carrying on the war as at least j 100,000 a month ;
and he declares that money must be had to pay the
troops. Some money came in by the sale of Irish
commodities wool, hides, tallow, beef, butter ; but
the export of these was naturally interrupted by the
war between France and England. Moreover, the
supplies of these became exhausted, for, as Tyrconnel
admits, the " army have ruined and destroyed all our
cattle and sheep" (February 22nd, 1690). It is easy
to blame James and the Irish for their failure in the
futile struggle against William and England ; but if
the causes of the failure be closely examined, they will
be found to consist in the want of money. Dalrymple l
speaks of the " impolitic parsimony natural to French
councils," and no phrase was ever truer in regard to
the attitude of those who engineered the resistance in
Ireland, and would have been the chief to profit by it.
1 Dalrymple's Memoirs.
198 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
The Stuarts had no money ; they could only beg it,
and they begged from everyone. James's first letter
to the new Pope, Alexander VIII., asks for some
" releif of money," and ingenuously points out that
it will be of more use now than at any other time.
The Queen, through Melfort, suggested a collection
for the good cause in Catholic churches.
As money began to disappear, an ordinance was first
made for increasing the value of the coins. Thus a
guinea was to rank as twenty-five shillings, a shilling
as thirteenpence, a " ducatoon " as six shillings and
threepence instead of four shillings and sixpence, a
" cob " as five shillings, the " louis-d'or " brought from
France as nineteen shillings. But as this device effected
nothing, the fatal step was taken of debasing the coinage
by introducing a new one which would cost practically
nothing. From the mint in Dublin Castle was issued
the notorious " brass money." Its detested memory
clung to Ireland for generations, and two hundred
years afterwards Orangemen drank to the glorious,
pious, and immortal memory of the great, good King
William III., who saved us from " popery, slavery,
arbitrary power, brass money, and wooden shoes."
The " wooden shoes " were the French ; and, rather
oddly, the master coiner of the mint was a Huguenot,
one of the little colony which had fled from France
to Dublin, and was established there. D'Avaux, who
inherited some of the proselytising zeal of his uncle,
thought that a Huguenot ought not to enjoy this
important office ; but an attempt to supersede him
proved singularly unsuccessful, for the master of the
mint, an arbitrary but efficient artificer, beat the inter-
loper and threw him out of the foundry.
DUBLIN 199
From the accounts of the master of the mint it
appears that no less a sum than 1,596,799 was issued
in this coinage, of which 689,375 was in shillings.
After the brass had run short a pewter coinage was pro-
jected, and some coins were struck but never issued. The
coins for the most part had on the one side the King on
horseback, and the inscription, " Jas. II. Dei Gra. Mag.
Britt. Fra. et Hib. Rex," and on the other the crown with
the four scutcheons of England, Scotland, France, and
Ireland, the date, "Anno Dom. 1690," and the motto
" Christo Victore Triumpho." On the rim of some
of the coins was stamped, " Melioris Tessera Fati :
Anno Regni Sexti."
" The metal of which this Mony was made," writes
the Archbishop of Dublin, "was the worst kind of
brass : old Guns, and the Refuse of Metals were
melted down to make it : work-men rated it at three-
pence or a groat a pound, which being coyned into Six-
pences, Shillings, or Half Crowns, one Pound weight
made about Five Pounds. . . . Later the Half Crowns
were called in and being stamp'd anew were made to pass
for Crowns : so that for jd. or ^.d. worth of metal made
10. There was coyned in all from the first setting up
of the Mint to the Rout at the Boyne being about twelve
months 9 6 5, 3 7 5. l In this Coyn King James paid all
his Appointments, and all that received the King's Pay
being generally Papists they forced the Protestants to
part with the goods out of their shops for this mony
and to receive their Debts in it. But the Protestants
having only good silver or gold, and goods bought
with these, when they wanted any thing from Papists
they were forced to part with their gold or silver,
1 An underestimate.
200 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
having no means of coming by the Brass Mony out of
the King's Hands : so that the loss of the Brass Mony
did in a manner intirely fall upon the Protestants.
Brass Mony was subsequently proclaimed current in
all Payments whatsoever. . . . The Governor of
Dublin, the Provost Marshal and their Deputies
threatened to Hang all that refused the Brass Mony :
of which we have had many instances. . . ."
The Archbishop quotes the case of the widow
Chapman, whom the Provost Marshal's deputy, one
Kearney, " threatened with many Oaths and Execra-
tions that he would have her burnt in the morning, and
her solicitor hanged for interceding for her. . . ." The
widow Chapman seems to have received these threats
as mere Irish emphasis ; but the deputy squeezed
4, i os. out of her before letting her go. When the
Protestants, having perforce acquired quantities of brass
money, endeavoured to return it to the Papists, the
way was not smoothed for them. They had to go to
law about it, and found that justice was not less
spurious than brass money. The resources of
Protestant ingenuity were not exhausted : they tried
to expend the brass money in hides, wool, tallow,
corn. This endeavour was countered by the issue of
a proclamation, mediaeval in character, which fixed a
rate at which goods should be sold.
Even the supply of metal for brass money fell short.
Tyrconnel's letters to the Queen are full of requests
for copper with which to coin it. " Let not copper be
forgot : for we are all undone if that does not come
out of hand ... it is our meat drink and cloathes
and we have none left ... we are forced to coin our
brass guns " (Louis, it may be noted, magnificently sent
DUBLIN 201
two old brass guns to be coined into Irish money).
" Send us fifty tons of copper," Tyrconnel adds despair-
ingly in another letter, " even if you have to pay for it."
There is a curious entry in Dr King's diary 1 .on
which the necessity for accumulating copper seems to
throw some light : " Mrs C came to see us in the
afternoon and told us that Lady Tyrconnel owed her
12, of which j6 for rent and 6 for malt she had
bestowed in charity on ye Nunry [nunnery]. She
had frequently petitioned and spoke to her about yt :
yesterday she had promised her positively her money
and to give her steward order about it and had bidden
her come for it to-day which she did. She met my
Lady's steward who told her yt he had by order of
Lady T. sent four men to bring away her copper which
cost 60. This startled Mrs C who told him she
could not believe it : that she came for 12 which
being a debt of 2 years standing her Grace had
positively promised it yt morning. He assured her
it was true and desired her to make application to his
Lady which she did and with much ado obtained of
her Grace an order to stop bringing away ye copper on
condition she should not call for ye 12." A more
apocryphal story of Lady Tyrconnel and the brass
money has a gleam of humour. A sum of 3000
being due to Colonel Roger Moore, in order to pay
off a mortgage on an estate that was to be the
marriage portion of Tyrconnel's daughter when she
became Lady Dillon, an offer was made of 2000 in
cash. Colonel Moore accepted, and being invited to
Lady Tyrconnel's house to receive his money, found it
1 The Diary of Dr King, kept during his imprisonment in Dublin
Castle, 1689.
202 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
laid out on long tables which were covered "with
copper and brass." Lady Condon is also mentioned, as
" Condon's lady giving double the quantity of brass
for so much silver."
Naturally, the prices of commodities went up.
D'Avaux fills a good many of the pages of his corre-
spondence with Louvois, and even with Louis, in com-
plaining of it. Even the King's table was poorly supplied,
and the household accounts very strictly supervised.
In a manuscript account of James's household when
Duke of York l it can be seen that everything was strictly
regulated and apportioned the number of " Flambeaux,
Tallow Lights ; the notches of billets ; the bushells of
coke and of sea-coal ; the gallons of beere a day "
apportioned to each department of the household and
to the several members of it. A special arrangement
was made for the Lady Mary and Lady Anne to " eat at
dinner with the Duke when att St James's," and every
member of the family and household was apportioned so
much bread a day, even to the baby Lady Henrietta
" for papp."
It is very likely that this strict method of supply,
being superimposed on Tyrconnel's administration of
the Castle, gave rise to the misapprehension that
the royal household was eventually put on very short
commons. That we do not think to be the case ; but
some colour is lent to the idea by the irritated
declaration on the part of D'Avaux that his own table
and that of the French embassy were better furnished
than the King's. This declaration was in rejoinder to a
1 "The Orders and Rules of Ye Rt. Hon. and Hon. the Com-
missioners for the Orderly Regulating of his R. H.'s Household
Affairs "(1662-1678).
DUBLIN 203
report which had reached D'Avaux from France that
he was saving the money which he should have been
spending in keeping up the magnificence of his own
embassy, and is one of the many allegations and
accusations which arose out of the twin facts that there
was little money for anyone, and that D'Avaux was the
keeper of the French purse.
In spite of the general tightness of money, Dublin
comported itself with a good deal of careless and
licentious gaiety. Those who were in a position to
rejoice had never been wealthy ; and the dissatisfaction
of the Protestants troubled none but themselves.
Dublin was a town which, judged by modern standards,
was small, dirty, and picturesque. Its narrow streets
with high gabled houses were dust-bins in dry weather
and gutters when it rained. At night they were lighted
only by the rushlight lantern that should have been
hung out from every fifth house. In some parts of
the town the old mud and wattle houses remained.
But Dublin had shared in the general prosperity which
had settled on Ireland during Ormonde's l quiet rule,
when " Gentlemen's Seats were built or building every-
where, and Parks, Enclosures and other Ornaments
were carefully promoted." Ormonde had improved the
northern quays and developed the northern suburbs,
so that what had been a waste was now becoming
covered with good houses. Ormonde had built a
market and had planned a series of wide and pleasant
riverside streets leading to his great new park. St.
Stephen's Green, reclaimed from a poor common, was
neatly laid out, and lime trees planted about it ; so
that it had become a fashionable quarter. Even during
1 James Butler, Duke of Ormonde.
204 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
James's brief stay it was improved, the soldiers being
set to dig trenches to drain it, while the ratepayers of
the day looked on indignantly at work which they
were to pay for. Bridges had been built over the
Liffey, one of them already known as Bloody Bridge,
because of the fierce fight which had inaugurated it.
Before the French and Irish soldiers of James were
quartered in Dublin, the faction fight had been
common enough. The leading antagonists were the
butchers of Ormonde Quay and the weavers. Butcher-
ing, as D'Avaux sardonically remarked, was one of the
chief Irish industries ; but during his stay in Dublin
weaving was almost as prosperous. Tradition ascribes
the foundation of the weaving industry in Dublin to
Huguenot refugees. There was a colony of Hugue-
nots in Dublin when James arrived there ; and
Chamber Street, Pool Street, and Weaver Square are
often now called Huguenot streets. 1 But the guild of
weavers far surpassed in numbers its foreign founders.
In the part of Dublin known as the Coombe, beneath
the walls of the Castle, where the murky Poddle
was fed by the drains, they lived and were numbered
by the thousand. All through the occupation of
Dublin by James's men the whirr of their shuttles
was heard, as they sat at the small-paned windows
weaving stockings for the army.
But the faction fights between the weavers and the
butchers were not the only ones with which Dublin
contributed to the gaiety of nations. When, after some
months' ineffectual campaigning, French soldiers were
sent to support the cause of James in Ireland, the private
soldiers imitated the dissensions of their superiors.
1 The Story of Dublin, by D. A. Chart (J. M. Dent).
DUBLIN 205
" There happened a scuffle in Town between some
Frenchmen and some Irish soldiers, two of ye Irish were
killed as reported," Dr King notes in the diary of his
imprisonment ; and the entire absence of discipline,
coupled with a disastrous weakness in neglecting to
punish offenders, encouraged continual scenes of
drunkenness and rioting. D'Avaux recounts several.
He begins with a personal grievance. An order had
been given that the soldiers were not to steal the fruit
from Dublin gardens. There were fruit-trees in the
garden of D'Avaux's fine house, and a sentry was on
duty there to protect them. A drunken lieutenant
came by, and, ignoring the order and the sentry alike,
began to break down the fruit branches. The sentry
interposed, and the lieutenant promptly beat him.
Other soldiers and servants, roused by the outcry,
came rushing out ; the lieutenant, with the spirit of a
Mulvaney, fought them all. The lieutenant had com-
panions with him, and, says D'Avaux, the disturbance
would have grown to a riot. But, as it chanced,
Tyrconnel was dining with D'Avaux, and the two came
out to see what was the matter. Tyrconnel, black with
wrath, strode forward, struck the lieutenant furiously,
and put him under arrest. D'Avaux, not anxious to
court unpopularity, said that he had purposed to
intercede for the lieutenant, but " it was not necessary,
for two days later I saw him at the head of his com-
pany, at which I was rather surprised."
Quarrels between the King's bodyguards and the
guards disturbed the streets. On one occasion a
drunken riot, soldiers fighting, firing off" their muskets,
and dragging two guardsmen by the hair, passed under
the very balcony where D'Avaux stood with General de
206 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Rosen, M. de Gace, General Boisseleau, and other
French officers. So little was discipline of moment
that not merely was the presence of the commanding
officers ignored, but it was felt that it would not
only be useless but dangerous to interfere, because all
the rioters were obviously drunk. "And if," says
D'Avaux bitterly, " the French officers press for dis-
cipline they become odious." Even when D'Avaux's
horses were stolen, the ambassador's complaints to
Richard Hamilton were received coldly the General
replied " forte sechement." But D'Avaux, in reporting
other disorders and duels, has to admit that there
"are Frenchmen here who foment quarrels, brawlers
who bring the rest of the foreign legion into disrepute."
After all, there was little else to be expected in a
town that was under martial law so far as its civilians
were concerned, and under no law at all for its soldiers.
The soldiers were quartered in every Protestant house ;
and even if it were necessary to discount the complaints
of Dr King, we can well believe that the misery of the
town was very great, 1 when ten, twelve, or even twenty
men were quartered on a householder. There were
3000 soldiers in a town of 7000 houses, which alone
would be a factor of disorder as well as of acute dis-
comfort to those who were their hosts. The soldiers
would come home if it suited them at midnight or in
the small hours, shouting and singing, and turn people
out of their beds. Owing to a system by which the
soldiers' quartering was computed as a fixed charge, it
was the ingenious device of company officers to find
several quarters for their soldiers, so that they might
pocket the money for the commuted charges.
1 King, State of the Protestants in Ireland.
DUBLIN 207
In these circumstances one can believe in fact, one
can scarcely disbelieve the stories which the Protestant
victims have left of their miseries. Their churches were
shut or deserted ; presently their houses became
empty too, as they abandoned them ; the Protestant
ministers were shouted at in the streets ; even the
Frenchmen cursed them as " diables des ministres
heretiques." The Protestant aldermen were turned
out of the Town Council even the charwoman at
the old Tholsel was replaced by a Papist and they
took refuge in an obscure nook, near the belligerent
weavers' quarter, called Skinner's Alley. Here they
held furtive meetings and preserved the city regalia,
till such time as the arrival of William enabled them
to emerge. 1 One of the dispossessed aldermen was
Bartholomew Vanhomrigh, the father of Swift's un-
happy Vanessa.
Dublin quickly became Romanised. "The Priests
and Friars multiplied in Dublin to the number of
300 or 400, well fed and well clothed : there were not
more lusty plump fellows in the Town than they,"
says a contemporary Protestant, who adds that they
were " importunate and experienced beggars." It is not
1 As the anniversary of their reinstatement came round, the Pro-
testant aldermen held a banquet, and finally formed a society called
the Aldermen of Skinner's Alley. One of the verses of their charter
song ran :
" When Tyranny's detested Power
Had leagued with superstition,
And bigot James in evil hour
Began his luckless mission,
Still here survived the sacred flame,
Here Freedom's sons did rally,
And consecrate to deathless Fame
The men of Skinner's Alley."
D. A. CHART, The Story of Dublin.
208 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
clear that more than a few new " chappels and convents "
were founded. One convent was already in existence,
the convent of " Gratia Dei," to which Lady Tyrconnel
had charitably contributed. Another was founded a very
short time before James left Ireland for ever ; and his
charter of foundation to Lady Mary Butler was followed
a few weeks later by a warrant signed by King
William giving Lady Mary and her nuns safe conduct
beyond the seas.
Christ Church Cathedral was closed for a fortnight,
after which it was opened and was converted temporarily
into a Roman Catholic chapel. James went there in
state to mass, and Dr Alexius Stafford, who afterwards
fell in the bloody rout at Aughrim, was made its dean.
Here a sermon was preached before the King by
Father Hall, and a more famous but less successful
one by the erudite Dr Michael Moor, who incurred the
royal displeasure and was exiled from the Court for
inculcating in his discourse that kings ought to consult
clergymen in their temporal affairs, the clergy having
a temporal as well as a spiritual right in the kingdom ;
but that kings had nothing to do with the manage-
ment of spiritual affairs, but were to obey the orders of
the Church. That was scarcely James's view of the
functions of the clergy. He found a more pliant
ecclesiastic in Dr John Gordon, Bishop of Galway, the
soundness of whose Protestant principles at this time
or any other is open to doubt. He had come over
with James from Saint-Germain as a guarantee of good
faith, and was made Chancellor of Dublin and Vicar-
General of the diocese. Dr King, the Dean of St
Patrick's, stigmatised him as an ignorant, lewd man ;
but Dr King's mouth was quickly closed by imprison-
DUBLIN 209
ment, and Dr Gordon was able to go on his way
sequestrating Protestant benefices without hindrance.
Other Protestant institutions suffered with their
churches. The Fellows had fled from Trinity College,
with the exception of four who courageously clung to
their dangerous posts ; the students were turned into
the streets to make room for soldiers, and to secure
the revenues. Dr Moor and Father MacCarthy were
appointed to the vacant offices of Provost and Dean.
To these two men Trinity College owes a great debt in
its troublous times. They preserved the library, and
they performed also the thankless task of alleviating the
lot of the Protestant prisoners who were confined here.
During the summer of 1689 Dublin was, as far as
we can reconstruct its conditions, a busy and uproarious
town. The newcomers were making the most of their
opportunities, and the motto of them all was, " Devil
take the hindmost ! " As the summer drew on to a rainy
and cheerless autumn, an uneasy menace crept into
the air, and Dublin began to feel its chill. William's
general, Schomberg, had landed in Ireland ; Derry
and Enniskillen were still holding out ; and a more
tangible source of uneasiness the price of every kind
of commodity was going up ; provisions and drink
were becoming more scarce ; at one time a salt famine
threatened, so that there was not enough salt to cure
the beef.
Then there came a period of reaction. The incred-
ible rains of autumn, which cost James 6000 men in
deaths from sickness, had also rendered Schomberg
impotent, and Dublin returned to its feverish gaiety.
It was a riotous time of drunkenness. D'Avaux tells
with cold disgust the story of a drunken quarrel in
14
210 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
which young Fitz James, a boy of seventeen, played the
leading part. Lord Dungan had been dining with some
of his fellow-Irishmen, and they were sitting over their
wine when Berwick and young Fitz James, in his ^usual
spirits, joined them. One of the Irishmen reproached
Fitzjames, who, in spite of his years, was colonel of
a regiment, for having dismissed one of his friends.
Fitzjames retorted angrily ; and the pacific Berwick,
to smooth matters over, turned the subject and said,
" Let us instead drink to the health of all good Irish-
men, and confusion to Lord Melfort, who has nearly
lost the kingdom." Fitzjames, with a foolish lad's
obstinacy, rejoined that Melfort was a very honest man
one of his own friends. Dungan at this rose and
said, with a laugh, that at any rate nobody wanted to
drink Melfort's health. Before Dungan had finished
the ironical bow with which he had accompanied this
speech, Fitzjames flung a glass of wine in his face.
. . . The scandal was inevitable, though Dungan with
admirable good temper took the blame on himself, and
said that Fitzjames was after all only a boy. But he
was a youth, adds D'Avaux severely, who was extremely
dissolute and generally too drunk to sit his horse.
With this kind of example in high quarters, not
much could be expected of the army when it returned
to its winter quarters in Dublin. Gaming, drinking,
and worse occupied the time and thoughts of the Court
and the soldiery. " The army became debauched by
success. Dublin was a seminary of vice, an academy of
luxury, or rather a sink of corruption, a living emblem
of Sodom " l and every historian of the time says the
1 Stevens, Brit. Mus. Add. (36,296). We are indebted to Dr R. H.
Murray's Revolution in 7n?/<a:^(Macmillan) for this reference.
, DUBLIN 2ii
same thing plainly or indirectly. Thus on the one
hand we see the representatives of the Stuart hopes,
aspirations, and methods, in Dublin, disgracing their
cause while they ruined it ; and on the other hand we
have the picture of the Protestant inhabitants of the
town, who should have shared with the Roman Catholics
the task of upholding the King, stealing furtively
away at night, leaving their possessions, and taking with
them barely enough to bribe the tide-master at Ringsend
and the adventurous ship-masters to find them a
passage to England and liberty.
CHAPTER XI
THE FAILURE OF THE IRISH CAMPAIGN
FRANCE, like Ireland, was at this period living on its
capital. The slackening of the sinews of its finances was
presently to become perceptible in its Continental wars.
D'Avaux, as the representative of France, had therefore
to see to it that no money was wasted on a subsidiary
campaign in Ireland regarded as a mere distraction of
William's larger aims and neither D'Avaux nor Louis
perceived the mistake till too late. In D'Avaux, the
penetration, which a few years before, had pierced the
designs of William was either in abeyance or was
dulled by his dislike of Ireland and of James.
Dalrymple, an impartial historian, 1 said of his appoint-
ment to accompany King James that he was, " in his
person, a sad monitor of past errors ; and in his office
an omen of future misfortunes." Dalrymple's antithesis
was warranted. The advice of D'Avaux, good as it
was to set the affairs of Dublin in order, to organise
or reorganise the army, to allow the armies of William
to wear themselves out against a concentrated resistance
was a counsel of perfection to a King whose affairs
were in such hopeless disorder that time would only
1 Dalrymple's Memoirs.
FAILURE OF THE IRISH CAMPAIGN 213
disorder them more. James had nothing to gain by
waiting. Every moment that he stayed in Ireland, the
breach between Protestants and Catholics must widen,
his chances of bridging it must lessen. There was
something in that idea to which he so pathetically clung
during life that all was a mistake, a misunderstanding,
and that if but his subjects could see him, all would
once again be " glad confident morning." If by some
miracle he could have been transported (with a sufficient
display of force) to England, at a time when reaction
had bred discontent with the Dutch and with William,
one may be permitted to think that he would have been
reinstated by some form of compromise. But while
he did nothing to assert himself as a King, the double
fear of France and of the imposition of Popery in
England was reinforced by everything that happened
in Ireland.
One may therefore, as a preliminary, define the policy
of D'Avaux as one that was directed to keeping James
quiescent in Dublin, and consolidating his position
there at the expense of the Protestants. The policy
of James was to strike a blow at William through an
invasion of England, or by going to Scotland, where
Claverhouse was raising his standard. The policy of
Melfort was to support these ideas of James. Tyr-
connel, thoroughly disliking and distrusting Melfort,
was disposed to side with D'Avaux, because he very
shrewdly perceived that D'Avaux held the purse-strings,
and that on his advice to Louis must depend the success
of any campaign in Ireland. That he trusted D'Avaux
completely we do not believe but the bluff Viceroy
was soldier enough and diplomatist enough to recognise
that France was James's only hope.
2i 4 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
It was not long before the essential differences of
these policies declared themselves. While Roman
Catholics and Protestants were eagerly waiting with
mouths open or shut for what was next to happen, the
future of Ireland was being decided in the Castle.
Every evening at seven o'clock a little cabinet council
met the King, D'Avaux, Tyrconnel, Melfort. One
may picture them the King restless, by turns eager
and wavering, but obstinate in clinging to his purposes ;
Melfort speaking seldom and slowly, but always in
agreement with the King ; Tyrconnel downright, but
concealing under his soldierly plain-speaking his distrust
of D'Avaux, and making no concealment of his dislike
of Melfort ; D'Avaux cool, correct, with not a shred
of liking for any of them, nor to be moved a hair's-
breadth from his appointed policy. " As for me," he
says in one of his later letters, " I go my own way " :
and it expresses his attitude very well. Rather oddly,
the same expression occurs in one of Tyrconnel's letters
to the Queen : " I go my own old road " ; and we cannot
but think that he pursued it well, according to his
lights and to his ability. It is certain that he never
betrayed himself to D'Avaux, who from first to last
regarded him as an ally as French as a Frenchman.
The first difference arose about the King's expedition
to Derry. Derry, to the pained surprise of everyone,
and not a little owing to a moment of indecision on the
part of Tyrconnel, had boldly declared for William, and
was resisting every attempt of Richard Hamilton to
reduce it. It never was reduced, though Pusignan and
Maumont, and Pointis the French engineer, fell in its
siege ; and Rosen failed to subdue it by threat or
by famine. But it was James's hope and belief that if
FAILURE OF THE IRISH CAMPAIGN 215
he went to show himself before it, his presence would
be powerful to prevail on the inhabitants to submit.
It may also have been his hope that, once he arrived
there, and especially if the city submitted, he would be
by that much nearer to the expedition to Scotland on
which he had set his heart. D'Avaux opposed both
these projects the one that was immediate, and the
one that was in the clouds. He moved Tyrconnel to
oppose the expedition ; he wrote to France that the
Queen must be induced to write to James to discourage
the hare-brained descent on Scotland. But the advice
he tendered in the Council was the practical counsel
that James should stop in Dublin setting in order the
affairs of the army and the commissariat, no less than
those of the city and of the country.
In vain. They set out (the complaints are those of
D'Avaux) with no beds nor any sufficient travelling
equipment in the teeth of a wind strong enough to
stop the horses. The disgust of the Frenchman
lends vigour to his pen : they passed over rivers that
the rain had swollen to torrents, and travelled for miles
that were as long as French leagues over detestable
roads and hills that were precipices. The towns were
deserted. In Omagh, abandoned by the rebels, there
was " ny bien ny bierre," a precious phrase easily to be
rendered as " neither bite nor sup." The windows and
doors had gone from the houses ; the fires smoked on
the floors of the hovels where the cavalcade lodged ; there
was no forage for the miserable nags they rode on.
One can well believe that this untimely excursion
soured D'Avaux's views of Ireland. He never reached
Londonderry. The King's expedition, continued with-
out him, did no good. His suspicious subjects, so far
216 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
from receiving him with open arms, fired on him ; and
James returned to Dublin.
Here there arose new problems and new difficulties.
Tyrconnel, nursing an incipient fit of gout, was grow-
ing daily more irritated with Melfort, and less capable
of conducting his share of the government. He had
never been a man of the cabinet ; he grew lethargic
as his illness gained on him. He suffered from heart
attacks, the most depressing and the most alarming
of symptoms, and he finally left the Castle to take
to his bed. D'Avaux clearly thought he would die,
and directed the whole of his energies to undermining
the influence of Melfort. He scanned every pamphlet
and every broadsheet published in Dublin for evidence
of the Scotsman's unpopularity ; he reported to Louis
that Melfort was unpopular alike in Ireland, Scotland,
and England ; he quoted Lord Dover's saying that
if James took Melfort with him to England no one
would declare for the King. In response to a sugges-
tion that he himself should try to reconcile Melfort
and Tyrconnel, if only for working purposes, D'Avaux
observes that their differences are not personal but
fundamental. " Each wishes to have the ear of the
King, each inclines to a different policy." He con-
cludes with a scathing denunciation of the Scot
incompetent, slow, neglectful of business, and he is
" always walking with his wife, by which he loses a
great deal of time." D'Avaux's disapproval of the
enjoyment of leisure probably extended to the King,
who spent a great deal of time in driving around
Dublin in the afternoons.
Then arose the overwhelming difficulties of the Irish
Parliament which James summoned to meet in Dublin.
FAILURE OF THE IRISH CAMPAIGN 217
The Irish Parliament (which met on May 7th, 1689) was
a Roman Catholic Parliament. Out of a total of ninety
Protestant peers, only five temporal and four spiritual
obeyed the summons. Ten Roman Catholic peers
attended ; seventeen more, by new creation or reversion
of old attainders, sat in the House. Tyrconnel's policy
had ensured a Roman Catholic House of Commons.
Two hundred and thirty-two members were returned ;
only six were Protestants. 1 This Parliament, thirsting
for the restoration of property which had passed from
the hands of its original owners earlier in the century,
was the crown and symbol of James's political failure.
What could be expected from the Protestants of Ireland
if their lands were confiscated ; what support for King
James could be expected from the Protestants of England
if their sympathies were alienated and their apprehensions
aroused by the robbery of their co-religionists in Ireland ?
Such considerations the Parliament was determined
to ignore. They began by repealing the Act of Settle-
ment ; they ended by passing the Act of Attainder.
The first, by destroying James's credit in Ireland,
made a successful war there impossible ; the second,
joined to it, extinguished every shred of sympathy
with James in England. James was quite sensible
of the disastrous effect of repealing the Act of Settle-
ment. " I shall most readily consent to the making
of such good wholesome laws as may be for the
good of the nation, the improvement of trade, and
relieving of such as have been injured by the late
Acts of Settlement," he said, in the able and sincere
speech with which he opened the Parliament, "so
far forth as may be consistent with reason, justice
1 Cf. Dr R. H. Murray, The Revolution in Ireland.
218 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
and the public good " and no one knew better than
he that many hard cases had gone neglected and
unrecompensed under the Settlement of Charles II.
Many have never to this day had justice done them,
and even in the last century worthless documents
with Charles's seal were preserved in decayed home-
steads and cabins. But James's idea of what could be
done to render partial justice was very different from
that of the country gentlemen who had been smarting
under deprivation and a sense of wrong for a genera-
tion. Their view was not far removed from that
of D'Avaux, who suggested, as the most reasonable
solution of the problem, that the lands held by
Protestants should be taken from them and given
to dissatisfied Roman Catholics.
James struggled, protested in vain. Popular feeling
ran high ; the soldiers quarrelled in the streets about
it. " Alas ! " said James, " I am fallen into the hands
of a people who will ram that and much more down
my throat." One night in desperation he called for
his carriage, and would have gone down in his private
dress to the House of Peers to plead with some of
its members, and press them to stand by him in reject-
ing the Repeal. D'Avaux was told of it, and hurried
into the Castle yard in time to stop him. One can
imagine the cool, polite Frenchman, the representative
of an authority higher than any in Ireland, interposing
his barrier of diplomatic emphasis against that which
the King would do. France and the popular clamour
effected between them what James would not have
yielded to public feeling alone ; but in that moment,
as it seems to us, he realised the hollowness of his
position, and the instability of the Irish platform. The
FAILURE OF THE IRISH CAMPAIGN 219
Act was passed, though James by private generosity
endeavoured to mitigate some of its injustices.
It was followed by the Act of Attainder, which
nominated thousands of people who were to be
adjudged traitors against James and were to lose
their lands in consequence and which was the most
stupid, ill-digested, and hasty measure passed by any
Parliament. Its chief object was not vengeance but
confiscation. James disapproved of this Act also,
though the disapproval was ineffectual and never,
either at the time or since, counted to him for right-
eousness. It was part of the irony of his career that
those acts of popular injustice to which he was so
opposed should have been put down to him and
contributed to his failure.
It would have been little wonder if at this juncture
mid-July the Protestants in Dublin should have
been a source of treason and danger. Whether they
were or not, it was D'Avaux's cue to say they were ;
and his spies told him, and the news was communicated
to the King, that an uprising in the city was projected.
James hastily doubled the guards of the Castle he
had the nervousness of the unpopular ruler ; and he
put under arrest some of the more prominent Pro-
testants. Dr King, the Dean of St Patrick's, was, as
we have already noted, confined in the Castle with
other prisoners, to whom he piously preached on
Sundays. The suspicions of his loyalty were not
without foundation, but the chief thing alleged against
him was that he was regarded by the King as a
" dangerous man." Twelve other prominent Pro-
testants were arrested on the same day, Captain
Robert Fitzgerald, Sir John Davies, Sir Humphrey
220 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Gervaise, Alderman Smith, and several councillors
among them, and "were carried through the streets
in the most evident manner imaginable." D'Avaux
adds that three spies were arrested.
By this time, and probably by reason of some of
the foregoing events, James was growing restive in
his anxiety to leave Ireland and make his descent on
England. Tyrconnel was ill. D'Avaux says he was
still languishing but hopeful of cure, and we might
suspect him of malingering in a time of extreme
difficulty of counsel, but that we know he was nearing
the end of his hard-lived life. At any rate Melfort's
counsels were dominant with the King, and were
peculiarly grateful to James because he favoured the idea
of the English expedition. " The reason why Melfort's
counsels prevail over Tyrconnel's and mine," explains
D'Avaux sourly, " is that he humours the King.
Whatever the King says, Melfort agrees. . . . Even
the King's confessor, whom I have approached and
who is a good man and not meddlesome, can do
nothing. He has done what he could " but evidently
James had been something more than chilling.
A new complication arose for the French ambassador
in the arrival from France of Mr James Porter, the
Vice-Chamberlain of the Court of Saint-Germain.
It is not unlikely that Porter brought letters to James
from the Queen in which D'Avaux's uncomplimentary
criticisms of James's methods, the defects of his policy,
and the want of organisation of his army returned,
like the kiss the lady returned to Rodolphe, " revus,
corrigs, et considerablement augmented." At any rate
James sent for D'Avaux, and received him with an
angry outburst. D'Avaux had written of him to
FAILURE OF THE IRISH CAMPAIGN 221
Louis, said James with rising indignation, as " if he
had been a culprit who knew no better than a
child how to behave himself." These were his own
words, writes the scandalised ambassador ; and goes on
to say that " the Queen had wondered what kind of a
black-hearted ingrat I must be to write so much ill of a
King so well disposed towards me ; that I had said the
King spent Louis's money in giving it to Berwick and
Fitz James ; that he treated the French generals ill ;
and that he was managed by Berwick, Hamilton, and
Dungan. . . ." D'Avaux replied with commendable
coolness that, as a matter of fact, he had written to
Louis nothing but what he told James every day ; and
as for the gifts of money to Berwick and Fitzjames,
this was the first he had heard of any such report. But
that even if he had conceived the sentiments ascribed
to him, he should have never been so imprudent as to
commit them to writing, because they would have been
reproved by Louis, besides being repeated at Saint-
Germain and to the Queen. James said he was satisfied.
D'Avaux may also have been satisfied. He thought
that this ill turn had been done him by Lauzun,
though he suspected Dover of a hand in it.
By way of confirming the reconciliation, D'Avaux's
advice was asked on the preliminary steps for a re-
organisation of Irish affairs. He recommended the
formation of a small Privy Council, and a Secretary of
State for Ireland. As regards the army, a number of
officers should be dismissed, and the others carefully
weeded. The competent petty officers should be pro-
moted to commands, and the ammunition trains should
be put in order all sound canons. The Privy Council
was formed. It included : Sir Alexander Fytton,
222 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Lord Chancellor, Lord Chief Justice Nugent, Chief
Justice Keating, Sir Stephen Rice, Baron of the
Exchequer, Tyrconnel, Lord Clanricarde, Lord Moun't-
cashel, the Hamiltons, Richard and Anthony, , Lord
Galmoy, and Simon Luttrell, Lord Powis, Lord
Dover, Lord Thomas Howard, Colonel Sarsfield, and
William Talbot, a nephew of Tyrconnel. William
Talbot was one of the suggested Secretaries of State
for Ireland, but D'Avaux thought little of him. Of
the other candidates, no one was quite fit for the post
in his opinion. Chief Justice Herbert was faithful and
loyal, but a Protestant ; Lord Thomas Howard, honest
but not very capable. Of Lord Galmoy, D'Avaux
opined that he might be more capable than he seemed.
Encouraged by this restored cordiality, D'Avaux
reopened his campaign on Melfort. We may not say
that D'Avaux was a good hater, but he was an un-
wearying opponent. The attack on Melfort in his
letters is persistent : every incident that may tell
against him is recounted. D'Avaux complained, for
example, that even the King's Life Guards were ill-
mounted. Dr King, looking out from his window
on the Castle yard, corroborates this view. Melfort
answered with a sarcastic grin that if D'Avaux really
felt this to be a matter of importance, the Guards could
be mounted in an hour by enlisting the Dublin coach-
horses. D'Avaux, ignoring this pleasantry, pressed the
point. James assented, and then asked time to think
over the matter. So exasperated did the ambassador
become that he went to see Tyrconnel, to take counsel
as to what was to be done. Melfort's hopeless incom-
petence, in D'Avaux's view, was ruining the kingdom.
Everything was neglected. The town of Newry was
JOHN DRUMMOND, LORD MELFORT.
FAILURE OF THE IRISH CAMPAIGN 223
left without powder Melfort's fault. James gave
orders that a proclamation should be issued, calling on
his subjects to rally to his standard, and to send in
their horses for the use of the army. The proclama-
tion was not printed. Why ? The Recorder of the
Council (a zealous Protestant) excused the omission on
the ground that he had no money to pay for the paper.
Melfort again. And though at one time Melfort
was so humble that Tyrconnel used to blush for him
(so Tyrconnel said, though Tyrconnel and blushes
must long have been strangers), now that Tyrconnel
was ill, the Scot, like other persons, felt free to " gang
his own gait." Lady Tyrconnel went to see him, and
subduing a natural imperiousness of manner, begged
him to consult the judges and the other councillors
about the alarming state of Irish affairs. Melfort
replied with studied rudeness that there was not the
least necessity for anything of the kind. No one was
better served than King James : an angel from heaven
could not do better than he the good Melfort had
done. Moreover, he was entirely indifferent as to
what anyone in France, England, Scotland, or Ireland
said or thought about him. He was not afraid of the
future himself ; and if anyone was less courageous, all
he hoped, with all his heart, was that they should go
off to some other country which suited them better. . . .
Thus far the indomitable Melfort, whom the absence
of any ability or any approval of his colleagues
could not stir, and who continued his daily walks
with his wife.
D'Avaux nullified the effect which the soundness of
his own counsels might have had, by a proposition
which was as shameless as it was absurd. He pro-
224 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
posed not once but twice that a St Bartholomew's Day
should be organised against recalcitrant Protestants.
James seems to have been too taken aback at D'Avaux's
cynicism to make a suitable rejoinder in the first
instance. But when D'Avaux returned to the charge,
James replied angrily, and at once, that he was not
going to cut the throats of his own people. " II m'a
repondu d'un ton fort aigre qu'il ne voulut pas egorger
ses sujets, que c'estoit son peuple, et qu'on ne
1'obligerait jamais & les traittes de la sorte." Such
loyalty to unworthy subjects astonished D'Avaux, who
protested that he was proposing nothing inhuman : after
all, there had been occasions in Irish history when the
Protestants had cut the throats of the Catholics ;
the King might reserve his pity for the Catholics.
James replied shortly that he would wait to defend
the Catholics till the Protestants attacked them ; and
when the persistent ambassador endeavoured to pursue
the discussion by saying it might then be too late to
save the Catholics, James closed the discussion with
a dry " Tant pis, Monsieur." He may be congratu-
lated on having for once found a way of stemming
the flow of D'Avaux's discourse.
It may have been this incident which led D'Avaux
to the suspicion that the King was dissatisfied no less
with the situation in which he found himself than with
the French ambassador. He reported James as being
out of spirits, as well as out of humour, and gloomily
asking whether it was of any use to struggle against
the numberless difficulties of the situation. "What
is the good of anything ? " we almost seem to hear
him asking ; and we can imagine the impatience with
which he listened to D'Avaux's eternal monitions that
FAILURE OF THE IRISH CAMPAIGN 225
there was nothing to be done but to set his house in
order. D'Avaux thought that the King was ready at
a moment to throw up everything and quit Ireland,
though James had manfully said that he asked nothing
better than to stay at the head of his army and strike
a blow for his lost kingdom. But he had little cause
for congratulation on his affairs. He prorogued his
ungovernable Parliament on the 2Oth of July, but
the mischief of its proceedings was done ; and on the
ist of August the siege of Derry was raised. It had
withstood hardships which make its resistance memor-
able in history ; it had inflicted as much material injury
on its assailants as it had sustained, and incomparably
more moral damage. The same day that Derry was
relieved, the Jacobite forces assailing Enniskillen were
disastrously beaten at Newtown Butler. General
MacCartny (Mountcashel) was captured ; Anthony
Hamilton escaped, but half their combined forces,
numbering 3000, were killed or captured. Enniskillen
and Derry had been the Kimberley and Ladysmith of
the campaign. Ulster, now entirely in the hands of
the Williamites, was as disastrous a hindrance to the
success of the Jacobite arms as was the Peninsula to
the Napoleonic plans. Against these reverses James had
nothing to set but Dundee's Scottish victory at Killie-
crankie. No wonder the King's thoughts turned to
Scotland. Melfort, always supple, would have sus-
tained his wish to leave Ireland at any rate. Tyrconnel
was able to prevent it.
It was time that something was done ; for England,
stirred by the stories of Derry 's resistance, had at
length prepared and sent that army under General
Schomberg of which we have already made mention.
IS
226 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
It was an army which landed on August I3th, and
which, though as ill-equipped as the Irish levies of
James, was yet an army with the force and presence
of Ulster behind it and a forerunner of the sustained
effort to come. Impending events did something
more than cast their shadows before them. They
consolidated Irish belligerence on both sides into some-
thing more like organisation. Dublin was alive with
a new and bustling activity. The proclamations were
sent out ; the drums were beat. Rosen, who had cursed
the Irish soldiers for cowardice, now joined with James
in assembling a new army in Dublin.
The most evident sign of the times, however, was
the departure of Melfort, so long assailed, so tenacious
of an unworthy office. He went back to Saint-
Germain, ostensibly to go thence on a mission to the
Pope. The King may have sped his parting servant.
Tyrconnel saw him go with a curse, and sent after
him the most damaging of testimonials to the Queen
at Saint-Germain. " I ask with all my soull," he
observes, " that he may serve you. But a man of not
truth will quickly be found out in all countrys. . . .
Such men doo seldom bring any great matter to pass."
Melfort stopped long enough in Saint-Germain to
make himself heard ; for two months kter evidences of
his activities are found in one of D'Avaux's replies to
some allegations sent on to Dublin from Versailles.
"My Lord Melfort knows quite well," remarks
D'Avaux, " that nothing but French arms keeps King
James in Ireland. Tyrconnel is also aware that King
James will quit the scene at the first check. More-
over, Melfort was the first to counsel James to do so,
and if he says otherwise, he holds very different
FAILURE OF THE IRISH CAMPAIGN 227
views in France from those he expressed in Ireland."
D'Avaux's pen was quite capable of dealing with his
adversary even at that distance, and Melfort was
hurried off to Rome by Louis. He was fortunate
enough to impress the new Pope less unfavourably,
for, in a response to the appeals addressed to him by
the Queen on behalf of her husband's cause, Alexander
VIII. recommends my Lord Melfort as "a subject
truly worthy of your benevolence."
The new situation in Dublin, and the town's improved
order and appearance, impressed even D'Avaux, between
whom and the King more cordial relations appeared to
be in prospect as soon as Melfort had gone. Tyrconnel,
recovering somewhat from his illness though he writes
to the Queen that his " old distemper " has not left
him, and that the " palpitation of the heart daily in-
creases on me " began to assume more influence in
affairs. But the activity was more apparent than real.
Schomberg's army was a wretched one, miserably
equipped, but it had a head, one of the safest among
veteran soldiers. James's levies we cannot call
them an army had no capable head, and no initiative.
Thus, through a miserably rainy autumn which bred
appalling disease in the two armies facing one another,
nothing was done on either side. Schomberg, in addition
to the losses by sickness in his army, knew its weakness
too well to risk a battle : he had everything to gain
by waiting. James had everything to lose by delay,
and so had France, if France had but recognised it ; but
still James's armies rested quiescent and the French
supplies tarried. That autumn was the seal of James's
failure ; and James knew it, and Tyrconnel knew it
though in James's letter to the Pope the situation had
228 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
been glibly summed up by the representation that the
" King hath obtained frequent small victories over the
Rebells : they avoided a great one by obstinately declin-
ing the same."
Meanwhile Dublin, sheeted in rain, was growing
despondent and hungrier. The cattle market stood
almost empty of beasts on market days ; provisions
and clothing cost famine prices ; there was " hardly
any salt," and " only wine in Dublin for two months "
a depressing prospect for convivial soldiers ; wood
and coke were " hard to get and far to send." Dis-
content bred disagreements. D'Avaux had his unfailing
panacea, which was to put things in order ; and he
records an encounter between the King and himself
which would be humorous if it were not for the
seriousness of the situation. General Rosen was to be
recalled rather to the dismay of those Irish officers
who had begun by disliking him, but had ended by
appreciating his abilities ; and D'Avaux, who shrewdly
suspected that his own position was being undermined,
thought he might usefully supply the King with a
memorandum of his remedies in writing. He politely
introduced it with the remark that he had just noted a
few recommendations to which the King might say
" Yes " or " No " as he pleased ; the Secretary of State
would then execute those the King approved. Nothing
new in the suggestions they had merely been reduced
to writing. James hardly waited for the ambassador
to begin before angrily protesting against D'Avaux's
exaggerations. " But, your Majesty," responded the
ambassador imperturbably, "you do not understand.
This is no manifesto, no proclamation, not even an
address to you ; nobody has seen it. I merely thought
FAILURE OF THE IRISH CAMPAIGN 229
it most important that you should learn the truth
without flattery or disguise. If your Majesty would
rather not I will read no more." James, still fuming,
bade him read on. He listened to the end, and
with a nonchalance equal to D'Avaux's own asked for
the paper when the reading was finished. For all
practical purposes it went into the kingly waste-paper
basket.
That is, in effect, the last conspicuous interference of
D'Avaux in Irish affairs. It was true that intrigue
was on foot to recall him. D'Avaux, with less than
his usual perspicacity, or with intentional blindness,
ascribes his recall to Dover and Lauzun, and remarks
that it is deplorable that a person like Lauzun should
strive to do him an injury out of mere lightness of
heart. But in truth it is not unlikely that the Irish
resented the hard-fisted parsimony which he repre-
sented ; and, in spite of Tyrconnel's hearty bonhomie,
it is more than doubtful whether he had either as
great an affection for France or as great a con-
fidence in D'Avaux as the ambassador said that
he had. Doubtless he preferred him to Lauzun,
of whose substitution for D'Avaux he had no
doubt heard rumours. But the shrewd Irishman
once discloses to the Queen what he felt in his heart
about the French alliance : " We are only destined
to serve a present turne and be at last a sacrifice to
our ennemis."
The wet autumn deepened into a wet winter, and
the troops went into winter quarters. Nothing had
been done ; nothing was likely to be done. Such of
the army as was quartered in Dublin poured back into
the empty houses. The young officers gaily sought
230 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
to make the best of it, and the licence of Dublin in
these months became a byword. Each looked after
himself : the colonels lived on the pay of their captains ;
the troops lived on what they could commandeer.
The army, writes Tyrconnel to the Queen, " have
ruined and destroyed all our cattle and sheep ; there
is no wool, hides, tallow, beef, butter, for export ; and
for the copper money we have much ado to make
it pass."
Tyrconnel's heart was failing him. Not that he was
not brave, but that he was too old to be careless. He
saw, and said, that the King was but a catspaw ; he was
aware that whatever suggestions might be made about
a descent on England to retrieve the balance of inepti-
tude in Ireland, they would fall on politely deaf ears.
" The people of England," he wrote to the Queen in
December, "were never in such a disposition to
throw off the usurper, . . ." if but James could show
himself there. One is doubtful whether he was as
certain of this as he affects to be in the letters which
he sends to Saint-Germain ; but he was quite clear
that the course of affairs in Ireland could never lead
to anything but disaster at last. "The good God,"
he writes 1 to Queen Maria early in the new year,
" has given you a great soul in all your afflictions ;
He has not thought fit to shake this confounded
Prince of Orange coming over to us with such power
as will sett us hard . . . that this country cannot
possibly hold out longer than this year from falling
into the Prince of Orange's hands is not to be in the
least doubted."
In a nobler letter which we cannot forbear to quote
1 February 22nd, 1689.
FAILURE OF THE IRISH CAMPAIGN 231
he indites a Tyrconnel such as we like best to think
of him :
" Since I have nothing more to ask of any kind of
honour or riches, if the King be re-established God
knows I have more of both than I deserve or care to
have. Madam, this I say from my heart what should
I have or care for more if God has so decreed it that
I shall not live to see it ? As long as my powers
endure and are agreeable to him I will to the last
moment of my life serve him the best I am able, for
my integrity and loyalty shall end with my life to
him, to your Majestic, and to the Prince your son."
The prospects of a successful landing in England
peep out more than once in this correspondence, and
names like the Duke of Beaufort, the Duke of New-
castle, the Marquis of Worcester are mentioned as
supporters. These hopes may have been due to the
Irishman's love of pleasing his wish to make the best
of things. Mr Vice-Chamberlain Porter had gone
back to Saint-Germain filled with forebodings.
Tyrconnel begs the Queen not to allow him " to fright
you with dismall stories." He adds later that he
humbly begs that " Mr Porter may not see any of my
letters, for I have known him many years." But
whatever Tyrconnel's motive, he harps on the descent
on England almost to the last ; and at the beginning
of spring he dilates on the advantages of the plan.
He himself could occupy William's attention in Ireland,
while James advanced in England. " I could keep
up the bustle and give him (the Prince of Orange)
work enough till the King was able to summon me
from home " (to join him).
But meanwhile Rosen had gone, and D'Avaux was
232 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
following him, while Lauzun, with French troops, was
coming in their place. Tyrconnel must have welcomed
the French troops and their equipment, but the
advantages of taking Lauzun with them were by no
means so evident to his mind. Though he had long
given up expectation of gaining much from D'Avaux,
he much feared " him that cometh in his place will
undoe all our affairs." He had heard from the French
officers that Lauzun was a restless, quarrelsome intriguer
" fort malhonnest homme, fort brouillard, fort in-
quiet" and he would rather have rested with the
adviser they had. He also wondered what reports
D'Avaux would bear back to France. Bespeak him
fair, he advises the Queen, you know how to
manage him, "and we have need of everyone's good
word. 'Tis a dissembling age : and I confess I do
not love it and care not to practise it : but nothing's
lost by being civil to all." D'Avaux might possibly
have been managed by the Queen ; but his reports
had been much too categorical and too damaging to
be explained away. To the last he is to be found
proffering advice as, for example, that in the camps
and garrisons wine and beer should be sold at fixed
prices ; and that part of the levies should be more
widely distributed, and further removed from Dublin,
where they ruin and despoil what is necessary to the
subsistence of other troops ; and the last message he left
for Lauzun was that he had come " to be a sacrifice to
a poor-spirited and cowardly people, whose soldiers will
never fight and whose officers will never observe orders."
It is probable that D'Avaux was not sorry to go,
though he had once protested in his letters at being
ousted, especially by Lauzun, who, as he said, had done
FAILURE OF THE IRISH CAMPAIGN 233
him an ill turn out of pure light-heartedness. He
disliked Ireland ; he saw no profit or credit in his
embassage ; and he had private business in France
which was suffering. Moreover, in his recall he was
assured by Colbert that Louis was not recalling him
out of any sense that he had been a failure. Colbert
adds : " His Majesty is quite satisfied with your
services, and it looks as if you would not want for
good employment (de meilleurs employs) in the future."
Louis himself wrote to his withdrawing ambassador,
ending his letter with the polite and kingly formula :
" Sur ce je prie Dieu qu'il vous ayt Monsieur le Comte
d'Avaux en sa sainte garde." Thus went the able
but little-liked counsellor. Berwick shortly says of
him that he was not respectful. 1
Lauzun heralded his arrival at Dublin by complain-
ing that proper arrangements had not been made to
receive him and his troops at Cork : which is likely
enough. He landed with 7300 men at Kinsale ; and,
in exchange for the men he brought, Mountcashel
sailed for France with the four regiments of Irishmen
who formed the nucleus of that Irish Brigade which
was to become so famous in the European wars. The
exchange was an unnecessary and foolish piece of
parsimony. Louvois had entrusted the new commander
with instructions which were all part of the same
prudent but insufficiently perspicuous French policy.
He was " not to be carried away by the excitement of
giving a sword-thrust or of winning a combat, but was
to play a waiting game." The waiting game had been
impressed on James since his arrival. Rosen had long
before advised a retreat behind the line of the Shannon ;
1 Lije of the Duke of Berwick (1738).
234 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
the burning of Dublin had even been counselled ; the
one thing which French strategy perceived and desired
was to occupy William. It was a policy of pin-pricks.
James had no wish to fall in with this view. He
" would not be walked out of Ireland without atr least
having one blow for it " ; but his courageous resolution
was ever baffled by the want of co-operation on the
part of his commanders, the division of counsels
among his advisers, and the want of money or
sufficient assistance from his allies. While they were
bargaining William was advancing.
Lauzun was more to James's taste than ever
D'Avaux had been ; and, moreover, he was one of
those careless spirits who despise orders and authority
when occasion offers. Tyrconnel began by distrusting
the new master more than the old one, though he
assures the Queen that he will keep on good terms
with him. Later he says that he is making advances
to the newcomer " I do all things to please him, even
too much, as the King says " though " Dover and he
are very ill together." Later the crafty old soldier
finds it unnecessary to dissemble : he began to like
Lauzun. " I must doe M. de Lauzun justice to say I
never saw anyone more zealous or more painfull in all
things relating to the King's service " ; and in the letters
to Saint-Germain begins to steal a note even of hope.
" By Mid-May," he writes, " when the grass grows
we shall march on Ulster and lay it in ashes unless the
Prince of Orange advances on us " ; and up to the
very last, seven days before the battle of the Boyne,
he speaks hopefully. In Tyrconnel's letters to the
Queen, the record can be read of the hopes and fears
in Dublin, almost till the battle of the Boyne laid
FAILURE OF THE IRISH CAMPAIGN 235
hopes aside for ever. " I go my old road," says
Tyrconnel ; and though he had no illusions as to
whither it would lead, he kept up his spirits bravely
enough. There is a curious reference in one of the
letters from the camp at Ardee, in which he speaks of
good news brought by " our flying lady " ; but the
good news seems to consist chiefly of unfounded beliefs
in the weakness of the enemy. Tyrconnel knew
better. " The Prince of Orange hath 40,000 men," he
writes, and adds a complimentary opinion of their
efficiency and experience. He knows that the Irish
ill-equipped, ill-disciplined army cannot contend with
them. " We cannot beat him," says he to the Queen
in the letter of the 24th of June, "but whoever has
time has life, as says your country's proverb, . . . and
we may keep the small army from being beaten. . . ."
That was the unfortunate incertitude of the Irish
plan of campaign. Over and over again it had been
urged on James that he should retire behind the line
of the Shannon, and fight the delaying actions which
should weary and harass William's forces to the point
of exhaustion. A victory could not be gained for
James ; but neither could it be for William, who would
meanwhile be distributing those energies which he
ought to be concentrating against France in Flanders. 1
1 After the battle of the Boyne, the Irish kept up a warfare against the
superior Williamite forces for fifteen months, and, had Louis possessed
the wit and energy of his rival, would, and should, have been enabled
to keep it up much longer. The case is stated well and plainly in the
contemporary Light to the Blind: "The King of France made a
false step in the politicks by letting the Irish warr to fall : because
that warr was the best medium in the world for destroying the Con-
federacy abroade, by reason that the Confederal Armies could not
prolong the foraign warr without the arm and money of England, which
were imployed in the warr of Ireland."
236 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Lauzun had as little doubt as anyone either as to the
upshot of a battle or as to the desirability of delay.
"After the landing of the Prince of Orange, in the
desperate state of his [King James's] affairs the choice
of two resolutions remained for the King. One was a
battle. This always seemed to me impossible. The
other was to set fire to Dublin, and on his retreat from
place to place, to devastate the land completely. This
plan seemed so cruel to the King that he could not
make up his mind to it. . . ." Let us at least do the
King that justice. He was too proud, he had too
little intelligent subtlety, too little perseverance, and
too much obstinacy, to follow a plan of campaign of
that character. Yet at the back of his intentions lay
the advice that had been given him ; and as in the
campaign, so in the battle of the Boyne which decided
it, he was caught in two minds. His smaller army,
occupying the stronger position on the Boyne, was
drawn up for defence, and with one eye to retreat.
The army and the commander opposed to it had but
one thought, which was to win. The composite army
of William, with its stiffening of seasoned Dutchmen,
Danes, and Huguenots, had that which the Irish army
had not. It had morale a great confidence of right
and of victory ; whereas the feeling of the Irish army
was comparable with that which a profound critic of war,
the late Sir Charles Dilke, ascribed as the cause of the
Russian defeats a kind of melancholy fatalism summed
up in the phrase, " Poor ould Ireland ! " The feeling
did not hinder them from making a most stubborn
resistance at points. The Irish cavalry, Parker's and
Tyrconnel's troops fought brilliantly and gallantly :
Berwick was wounded, Richard Hamilton was captured.
FAILURE OF THE IRISH CAMPAIGN 237
Their devotion averted a rout : it could not avert
defeat. James's lack of artillery was fatal to the
steadiness of his infantry ; they would not stand before
the fierce and sustained attack of veteran troops, and
they could not be rallied behind the hedges when once
they were on the run. It is not necessary to pursue
the course of the battle further, or to moralise on its
conduct. From the old church on Donore Hill James
saw his hopes crumble with his army, and then turned
his horse's head towards Dublin.
With what suspense and hopes and fears Dublin
awaited the news of the battle can be imagined. On
the day preceding the battle a cannon-shot grazed
William just after he had mounted his horse, pre-
paratory to riding round the lines. It was reported
that he was wounded then that he was killed ; and the
news travelled on the wings of rumour to Dublin and
to France. In Paris, days after the battle of the Boyne,
bonfires were being lighted for the death of William.
But in Dublin the ebb of hopes came quickly, sped
by the presage of calamity. At daybreak the streets
were crowded : no one but a Protestant was indoors :
and during the forenoon the rumours of the fight that
came in by that species of wireless telegraphy which re-
ports battles, however distant continually inclined to an
Irish victory. Then a lull of no news. Then doubt ;
and in the afternoon, as tired horsemen straggled in
with harassing fears, the truth followed with swift
vehemence. All was lost. Thenceforward beaten
troops came pouring into the town. Some marched
sullenly, in fairly good order; some as men who are
tired unto death ; some in frenzied haste, flogging on
cart-horses ; many without arms, begrimed with dust
2 3 8 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
and blood. Wounded men came in with the carts ;
the road to Dublin was strewn with muskets thrown
away, with men wildly or despondently certain of defeat,
or prophesying further disaster. Late at night^ while
Dublin throbbed with alarms, the cavalry came sound-
ing through the town with kettle-drums, hautboys,
and trumpets even as if they had been victors in the
chase !
The King arrived long after dark had fallen. He
made his way through the Castle gates with Sarsfield
and an escort of cavalry, and was received at the Castle by
Lady Tyrconnel. Tradition says that he announced to
her with gloomy bitterness that the Irish had run away
which it is likely enough that he did ; but her apocryphal
retort that he had distanced them does not sound very
probable. "After he was upstairs," says Story, "her
ladyship ask't him what he would have for supper.
Who then gave her an account of what breakfast he
had got, which made him have little stomach for his
supper. . . ."
Lauzun, in obedience to the dictates of a policy
which would have been discomfited had James been
made a prisoner, had counselled James's flight, and now
urged him further to leave Ireland. James stood in
no need of great persuasion. Of him might have been
said, in a phrase less justly applied to Tyrconnel, that
he was brave in danger but pusillanimous in disaster.
He was bitterly disappointed in Ireland ; he had no
faith in it, nor liking for the part he was compelled to
play in it. So he left it, and sailing from Kinsale
arrived in France almost as soon as the news of his
defeat, and while his allies were still taking counsel
on what his future action in Ireland should be.
FAILURE OF THE IRISH CAMPAIGN 239
Before he left, he sent for the Lord Mayor and the
Council and, with a spurt of bitterness, repeated his
complaint of the Irish army which had basely fled the
field, and added that thenceforward he was determined
never to head an Irish army, " but to shift for himself, as
they must do. . . ." That is not quite his own version
of what he said, which he believed rather to have been
to the effect that " he had justice on his side, but fate
was against him. He therefore directed the release of
the Protestants and the surrender of the city to the
Prince of Orange, and obedience to his orders, for there
had been blood enough spilt already. After which he
went from Dublin without doing any damage, leaving
untouched the plate and furniture of the house where
he lay." l
1 Clarke's Life.
Part III
The Jacobite Court
16
CHAPTER XII
REVIVAL OF JACOBITE HOPES
To Louis the defeat of James in Ireland, and his
return to France, were a blow of which he realised
the seriousness, though probably even he did not
perceive the full extent of the disaster. It was doubly
disappointing because the French victory off Beachy
Head on June 3Oth, when the Count de Tourville
had beaten the English fleet under Torrington, 1 and
had burned Teignmouth, greatly raised Jacobite hopes.
Maria had herself written to Tourville : " After what
you have lately done I consider the King [Louis XIV.]
as master of the sea, and in a condition to establish
the King my husband in his Kingdoms, and to free
himself thereby from a great part of his enemies.
If we are lucky enough to return soon to our own
country, I shall always consider that you was the first
to open the way to it ; for it was effectually shut
against us before the success of this engagement, to
which your good conduct has contributed so much.
But if I do not deceive myself, it appears to me now
1 Admiral Herbert, Lord Torrington, the bearer of the invitation to
William. His half-hearted tactics, ascribed to lukewarmness, con-
tributed to the disastrous defeat of the combined English and Dutch
fleets.
243
244 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
to be completely open, providing the King could gain
some little time in Ireland, which I hope he will, yet
I tremble with fear lest the Prince of Orange, who sees
clearly that it is his interest to hinder him, should
push the King and oblige him to give battle" 1
prophetic words which can hardly have reached him
for whom they were intended before James was
defeated and a fugitive after the battle of the Boyne !
During his flight he received a letter from Louis XIV.
advising his return, and promising to land him in
England with 30,000 men. James reached Brest on
July 2oth, and immediately sent an express off to the
Queen, in which he told her " he was sensible he
should be blamed for having hazarded a battle upon
such inequalitys, but sayd he had no other post so
advantageous to doe it in, unless he should have
abandoned all without a strok, and have been driven
at last into the sea." This letter shows James to have
had some searchings of heart about his action, at all
events to begin with, though he afterwards threw the
blame on Tyrconnel for urging his departure.
"It is wonderful on what grounds my Lord Tyr-
connel thought fit to press it [James's departure] with
so much earnestness, unless it was out of tenderness for
the Queen, who he perceived was so aprehensive of
the King's person, as to be in a continual agony about
it ; she had frequently begged of him to have a special
care of the King's safety, and tould him he must not
wonder at her repeated instances on that head, for
unless he saw her heart, he could not imagine the
torment it suffered on that account, and must always
1 Quoted by Macpherson from a translation. The date given by
Clarke is June 27th.
REVIVAL OF JACOBITE HOPES 245
doe so." 1 James's conduct of the war in Ireland had
shown, though he did not realise it, that he was not a
person on whom men and money could be squandered
with advantage, and, much to his mortification, his
hopes of Louis XIV.'s further intervention were soon
disappointed. The French King came to see him
at Saint - Germain the day after his arrival, and
welcomed him with general expressions of kindness.
But when James spoke in explicit terms of how
opportune a moment the present would be for a
descent upon England, with the English fleet so lately
defeated, and so many troops absent in Ireland, Louis
put him aside with vague excuses ; and when James
protested that he was certain his own sailors " would
never fight against me, under whom they so often
had conquered," the French King replied definitely
though politely that "it was the first favour he had
refused to his friend, and it should be the last."
James, who was slow to take a hint, and could not
realise the immensity of his disappointment, was not to
be put off so easily. He attempted to press the point,
"but his Most Christian Majesty by pretending indis-
position waived seeing the King, till it was in effect
too late to do anything." 2 " 'Tis certain," comments
poor James on this incident, "his [James's] patience
never underwent so great a tryall in the whole course
of his life." When at last he succeeded in seeing
Louis, the French King would neither consent to his
going aboard the fleet, nor to sending reinforcements
to Ireland, saying, with great good sense, " it would be
so much thrown away to send anything thither."
1 Clarke, ii. 406, with much more to the same effect.
2 Ibid., ii. 412.
246 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
In spite of his determination to take no important
step to restore James in the autumn of 1690, Louis
was evidently anxious to show his guests that there
was no diminution in his cordiality towards them. It
is all to the French King's honour that his kindness
outlasted all prospects of the Stuart restoration, and
that up till James's death in 1701 Maria was writing
to Caryll from the French Court that " this King is
still as civil and kynd to us as he uses to be," though
by that time the Stuarts diffidently avoided any mention
of politics. In the October after James's ignominious
return from Ireland, 1 Louis, as if to demonstrate to
his guests his lively and unalterable kindness for
them personally, invited them to spend some days
at Fontainebleau. Here they arrived at six o'clock on
Friday, and found Monseigneur in waiting for them.
Louis was immediately on the spot to welcome them
in person, and waving James on to take precedence of
himself, he gave his hand to Maria and led her ceremoni-
ously to the apartments of the Queen Mother, which
she was to occupy. In the evening a Court was held.
The Queen listened to the music that was performed
in their honour, while James played at " Hombre " with
Cardinal Furstenberg and Madame de Croissy. This
Cardinal was one of the gay, intriguing ecclesiastics of
that time ; he was not above accepting a bribe from
the King's mistress to secure the promotion of her son
to an archbishopric. The bribe was paid through the
Cardinal's own mistress and niece by marriage, the
Comtesse de Furstenberg. When past middle life she
was a woman who still showed the remains of great
beauty, and retained her dominion over the Cardinal,
1 July 1690.
REVIVAL OF JACOBITE HOPES 247
" though tall, stout, and coarse-featured as a Swiss
guard in woman's clothes." It was on behalf of
Furstenberg, a creature of the Court, that Louis XIV.
had quarrelled with the Pope over the election to the
archbishopric of Cologne.
The next day was so wet that there could be no
outdoor sports ; the royal hunt had to be postponed.
James and his wife looked on at a game of " paume."
All the ladies attended the Queen's toilet, and accom-
panied her to chapel, where she knelt between the two
Kings, with her husband on her right. This order
was still maintained when Louis was seated with his
guests. At table, Monsieur and Madame, their young
son the Due de Chartres, Monseigneur, and all the
Princesses of the Blood were present. The same day
Boisseleau 1 was graciously received by Louis on his
return from Ireland ; he had worked well for the glory
of his country and himself, the King told him. The
next day, Friday, was fine. James went stag-hunting
with Monseigneur ; Louis took the Queen to a boar-
hunt. The visit was to have ended on the following
Monday, but they appeared to be so much enjoying it,
that Louis invited them to prolong it, to which they
willingly assented. James visited all the Princesses of
the Blood, and renewed his acquaintance with Madame
de Montespan, who introduced to him her young
daughter, Mademoiselle de Blois. After dinner on
Sunday James and Maria walked by the canal, and
then heard Salut at the Carmelite convent at Basses-
1 Boisseleau was a captain of the French Guards, who had some
knowledge, which none of the Irish had, of the defence of fortified
towns. He accompanied James to Ireland, was made Governor of
Cork, and afterwards conducted the defence of Limerick, during its
first siege, with great skill (O'Conor's Milit. Mem.).
248 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Loges, where the feast of St Theresa was being
celebrated. The evening was spent as usual. On
Monday James went on a wolf-hunt with Monseigneur,
returning early to dine with the King. On Wednesday
the Stuarts were present at another boar-hunt, and
afterwards saw from the terrace of the grand apparte-
ment by torchlight the curee of a stag. James and
Monseigneur had killed it in the chase that morning.
It was " a very agreeable spectacle." l The same day
Lauzun arrived in Paris.
On Wednesday James and Maria took leave early in
the morning, at ten o'clock. Their host drove with them
as far as the forest of Chailly. Madame and Monsieur
were also there to see them off. Lady d'Almond
sat facing the King and Queen of England in their
carriage. Their hosts, after taking leave of them,
went off to the chase, and James and Mary, stopping
to dine at Plessis, got home to Saint-Germain the
same evening. 2 There is no special mention made
of Madame de Maintenon on this occasion, though no
doubt she was much in evidence, and it appears from
Maria's letters how careful she was to keep on good
terms with this all-powerful lady. Madame, who hated
her sister-in-law with a virulence only possible between
relations, rages against the servility De Maintenon
exacted towards herself, especially from the Dauphin,
whose feebleness of mind and character made him an
easy prey to his crafty stepmother. "The gallant,"
wrote Madame, "is in such fear of the great man's
old muck-heap, that even if he wanted to marry again,
he would not let such a thing be suspected as long as
he saw that it was not agreeable to the lady. It is
1 Dangeau. 2 Ibid., ii., October.
REVIVAL OF JACOBITE HOPES 249
shocking how he fears her, considering his age. In her
presence he is like a child trembling before its
governess."
This statement is borne out by the Dauphin's own
letters to Madame de Maintenon. A man of twenty-
seven years and heir to the throne, he writes to her
while in camp before Mons, in the Netherlands : "Tout
ce que je vous dirai c'est que je m'applique le plus que
je puis a devenir capable de quelque chose et que
j'entre en tous les details et me fais rendre compte de
tout. Je vous pris d'etre persuadee que personne n'est
plus a vous que moi." And again : " Your letter has
given me so much pleasure, by showing me the kind-
ness that the King has for me, and how content he is
with me, that I cannot resist writing to you, to thank
you for having sent it to me. I assure you, that I
count you as the best friend that I could have, and
that you will give me pleasure, should I do anything
which displeases you, by telling me frankly of it, in
order that I may try to do better." Even Madame
herself adopts a servile and conciliatory tone in address-
ing her. Speaking of the King, she says : " All
his kindness to me proceeds from you, since it was
you who brought about a better understanding between
us. I beg you to believe that my sense of gratitude
towards you could not be increased, and I assure you
that my affection for you, Madame, will soon equal the
esteem that is owed you by ELIZABETH CHARLOTTE."
It is interesting to compare Madame's letters about
her sister-in-law with those to her, though Madame de
Maintenon was probably shrewd enough to know how
the Duchesse d'Orleans really regarded her, especially
as she was well provided with spies. "The King's
250 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
old ullage 1 has wielded this terrible power for a
long time," Madame writes. " She is not so mad
as to have herself declared Queen ; she knows the
humour of her man too well. If she did that, she
would soon fall into disgrace." And again, speaking
still more feelingly : " I hope that she will go to hell,
whither may she be conducted by the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost. It was with these words that a
little Capucin used to conclude his sermons : * You
will go to hell, whither may you be conducted
i_ >
by, etc.
In the autumn James and Maria paid frequent visits
to Louis XIV. Once more they were closeted with
him for long private talks. For affairs in England
were encouraging to their easily fanned hopes. Earlier
in the year (1690) the English Jacobites had plucked up
courage and rallied their forces. They were becoming a
united party. The absence of William in Ireland had
seemed to afford a favourable opportunity for some
combined effort to effect James's restoration. Advices
from Scotland as to the unrest there had fomented the
desire to invade that country which is so evident in the
letters from Tyrconnel. A letter to the King while he
was in Ireland (April) from Melfort 2 is characteristic
of the feelings both during and after the Irish failure :
" Who gains time gains life, and therefore the King
should show them all the kindness, all the trust, all the
confidence in the world ; write most affectionately to
them, seem to grant even more than he intends to
perform, but in the meantime, delay. A good reason
of delay of such acts as we cannot grant is, to see them
1 Ripope> wine that has gone bad, drippings of casks.
% Macpherson's Original Papers.
REVIVAL OF JACOBITE HOPES 251
penned and sent him. Such as he can grant, to assure
them of them with all cheerfulness, and brag extremely
of what assistance he will send them, and that they
shall have all content. Naturally they are hot and
unwarie, and not able to brook the present pressure of
the Prince of Orange, as appears by their uneasy
messenger's stories ; that they can hardly be kept in,
consequently if encouraged by the King will break out."
The Quaker, William Penn, had assured James
that if England were invaded from France and Ireland
his supporters would rally round him. 1 All over
England there was a sense of unrest and disquiet.
The Jacobites were forming themselves into organised
companies, especially in the northern counties ; and in
London grew so bold, and had paraded together in
Hyde Park with so aggressive an air, that Mary
noticed them as she was taking her afternoon drive,
and commented on it in a letter to William in Ireland.
Among the leaders of the movement in England were
the Earls of Clarendon and Ailesbury, and Lord
Dartmouth. Henry Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, whose
sister had been James II. 's first wife, was a timorous,
untrustworthy man, but he had been so far honest as
to refuse to take the oath of allegiance to William III.,
which was made compulsory before March ist, 1689,
on pain of being ineligible to vote or sit in either
House. The other two had taken the oaths, but had
no scruple in violating them. Dartmouth, like so
many other men of that time, though he was at heart
attached to the Jacobite cause, had made himself safe
with William. James had no doubt of his loyalty at
the time of his enforced flight, and he says in his
1 Avaux to Louis XIV., June 1689.
252 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Memoirs : " There was no man in whose fidelity the
King had greater confidence than this Lord's, his
obligations to his Prince (if that had been any ty in
those days) were infinite . . . but his loyalty was
worsted in that conflict, and it was the Prince of
Orange's contempt of his service rather than his want
of good-will to serve him that hinder'd my Lord Dart-
mouth from falling in with the current as others did."
Dartmouth had accomplished a good understand-
ing with William by December 1688, for the Prince
of Orange replied on the i6th of that month :
" I am glad to find you continue firm to the Protestant
Religion and Liberties of England, and that you resolve
to dispose the fleet under your command to those ends,
to which not only the fleet, but the army, and the
nation in generall concurr'd." The letter is signed
" Your affectionate friend, G. Prince d'Orange." Yet
Dartmouth could write to James earlier in the
month : " May I never hope to see the face of God if
I study any other thoughts than your Majesty's true
interest. This is a time to try and search the hearts
of all that pretend to be your servants, and those who
have or doe prevaricate with you are the worst of
men." * Such was the standard of honour of that
time, 2 and the men who acted on such principles con-
doned them among themselves. Even Feversham,
writing to Dartmouth on December i4th, says :
" My own heart has been almost breaking. Oh God !
what could make our master desert his kingdom and
his friends. Certainly nobody could be so vilainous as
to hurt his person ; it cannot be the effect of his own
thoughts, but of womanish or timorous councells. . . .
1 Hist. Com. Reports, Dartmouth. 2 Ibid.
REVIVAL OF JACOBITE HOPES 253
God in His infinite mercy restore him to his throne
with comfort again." But he concludes with the
significant words : " I have taken the same measures
with the Prince of Orange that you have done." l
Dartmouth's part in the conspiracy of 1690 was to
furnish all information concerning the fleet that could
be of advantage to the enemy. A more important
Jacobite leader was Viscount Preston, a Scottish peer
who had occupied the position of Secretary of State
under James, and was regarded by all true Jacobites as
holding it still.
The leaders in London were of course in constant
communication with the Court of Saint-Germain, through
the means of secret emissaries. Among these was a
former page of Lady Melfort's, called Fuller. In the
spring of 1690, when the Stuart prospects in London
were at their most hopeful point, Fuller was sent to
London with important letters concealed about him.
He betrayed his employers by taking them straight to
William. For the moment Jacobite hopes were en-
tirely frustrated, while the disaster of Beachy Head, 2
and the fear of a French invasion, caused a reaction in
favour of William. He could afford to be generous ;
but his leniency to those implicated by Fuller's evidence
encouraged a fresh conspiracy later on. The same leaders
took part in it Preston, Clarendon, William Penn the
Quaker, Turner Bishop of Ely, and Dartmouth. As
they were all Protestants, they sought to make terms
with James that should safeguard their civil and
religious liberties. In the first place, they insisted that
James must not give offence to the people, immediately
1 Hist. Com. Reports, Dartmouth.
2 June 30th, the English and Dutch defeated by the French.
254 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
on his arrival, by bestowing office on Catholics. " He
might live a Catholic in devotion, but must reign a
Protestant in government ; that the utmost he could
expect for Catholics was a legal liberty of conscience,
and that the least he must think of for the Protestants
was to put the administration into their hands, who
being at least two hundred to one, had the wealth,
heads and power of the nation on their side." They
advised the retention of at least eight Protestant lords
and gentlemen in his Council at Saint-Germain, as an
earnest of his good intentions. It was essential that he
should come supported by force of French arms, but
" upon these conditions, that the Most Christian King
would engage his word only to assist his Majesty as a
friend and mediator, and not send the offended Prince
back with the ungratefull character of a conqueror."
They put in a plea for their co-religionists in France,
that Louis " would pleas to permit the English
Protestants to have chapels at their own cost " ; and
lastly, James was to publish a declaration that he
would dismiss the forces he brought with him so soon
as his aim should be accomplished. This summary of
the Jacobite proposals is quoted from James's Memoirs ;
he forbears from any comment, though such guarantees
would have been in the highest degree distasteful to
him. Such an apt pupil of the Jesuits would, however,
have found pledges like these as easy to give as to
break when occasion served.
The Jacobites deputed three emissaries to convey
these resolutions to Saint-Germain, and- see what terms
could be made with James. They were Lord Preston,
John Ashton, a faithful and devoted Jacobite, who had
been in Maria d'Este's service when she was on the
REVIVAL OF JACOBITE HOPES 255
throne, and a young man called Elliot, who was not
trusted with the dangerous secret of the enterprise.
The three men started on the last night of the old year
1 690. They had represented themselves to the owner of
a smack they had hired as smugglers, but his suspicions
were aroused, and he gave information to the Govern-
ment. As the smack dropped down the Thames it
was pursued, overtaken, boarded, and the conspirators
were arrested. At this supreme moment Preston
showed himself to be far from possessing the requisite
coolness and courage for the dangerous task he had
undertaken. Fluttered and unnerved, he dropped on
the ground the packet of incriminating letters he
was bearing to Saint-Germain from James's adherents.
Ashton, with ready presence of mind, hastily concealed
it, but it was quickly discovered when the fugitives
were searched. No greater misfortune could have be-
fallen the Jacobite cause than the entire exposure of
all their schemes, and the names of all their leaders, by
the discovery of these papers ; but as they referred
James to Preston for fuller information on every point,
it rested with him still to safeguard his master's cause
to some extent. The letters were, moreover, written in
cipher. Lord Preston had not, however, sufficient
resolution to play the man. " When he had dined well
he resolved he could die heroically, but by next morn-
ing that heat went off, and when he saw death in full
view his heart failed him." l While Preston was fluctu-
ating between the dictates of vanity and cowardice, his
young daughter, who was about the Court, stood one
day in the Queen's presence, looking long and earnestly
at James's portrait in Kensington Palace. Mary asked
1 Burnet.
256 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
her what she was doing, and the girl replied courage-
ously : " I am reflecting how hard it is that my father
should be put to death for loving your father." l She
was to marry a man worthier than her father of her
brave spirit, for long afterwards her husband/ Lord
Derwentwater, lost his head on Tower Hill for support-
ing the claims of James II. 's grandson.
Among the letters found on Ashton were a list of
the English fleet supplied by Dartmouth, notes con-
cerning the project of invasion, and a number of letters
written under assumed names and in an ambiguous
style, though their meaning was not far to seek.
Thus the Bishop of Ely, writing to James under the
name of Mr Redding, answered for the Archbishop of
Canterbury as well as his brother Bishops : " I speak
in the plural because I write my elder brother's senti-
ments as well as my own, and the rest of the family's ;
though lessened in number, yet, if we are not mightily
mistaken, we are growing in our interest, that is in
your's." A letter from Clarendon advises speedy
action on James's part. " The sea will quickly grow
so troublesome, that, unless you dispatch what you
intend for us, you will lose a great opportunity of
advantage. I hope the account he has to give of our
negotiations here with the merchants that deal with us,
especially those that have lately brought us their
custom, 2 will both encourage a larger trade, and excite
the utmost diligence." 3 In another letter James's
brother-in-law was even more explicit : " Now is the
1 Dalrymple.
2 Alluding to the accession of some of the Whig party to the Jacobite
cause.
3 Dalrymple.
REVIVAL OF JACOBITE HOPES 257
time to make large advantages by trading ; the sea
being freer than it has been these two months past, or
we can hope it will be two months hence. It is most
earnestly hoped that this happy opportunity may not be
lost. . . . Opportunities are to be used ; they cannot
be given by men." x Notes in Preston's handwriting im-
plied the disloyalty of the sailors, and in some cases of
their officers, notably of Rear-Admiral Carter at Ports-
mouth ; they disclosed schemes of blocking the export
of coal from Newcastle to London by a fleet from
Scotland, while Plymouth and Portsmouth were to be
commanded by the French navy.
The evidence against Preston and Ashton was ir-
refutable. They were tried, found guilty, and con-
demned to death. Ashton held his tongue and died
like a gentleman. Preston wavered, cringed, and
ignominiously bought his life by a confession which
involved incriminating all his associates. These were
treated with considerable mildness. Clarendon under-
went a short and not rigorous term of imprisonment
in the Tower. Penn and Turner were allowed to
abscond. Dartmouth was sent to the Tower, where
he died shortly afterwards of an apoplectic fit.
James felt deeply the fate of his friends, especially
that of Ashton, " being the first that suffered by a
court of justice for the royal cause, which was a
new subject of grief to the King, for he knew not
what would be the consequence when he found the
law, as well as the sword, turn'd against him ; and
those suffer as traitors who were most distinguished
for their fidelity and loyalty." 2 James adds that
William forbore to take any steps with regard to
1 Dalrymple. 2 Clarke's Life.
258 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
many of those accused by Preston. " What he knew
was sufficient either to be aware of them, or by forgive-
ness and a seeming clemency gain them to his interest,
which method succeeded so well, that whatever senti-
ments those Lords (accused by Preston) might have
had at that time, they proved in effect most bitter
enemies to his Majesty's cause afterwards."
While the trials of Ashton and Preston were pro-
ceeding in England, life at Saint-Germain went on as
usual. Louis XIV. had a New Year's party for James
and Maria. They arrived on Twelfth Night, January
6th (1691), at six o'clock, and spent some time playing
" portique " and " lansquenet." At supper there were
five tables of sixteen covers each. This fe"te was known
in France as "Le jour des rois," the festival that com-
memorated the coming of the Magi or the Three Kings.
At each table one of the guests was " King." Louis
was King at his own table, with the Queen of England
on his right and James on her right. Monseigneur
presided at the second table, with the Princesse de
Conti as queen. Monsieur was King at his own
table. Mademoiselle Dangeau was Queen at Madame's
table, and the Duchesse de Noailles was Queen at the
fifth table, at which Mademoiselle presided. The
young Due de Chartres was at Monseigneur's table,
and six English ladies were present ; while a long
table for less distinguished guests, French and English,
was laid in the billiard-room. The King's orchestra
occupied the two tribunes, and played during supper
" orgues, trompettes, timbales, et Ton criait Vive le
roi ' au musique." l
Intercourse was temporarily interrupted between
1 Dangeau.
REVIVAL OF JACOBITE HOPES 259
Versailles and Saint-Germain by the illness of the
Queen, but later in the month she and James went
severally to call on Madame la Duchesse x after her
accouchement. She had had a daughter a few days
before Christmas. She was a woman of considerable
character, and in the quarrels between the Princesses
took an active part. Monsieur tried to make her
address her sister, Mademoiselle de Blois, as " Madame"
after she had married his son, the Due de Chartres ; but
Madame la Duchesse declined, and insisted on calling
her " Mignonne." As her appearance was such that
this pet name was obviously a sarcasm and drew
ridicule upon her, Monsieur was very angry and com-
plained to Louis, who put a stop to it. It was most
likely she who instigated another escapade, in which
the three sisters went out at night and let off
crackers under Monsieur's window. He again com-
plained to Louis, who was very indignant with them
all, especially Madame de Chartres, who felt his
anger for some time. The other two appeared to be
impenitent. Madame la Duchesse was also suspected
of being the author of songs upon the Duchesse de
Chartres.
A fortnight later James was taken ill with an in-
flammation in his eyes. It was considered necessary to
bleed him, a remedy which was without much effect,
and he was fortunately cured by one of those home-
made specifics, prepared generally from herbs, that
were treasured carefully and passed on from one to
another in those days when doctors knew little more
than their patients. Affections of the eyes seem to
1 Wife of" M. le Due," and daughter of Louis XIV. and Madame de
Montespan.
260 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
have been particularly common. Sir William Temple,
writing to Henry Sidney, recommends a tobacco leaf
thrust tightly up the nostrils as an excellent remedy
against this kind of disease. 1 Maria does not v un-
fortunately, mention the ingredients of this particular
prescription, though she wrote to tell her friends at
Chaillot of her husband's illness :
"To THE REVEREND MOTHER SUPERIOR
OF THE VISITATION. 2
"ST-GERMAIN, nth Feb. 1691.
"It is true, my dear Mother and I say it without
compliment that the time I have been without news
of you and your dear sisters has seemed very long to
me. It is also true that I don't at all like writing,
but I very much like my friends to write to me, and
I have less difficulty in writing to you than to the
majority of people that I know. You can easily
guess the reason, which is not to your disadvantage.
. . . Last week the King had such violent inflamma-
tion in the eyes that he was bled, but that did not
cure him. It was a * water ' of the Fathers of the
Oratory that did the business in two days, and he
is at present, thank God, in perfect health as well as
my son. He has ordered me to give you his com-
pliments, and to tell you that he would be indeed
happy if he were such as you believe him to be, but
he hopes that your prayers will aid him to attain to it.
I have no need to prescribe prayer to you, my dear
mother ; you understand that better than I, and that
1 Blencowe's Sidney, \. 294 : " I never found any thing do mine so
much good as putting a leaf of tobacco into each nostril as soon as you
wake and keep it for an hour, either sitting up in your bed or dressing
yourself."
2 Translation from the Chaillot Letters published by the Roxburghe
Club.
REVIVAL OF JACOBITE HOPES 261
is better in your hands than in mine. . . . Next
Friday is the anniversary of the late King my
brother. I recommend him to your prayers and to
those of your daughters, to whom you will give my
compliments, but such as they may expect from a
heart in which they have very good places. You
cannot doubt, my dear mother, having in it one of
the best. MARIA R."
CHAPTER XIII
THE HOUSEHOLD AT SAINT-GERMAIN
IT was not till after the return from Ireland that James
established his little Court on a permanent footing. In
attempting to reconstruct the household of Saint-
Germain, it will be instructive to examine first the
account James caused to be written of it in his Memoirs,
and afterwards to see how far contemporary evidence
confirms that picture. The Memoir reads as follows:
" The King submitting patiently to his fate began
to think of settling himself at St Germains, and of
modeling his family and his way of living suitable to
the pension of six hundred thousand livres a year, which
he received from the Court of France, and which he
managed with that prudence and frugality as not only
to keep up the form of a Court by maintaining the
greatest part of those officers that usually attend upon
his person in England, but relieved an infinite number
of distresed people, antient or wonded, widdowes and
children of such as had lost their lives in his service ;
so that tho' the salleries or pensions he allowed were
but low, yet scarce any merit ever went without some
reward, and his servants had wherewithal to make a
decent appearance, so that with the help of the guards
(which his Most Christian Majesty appointed to
attend him, as also upon the Queen and Prince) his
262
HOUSEHOLD AT SAINT-GERMAIN 263
Court notwithstanding his exil had still an air and
dignity agreable to that of a Prince, for besides those
of his family and several other loyal persons both
Catholicks and Protestants, who chose to follow his
fortune, there was for the most part such an appearance
of officers of the armie, especially in the winter, as would
have made a stranger forget the King's condition and
have fancyd him and his at Whitehall. . . . There was
no distinction made of persons on account of their
Religion. Protestants were countenanced, cherished
and imployd as much as others ; indeed the laws of the
country would not permit the same privileges as to
public prayers, burials and the like, but the King found
means of mollifying what he could not obtain a total
relaxation of."
This last passage appears like a justification, and
opens up a very disputed question. It is difficult to
decide how much truth there is in the statement that
James's Protestant adherents were neglected and abused
at Saint-Germain. A contemporary writes : " The
English Protestants about that Court do wish them-
selves at home again, for there they are respected as
strangers, but hated as Protestants and looked upon as
spies from England." * It is certain that the Protestant
Lord Chancellor, Herbert, was not permitted to become
a member of the Council, though representations were
made to James on his behalf. And the author of the
curious View of the Court of Saint Germains from 1690
to i695 2 asserts that Protestants, notably Dunfermline,
were denied the rite of Christian burial. But the
author's tone is bitterly inimical to James, and the
whole document is virulently polemical. How far
1 A Short and True Relation, etc., 1694.
2 See Macaulay, who assumes the truth of this document.
264 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
James was actually inclined to carry principles of
toleration, supposing he had been restored to the throne,
may be gathered from the paper drawn up by him in
1692, and left to be delivered to his son after his
death. 1
By far the most circumstantial account of the Court
of Saint-Germain was written by Anthony Hamilton
in the preface to Zeneyde. He admits to having had
a fit of spleen at the time, but deducting something for
exaggeration, and making every allowance for the im-
pressionable mood of the writer, it bears the impress of
truth. " The Chateau," he says, " has so little accom-
modation that with the exception of thirty or forty
priests and Jesuits the rest of us have to find lodgingout-
side. It is true," he continues, " that the view is en-
chanting, the works wonderful, and the air so exhilarating
that one could make four meals a day, though we have
not the wherewithal to provide half that amount, and
we should be really better off in some marshy place,
where our senses and appetites were subdued by being
always enveloped in a thick fog. As for the men here,
we can hardly muster enough merit to furnish the
Prince of Wales' s household ; for the rest, those whom
example has not brought to play the hypocrite, they
are thought little of here whatever their reputation
elsewhere.
" Our occupations have all the air of being very serious
and Christian, for this is no place for those who do
not either spend half the day in prayer, or pretend to
do so. Common misfortune, which usually brings its
victims together, seems only to have sown discord and
bitterness among us ; the friendship which we profess
1 " For my son the Prince of Wales," Clarke, ii. 619 et seq.
HOUSEHOLD AT SAINT-GERMAIN 265
for one another is always simulated, the hatred and
envy that we conceal is always sincere. Agreeable
flirtation, even love-making is severely proscribed in
this melancholy Court, though in the whole of Cupid's
realm there is nought more beautiful, more dangerous,
more inspiring than are to be found there."
The splenetic courtier who had known Whitehall at
its gayest goes on to describe a day at Saint-Germain.
Lost in gloomy thoughts, he sought refuge in the
gardens. But it was a fete day, and the townspeople
had possessed themselves of every walk, with their
horrid little children, and husbands uglier than their
wives. He took flight to the terrace, and than that
there is no more superb and spacious promenade in the
world ; but here he finds a Jesuit father, exciting him-
self in fervent exhortations for the conversion of two
English soldiers, trying in vain to convince them in
Italian of the damnation of English Protestants. At
last he thinks himself safe from molestation, when he
sees approaching a widow whose husband has recently
died of apoplexy in the King's service, and who ever
since has swept the castle corridors and the garden walks
with her black serge tail, demanding a pension from
everyone she meets. She was making straight for
him, when Hamilton, selecting the least precipitous
spot, flung himself over the terrace and sought safety
below.
This, in a free and abridged translation, is the picture
that Hamilton left of Saint-Germain, and we think it
cannot be entirely explained away. It is true that he left
much verse in praise of one and another of its inmates,
for he always admits the claims of the Court ladies to
distinction "la troupe adorable de nos nymphes de
266 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Saint-Germain," he calls them in a letter to Berwick ;
and elsewhere he declares that the " most difficult taste
would be gratified among our ladies, in whose small
circle beauty, charm, wit and wisdom shine in all their
brilliancy."
There are in existence two manuscript lists of the
residents at the Chateau in James's lifetime. The first
of these is taken from among the Nairne Papers in the
Bodleian Library, and was evidently made comparatively
soon after James's arrival there ; and the second was
drawn up towards the end of his life for Matthew
Prior, Secretary of Legation at Paris under the Earl
of Portland when he went as ambassador to France in
1698, after the Treaty of Ryswick. 1 It was made
for the information of the English Government, partly
with a view to ascertaining James's resources, as is
shown by the insertion of the salaries in the margin.
These may look well on paper, but it appears from the
Queen's letters that money was not always forthcoming
to pay the royal dependents. If these two lists are
compared it will be seen that for the most part the
residents at the Chateau changed little during James's
lifetime ; they also dispose of Anthony Hamilton's
complaint that there were forty priests under its roof.
There do not appear to have been much more than
half a dozen. Prior's list speaks of "a great many
chaplains and servants below stairs," but these can
hardly have amounted to thirty.
1 This list is preserved in the Welbeck Archives, and is here
inserted by kind permission of the Duke of Portland.
HOUSEHOLD AT SAINT-GERMAIN 267
A LlSTE OF SUCH AS LODGE IN Y E CASTLE 1 (NAIRNE)
One paire of Stairs
Mr Controller Skelton.
Dutchesse of Tyrconnel.
Mr Hide.
Lord Chamberlain.
Duke of Berwick.
Lady D' Almond.
Earle of Melfort
Count Molza.
Mr Carill.
Mr Turene.
Mrs Turene.
Lady Sophia Buckly (Bulkley).
Lady Walgrave.
Mr Conquest.
S r Jo. Sparow.
Lord Dumbarton.
Lady Governess.
Two paire of Stairs
| Lady Strickland.
Three paire of Stairs
Mr
and
Kings
Lavery ana y
necessary woman.
Father Warner.
Marquis D'Albeville.
Mr du Puis and the Lady
Strickland's servants.
Lady Governesses Servants.
Mr Baltazar.
Mr London.
Mrs Walgrave.
(f. 287".)
Mr Brown.
Mr Graham.
Mr Jo. Stafford.
Officers of y e Guard.
Father White.
Mr Benefield.
S r Will. Walgrave.
Count Lauzun.
Mr Biddulph.
Mr Leyburn.
4 paire of Stairs
Mr Vice chamberlain Strick-
land.
Mr Inese y e priest.
Father Gaily.
Mrs de Lauter.
Mrs Chappell.
Mrs Roge.
Lady Lucy Herbert.
Fa. Ruga.
Fa. Sabran.
S r Edward Hales.
1 In the index this list is described as follows : "List of who lodg'd
L y e Castle of St G ." No date. [MS. Carte, 208 : Nairne
Papers, vol. i., 1692-1718.] (f. 287.)
268 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
5 paire of Stairs
Mr Buckingham.
Mr Noble.
Mr Cadrington and the princes
necessary woman,
the Kings Barber.
Mr Beaulieu.
Mrs Sims.
Mr du Four.
Mess. Ronchi priests.
Mr Ronchi Gentleman Usher.
Ground rooms
Mr Martinash.
Mr Atkins y e Cook in a room
Lent him by y e Concierge.
Cap ne Travanian.
Mr Harrison.
Mr francis Stafford.
Mr Inese y e Gentleman Usher.
Mr La Croix.
Mr Gothard.
the Kings Wardrobe.
Mr Vice Chamberlain Porter.
Cap ne Macdonnel.
Mr Labady.
Mr Riva.
Mr Crane.
S r Roger Strickland.
Mr des Arthur.
Mr Nevil.
Madame Nurse.
[Endorsement'} A Liste of all those that Lodge in the Castle.
The following paper was given by Matthew Prior
to the Earl of Portland. It is in the handwriting of
Prior's secretary, Adrian Drift, who has endorsed it :
" An Ace* of v 6 Late King James's Household etc.,
at St Germains" [The words in italics are added
by the second Duke of Portland, who went through
his grandfather's papers.] To this Prior has added,
" to be given to my lord."
The Lord Chancel 1 " Herbert
liv.
6000 The Lord Middleton and
6000 Mr Carrol
5000 S r Richard Naigle .
Chancellour.
1 Secret"* of State.
Secretary of Warre.
HOUSEHOLD AT SAINT-GERMAIN 269
pist.
400 Mr James Porter . . . Vice Chamb n to y e
King,
pist.
400 Mr Robert Strickland . . Vice Chamb n to y e
Queen.
fad? DaVld F1 yd ' TreVani n ' ') Grooms of y Bed
Slingsbee, Beedle MacDonnel . j Chamb r .
1 200 Bagnel, Franc Stafford . . | Gent. Men Ush to
Mr Carney, Vivel and Hatcher j y c King.
Mr Crane and Mr Barry . . Gent. Men Ush rs to
y e Queen.
Mr Conquest, S r Will m Ellis . Comiss" of y e Green
Cloth,
pist.
400 Mr John Stafford . . . Comptroler.
Mr Richard Hamilton . . Master of y e Ward-
robe.
Mr Labadie, Mr Lavarie . . Valetts de Chambre.
My Lady TyrconneL The Lady\ T ,. r , r, ,
j j j ' J I L,adies or the rSed
Dalmont, and Lady Sophia > p, ,
Buckley . . . .)
To the Prince
liv. The Ld Perth, formerly Chancel j Gouyern
1500 of Scotland and Mr Ployden . j
Mr Leyburn and Mr Vivel . Grooms of y e Bed
Cham r .
Depuis gentleman Usher . \ o
Capt. Magimis, young Beedle . j
and Mr Buckingham.
Mr Barkenhead and Mr Parry . Clerks of the Kitchin.
The Ld Griffen is a Volontiere \
sometimes there and as often V Volontiere.
at Versailles . . . . J
A great many Chaplains and
Servants below staires.
[The sums in the margin are added by Prior.]
270 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
When James reorganised his household in 1692, the
Lord Chamberlain was William Herbert, Earl of Powis,
to whom James gave the tide of Duke. He had been
regarded as the head of the English Roman Catholic
aristocracy, and was one of the four Catholics who had
been made Privy Councillors in I686. 1 He was a
respectable man of moderate views, and had accompanied
James to Ireland. His wife was among the most
faithful of the Queen's ladies, and was greatly in her
confidence. Burnet describes her as " a zealous
managing Papist " ; and the attribute of " managing "
is confirmed by another interested observer D'Avaux.
Colonel Porter, who had been first dispatched to
Ireland, where he hardly saw James, 2 and sent on a
mission to the Pope afterwards, held the office of Vice-
Chamberlain.
The Earls of Dumbarton and Abercorn were Lords
of the Bedchamber. Dumbarton was so much trusted
by the King that he was selected to accompany him
alone on one of his periodical visits to the monastery
of La Trappe.
Captains MacDonald, Beadles, Stafford, and
Trevanion, who had sailed the boat in which James
escaped to France, were Grooms of the Bedchamber.
Fergus Graham was Privy Purse. This was probably
Lord Preston's brother, who with him was concerned
in the conspiracy to restore James, but succeeded in
making good his escape. 3
Edward Sheldon and Sir James Sparrow, of the
Board of Green Cloth.
Robert Strickland was Vice-Chamberlain to the
Queen.
1 Powis, Bellayse, Arundell, Dover. 2 D'Avaux. 3 Burnet, 564-5.
HOUSEHOLD AT SAINT-GERMAIN 271
A sort of Cabinet Council was formed of the five
following :
Mr Brown, brother of Lord Montacute, was
Secretary of State for England.
Sir Robert Neagle or Nagle was Secretary of State
for Ireland. He had formerly been Attorney-General
for that country, and had played an important part in
James's administration there.
Father Innes, President of the Scotch College in
Paris, and supposed author of part of the abridged Life
of James II., was Secretary for Scotland.
John Caryll of Lady-Holt was Secretary to the
Queen. 1
John Stafford, formerly Spanish envoy, was Con-
troller of the Court, a post that was also filled by
Colonel Skelton.
Sir William Walgrave, the Prince's London
physician, accompanied the Court abroad in the same'
capacity.
There were besides other followers of the Stuart
fortunes who occupied some position at their Court :
Sir Roger Strickland, formerly vice-admiral of the
English fleet, and Lady Strickland.
Sir Edward Hales, whose unpopularity had involved
James in so great difficulties during his first flight, and
two others who had figured on that occasion, Labadie
and Biddulph.
Leyburn, the Queen's equerry, and Dufour, her
page, together with the faithful Riva, were with her at
Saint-Germain.
Among the priests were Father Saunders, author of
a biography of James, and an Italian, Don Giacomo
1 See West-Grinstead et les Caryll, Max. de Trenqualeon.
272 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Ronchi, who has left considerable correspondence,
which is still preserved in the archives of the House
of Este.
The Duchess of Powis continued to fulfil the duties
of governess to the Prince of Wales after the removal
of the Court to Saint-Germain, with Lady Strickland as
deputy governess. She was succeeded in this office on
her death by Lady Errol. When the Prince grew
older, the Earl, afterwards Duke, of Perth became
his governor.
About some of the persons figuring in these lists
little is known ; others had played important parts in
public affairs before the Revolution ; others, again, are
interesting not so much for what they did as for what
they were. Of such was John Caryll, secretary to the
Queen. His letters to her have not been preserved,
unless they are among the un-catalogued Stuart papers
at Windsor ; but sometimes letters written to a person
are as much an indication of their character as letters
written by them. Maria's letters to Caryll show that
he must have been discreet, sympathetic, and of a
chivalrous and devoted loyalty.
In some of them there is a tone of almost playful
tenderness that is absent from all her other corre-
spondence. She reproaches him for delaying to write
frequently enough to her, during a few days' absence ;
assures him though the intimate tone of her letters
makes all such assurances superfluous of her unalter-
able confidence. There is less of the nun, less of the
Queen, and more of the woman in these letters of
Maria's than in any other memorial preserved of her,
for she writes spontaneously, and with a conviction so
assured that every detail of her daily life will be of
JOHN CARYLL.
From " West tgHnstead et les-Carylls," by M. de Trenqualeon.
HOUSEHOLD AT SAINT-GERMAIN 273
interest to her correspondent that she is unconscious
of her own confidence. These invaluable letters, to-
gether with a great mass of other correspondence of
all kinds, accounts and literary papers, belonging to
the Carylls, were bought by Mr Charles Wentworth
Dilke and rescued from destruction in circumstances
the secret of which has never been divulged. 1 They
were presented to the British Museum by his grandson,
the late Sir Charles Dilke, and form one of the most
valuable sources of information concerning the Stuart
exile. John Caryll, afterwards titular Lord Caryll, was
born in 1625. He came of an old Roman Catholic
family who had been settled at Lady-Holt at West
Harting since the sixteenth century. He was a man
of literary tastes, and wrote several plays of a mediocre
kind : among his papers are some translations, as well
as lengthy religious essays after the fashion of the time.
His plays were performed, for Pepys mentions having
seen The English Princess, or, The Death of Richard III.
acted in 1667 at the Duke of York's Theatre, and
describes it as " a most sad and melancholy play, and
pretty good but nothing eminent in it."
Caryll was imprisoned in the Tower during the
agitation occasioned by the Popish Plot, but was
released on bail. He became secretary to the Queen
on his return from a mission to Rome on which he
had been sent when James succeeded to the throne.
He accompanied the royal family to Saint-Germain at
the Revolution, dying there in 1711. He was buried
in the church of the English Dominicans at Paris.
His estates were not confiscated till it was discovered
that he had furnished money to Barclay for his plot in
1 Papers of a Critic, C. W. Dilke, vol. i., Essay on Pope.
18
274 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
1696. They were then sequestrated, and Caryll was
attainted. His nephew redeemed the estates for 6000
from Lord Cutts, who had obtained the reversion of
them. It was the nephew not Caryll himself, as is
stated by Macaulay who was the friend of Pope, 1 and
whose name appears in the Rape of the Lock. 2 Pope,
who wrote an epitaph on Caryll and sent it to his
nephew, afterwards utilised the same lines on the
death of Sir William Trumbull. 3 They begin as
follows :
" A manly form, a bold yet modest mind,
Sincere though prudent, constant yet resigned,
Honour unchanged, a principal profest,
Fixed to one side but mod'rate to the rest,
An honest courtier, and a patriot too,
Just to his Prince and to his country true."
James Drummond, Earl of Perth, who was made
governor of the Prince of Wales, was highly valued
by James, and consulted both by him and Louis on
current English affairs. He did not, however, take
refuge at Saint-Germain till 1698, for after the Revolu-
tion he was imprisoned in Stirling Castle till 1693, and
subsequently spent two years in Rome. Perth had
taken a prominent part in public affairs before the
Revolution, and held the office of Chancellor of Scotland.
A contemporary says of him that " he was passionately
proud, told a story very prettily, was of a middle
1 See Elwyn's Pope,
2 " What dire offence from am'rous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
I sing. This verse to Caryl, muse ! is due,
This ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view.
Slight is the subject, but not so the Praise,
If she inspire, and he approve my Lays."
3 Secretary of State under William III.
HOUSEHOLD AT SAINT-GERMAIN 275
stature with a quick look, a brown complexion " ; l and
the Earl of Lauderdale, who knew him well, describes
him as " busy and spiteful." Perth, together with his
brother John Drummond, Lord Melfort, had become
Roman Catholics. Perth had made many professions
of his attachment to " the Church of England, of which
I hope to live and die a member," and his apostasy, as
well as his brother's, was too obviously due to interested
motives. They reported themselves to have been
converted to Popery by the papers said to have been
found by James in Charles II. 's strong-box after his
death, and were subsequently very well received at
Whitehall. Perth took an active part in the compli-
cated public affairs of Scotland, where he incurred great
unpopularity. He supported James in his attempt to
introduce Roman Catholicism into Scotland, an attempt
which resulted in riots in Edinburgh. He was still
more detested for his cruelty. The custom lingered
in Scotland of extorting evidence by torture, after it
had disappeared elsewhere. " When any are to be
stuck in the boots it is done in the presence of the
Council, and upon that occasion almost all offer to run
away. The sight is so dreadful that without an order
restraining such a number to stay, the Board would be
forsaken." But Perth added to the boot, and invented
the thumb-screw " that screwed the thumbs with so
exquisite a torment " that the most recalcitrant witness
succumbed to it. Yet "Lord Perth," says Burnet,
"... for about ten years together seemed to me
incapable of an immoral or cruel action ; ... in this
I saw how ambition could corrupt one of the best
tempered men I had ever known." 2
1 Douglass's Peerage. 2 History of His Own Times.
276 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
When the news of James's flight reached Scotland,
Perth at once attempted to follow his example. He
fared, however, considerably worse than his master
had done, and he had not had the forethought, like
James, to provide beforehand for the safety of his wife.
She had been a widow, and his first cousin, and he
married her within a few weeks of his wife's death.
She was going to have a child at the time of their flight,
but was obliged to ride twenty-four miles through deep
snow over the Ochil Hills. Husband and wife
succeeded in embarking, and had got safely off, when
the news of their escape was noised abroad ; they were
overtaken, brought back, and imprisoned. Perth wrote
an account of their capture from Stirling Castle, where
he was confined, to his " dearest sister," Lady Errol.
His captors, he says, " came aboard like so many
furies and asked for me ; they searched long, and had
it not been for the falsehood of one of our men they
had gone off" again, but one of our people betrayed me,
and so they broke open the place where we were hid
with hatchets ; my wife would fain have got out first
to have exposed herself to their fury, but I pulled her
back, and then they pulled me out, threw off my hat
and periwig, and clapt their bayonets to my breast, for
a great while keeping me in the expectation of being
murdered. I cry'd to them (for they were all clamorous
at once) to save my life, which at last they said they
would do, but they pulled us up out of the cabine, and
so soon as my wife could get on her cloaths, (for she
was in men's disguise) they forced us into the boat.
By this time it was night, and we within 3 miles of
the Bass, so that to have sailed two hours sooner had
preserved us. They began to smoak tobacco, and
HOUSEHOLD AT SAINT-GERMAIN 277
speak filthy language beside my wife so soon as ever
we were into the boat, and used us with all the barbarity
Turks could have done, keeping my wife 5 hours
without any shoes or anything on her head. And
having rode 24 miles the day before, being with child,
you may judge if the condition she is now in, be not
bad enough." They were put ashore at Kirkcaldy and
imprisoned in the tolbooth, where, says Perth, " the
hole we lay into was cold, strait, and ill-aired. The bed
so bad we could not lye on it." Here they were in some
danger of being lynched by the mob, or Perth thought
so ; and after his removal to Stirling Castle, where he
was closely guarded, he says again : " The rabble arose
and would tear me to pieces " ; and he tells Melfort :
" A centinell stands at my door from 9 at night until
the same hour in the morning, who would not the
other night permitt me to call for help to my wife,
though she was like to dye of a violent colique." Perth
confidently expected his trial and death, and he writes
with every appearance of sincerity : " Now I am under
the Great Phisitian's hand, and I can say with joy to
Him, Burn, cutt, administer bitter things, provided all
my sufferings be here ; yet, Lord, let me dye in the
agony of suffering, amidst torture and disgrace, provided
it can either advance Thy honour, the great interest of
Thy Holy Church or the salvation of my own soul, or
that of any other."
John Drummond, first Earl and titular Duke of
Melfort, Perth's brother, who after his return from his
mission to Rome became James's principal adviser,
was not less ambitious, indiscreet, and unscrupulous.
He was also a man of great personal attractiveness :
" very handsome and a fine dancer, a well-bred gentle-
278 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
man, very ambitious, with abundance of lively sense,
understood the belle lettres, was very proud, not able
to bear a rival in business, tall, black, and thin, with a
stoop in the shoulders." The ineptitude of his
counsels had been shown in Ireland it had been
shown before, and it was to be shown again ; but in
spite of the disaster which his advice always brought on
the King, his influence was never sensibly diminished.
He had escaped to France at the beginning of the
Revolution, and was joined there by his wife and child.
His blunders in the Irish expedition have already been
recounted, as well as his unpopularity, which, in
D'Avaux's venomous phrase, was such that " he was
afraid to show his face in Dublin, and would have to
leave by night." It is perhaps worthy of passing
notice that in the interval before his embassy to Rome
he endeavoured to retaliate on Tyrconnel by writing
to James from France : " There is one other thing if
it could be effectual were of infinite use which is the
getting the Duchess of Tyrconnel for her health to
come into France. I did not know she had been so
well known here as she is ; but the terms they give her,
and which for your service, I may repeat unto you is, that
she has * Tame la plus noire qui se puisse concevoir.'
I think it would help to keep that peace, so necessary
for you, and prevent that caballing humour which has
very ill effects." He also has a thrust at D'Avaux,
having heard that M. de Lauzun is to go over, " and
I am afraid that he and the ambassador will not agree
long together. This will draw in my lady and con-
sequently my Lord Tyrconnel, and then will be a war
in your Court, which I fled hither to shun."
James's supporters gradually became divided into two
HOUSEHOLD AT SAINT-GERMAIN 279
camps of moderates and extremists, or compounders
and non-compounders, as the party opposed to all com-
promise were called. Melfort was naturally on the side
of the latter, who were for the most part Catholics, and
advocated an absolute monarchy and an unconditional
restoration. The compounders had the wisdom to see
that the restoration of James was only practicable on
the basis of a general amnesty and the safeguarding of
civil and religious liberties. The non-compounders
were in the highest favour at Saint-Germain, and it
was against James's own inclinations that, partly by
advice from Versailles, he was eventually induced to
supersede Melfort by Lord Middleton.
Charles, Earl of Middleton, was no stranger to Saint-
Germain. He had been brought up at the exiled
Court of Charles II., and was made Secretary of State
by him after his accession. Middleton, a " black man
of moderate stature and sanguine complexion," was
able and popular. He was distinguished by his ability
and integrity. He was besides consistently in favour of
moderate counsels, and had opposed James's indiscreet
religious zeal. Though he had married a Catholic
wife, Lady Catharine Brudenel, the beautiful daughter
of the Earl of Cardigan, he had remained steadfast to
Protestantism in spite of all James's efforts to convert
him. "A new light," he said, "never comes into a
head but by a crack in the tiling." Burnet describes
him as "a man of a generous temper, but without
much religion, well learned, of a good judgement, and
a lively aprehension." He was always steadfast in his
loyalty to James, though his known abilities could
easily have gained him office under William. He
remained in England till 1692, though his wife and
280 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
children had already gone to Saint-Germain, and he
had been arrested and sent to the Tower, when it was
believed that an invasion from France was imminent.
He was at first made joint Secretary with Melfort,
whom he succeeded later in ousting from James's
counsels.
James's Court was not without its lighter side. It
N had its poets and painters. Mignard, Rigaud, and
Largilliere painted other portraits of the royal family
besides those which figure in the inventories of Chaillot.
Melfort had a fine taste in pictures, and a not incon-
siderable gallery at his house in the Rue des Petits-
Augustins at Paris, where Lauzun's h6tel also stood.
The most brilliant of this little society was, of course,
Anthony Hamilton, whose denunciation of the Court's
accommodation and whose panegyrics on its ladies
have already been quoted.
Lady Middleton and Lady Melfort were both
famous for their beauty, and the former was declared
by Saint-Simon to have "pour le moins, autant
d'esprit que son mari." The beautiful Comtesse de
Gramont was a frequent visitor at Saint-Germain.
Of the lady who was the wife of Patrick Sarsfield, Earl
of Lucan, and who, after his death in 1695, married the
Duke of Berwick, the critical Saint-Simon says she was
" une tres aimable femme, belle, touchante, et faite a
peindre, et qui reussit fort bien a la cour de Saint-
Germain." She only survived the marriage three years,
however, and after her death Berwick married Anne
Bulkeley, a daughter of one of Maria d'Este's former
maids of honour, Lady Sophia Bulkeley. Anthony
Hamilton immortalised her under the name of Nanette in
Zeneyde. Many Irish beauties came to the Court when
HOUSEHOLD AT SAINT-GERMAIN 281
the fall of Limerick and the treaty which followed it
flung into the dust the last hopes of Ireland, and drew
from her shores thousands of her bravest men to
self-chosen exile. Tyrconnel died, a loyal soldier to
the last, before Limerick fell. His wife, the Duchess
of Tyrconnel, so hated by Melfort, came to Saint-
Germain, but she returned to Ireland to die. 1
Gradually there grew up at the melancholy old
chateau a group of a younger generation who hardly
remembered any other home than that of exile. Lady
Middleton had two sons and three daughters, one
of whom inherited her mother's beauty. Hamilton
apostrophises her as
" La fraiche et brillante Middleton
Que 1'amour prenait pour 1'aurore " ;
while the Duchess of Perth was
" Digne de 1'amour d'un epoux
Que tout le monde honore :
Son merite est digne de vous
Et sa naissance encore.
Tant que le soleil brillera
Dans la voute azuree,
Illustre Perth, on vous verra
Parmi nous honored."
Spies and adventurers came and went constantly,
people often of small credit, to whom James was wont
to lend too ready an ear.
The French harboured no delusions about James's
Irish campaign. Paris was full of popular songs on
1 She died a very old lady in the Convent for Poor Clares which
she founded in Dublin (Walpole).
282 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
the subject. Madame reports a conversation that he
had with one of her household :
" The King of England is not very * viff en repliques.'
It is just as well sometimes that he keeps quiet* but
I must all the same repeat to you the conversa-
tion that he had with my chevalier cThonneur. Sire,'
said M. de la Rongere, 'what became of the
Frenchmen who were with your Majesty ? ' (in Ireland).
4 1 don't know anything about them,' replied the King.
4 How is that ? ' said La Rongere : * Your Majesty
knows nothing about them and they were not with
you ! ' * Pardon me,' said the King, ' I am going to
tell you. The Prince of Orange arrived with 40,000
men, I only had half that number ; he had 40 cannon,
I only had 16. I saw that he drew his right wing
towards Dublin, and that he was going to cut me off,
and I should not have been able to come back. On
that I came away and am come here.' * But,' said La
Rongere, not perhaps without malice, * they talk
of some bridge that your Majesty did not guard :
apparently you had no need to do so.' ' Oh, as for
the bridge,' replied James innocently, c I had them
very well guarded, but they brought up men and
cannon, and the cannon made the troops that I had
put there retire, and the Prince of Orange passed
them.' '
In another of her letters Madame mentions that she
has enclosed some songs of the moment, " not precisely
eulogistic for the good King of England." She
regarded James with a kind of indulgent pity ; writing
from Saint-Cloud she says :
" Last Thursday we had the poor King and Queen
here. She was very serious, while he was very gay.
I heard in the carriage a conversation which very much
amused me. Monsieur, according to his custom, was
ELISABETH CffjIKLOTE PAL-^TIN.
utc-e Palatin
ctur Je {fmfnre SO. e-t~ rtfe
-e. finite Priftce-sfe. ff-JV<?'e
abjuration de Son
^watte de JL trui
" MADAME."
HOUSEHOLD AT SAINT-GERMAIN 283
talking of his jewels and his furniture, and ended by say-
ing to the King: "And your Majesty, who had so much
money, have you built and furnished some beautiful
house ? ' * Money ! ' said the Queen, f he hadn't any; I
never saw a sou ! ' The King replied (sententiously) :
* I had some, but I did not buy precious stones or
furniture with it, nor did I have houses fitted up. I
spent it all in building fine vessels, casting cannons, and
making muskets.' * Yes,' said the Queen, { much use
that has been to you, and all that is now used against
you.' Here," concludes Madame, "the conversation
dropped."
Madame evidently thought that James was kept in
strict order by his wife in later years, for on one
occasion, when he was hunting with her at Marly,
Maria following in a caleche with Louis, she writes that
the Queen " would be very glad, if her husband never
saw anyone better-looking than I am ; she might then
have a tranquil mind, and be free from jealousy, while
the good King James would not get so many boxes on
the ear." She goes on to repeat some servants' gossip
about James in Dublin, where " il avait deux affreux
laiderons avec lesquelles il etait toujours fourre, . . ."
thereby fulfilling the prophecy of Charles II. which
Madame de Portsmouth quoted : " You may be sure
you will see my brother, when he is King, lose his
crown from religious zeal, and his soul for 'villaines
guenipes.' '
And she finally sums up her impressions as follows :
"To tell the truth, our good King James is a brave
and honest man, but the silliest I have ever seen in my
life ; a child of seven would not make such crass mis-
takes as he does. Piety makes people outrageously
stupid (I'abetit jnormdmeni)."
28 4 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
There does not exist any record among the " Archives of France "
in Paris of the orders given by Louis XIV. for the furnishing and
setting in order of the Chateau of Saint-Germain for the reception of
the King and Queen of England. M. Dunoyer, the authority for the
period, at the " Archives Nationale," concludes from this fact that it
was furnished from other royal houses. It is to his kindness that the
authors are indebted for the following list of expenditure on Saint-
Germain, from original documents in his care. What follows is an
exact reproduction of a page of the accounts, as they were passed by
the Minister of Finance, Colbert, in whose handwriting are the
successive notes of approval, " bon" in the margin. The second list
is from a r/sumJ of the whole subject published by M. Jules Guiffrey.
1689. Menuiserie
Janvier.
1 6 Bon. A Francois Millot, menuisier, XV1, a compte
des tables de cuisine et armoires qu'il a
livrs au chateau de St Germain en Laije
aux endrepreneurs occupez par le Roy et
la Reyne d' Angleterre . . . . 1 500 1.
30 aluy, 1111 1. sur le dit, cy .... 400!.
Fdvrier.
13 Bon. aluy, IIII C 1. sur le dit, cy .... 400!.
27 Bon. a luy 11 1. sur le dit, cy 200 1.
May.
10 Bon. a luy III C 1. sur le dit, cy .... 300!.
22 a luy, 11 1. XXV 1 VII s pour avec les 2800 cy
dessus faire le parfait payement de
307! 57 s a quoy montent les diets ouvrages 275!. 75.
Aoust.
14 Bon. Aluy, II I c l. sur les reparations au chateau, cy 300!.
27 Bon. A luy, II1. sur le dites, cy .... 200!.
(Archives Nationales, Serie O\ registre 2170, folio 449.)
1689. Serrurerie
Janvier.
30 Bon. Joseph Rouille, serrurier VL 1 , a compte du
gros fer qu'il a fourni aux nouveaux bati-
mens de la cour des cuisines et de la
serrurerie qu'il a aussi fournis au dit
chateau pour les appartemens occupe"s
par le Roy et la Reyne d' Angleterre, cy 550 1.
Fevrier.
13 Bon. a luy, II I PL 1 sur le dit, cy .... 450!.
27 Bon. a luy, CL 1 sur le dit, cy 150!.
HOUSEHOLD AT SAINT-GERMAIN 285
Avril.
24 Bon. a luy, IPL 1 sur le dit, cy .... 250!.
Juillet.
3 Bon. a luy, II cl sur le dit, cy 200 1.
17 Bon. a luy, C xxl X 8 pour avec iSoo 1 a lui ordonneez
scavoir 200 le 26 X bre .... 1688 et ce
que dessus fera le parfait paiement de
1 92 1 1 i o 8 a quoi montent les diets
ouvrages et reparations, cy . . . 121 1. ros.
Aoust.
14 Bon. A luy, III1. sur les gros fers et ferrures qu'il
a fourni et reparees au diet . . . 300 1.
28 Bon. A luy, CL 1 sur le diet, cy .... 150!.
Octobre.
23 Bon. A luy, II1. sur le diet, cy .... 200 1.
Novembre.
6 Bon. A luy, II1. sur le diet, cy .... 200 1.
Decembre.
1 8 Bon. A luy, II C 1. sur le diet, cy .... 200 1.
{Archives Nationales, Strie 1 , registre 2i7O,fotio 451.)
1689. Dtpenses extraordinaires de St Germain
Juin.
5 Bon. Mathieu Lambert fayancier LXXV IPX 8 pour
son payement de 31 pots de fayance de
differentes grandeurs par luy fournis
pour mettre des fleurs dans 1'apparte-
ment de la Reyne d'Angleterre au
chateau de St Germain, cy . . . 77 1. ros.
Octobre.
23 Bon. Aux nommes Constillier jardiniers du Val,
IPXXV 1 pour le port des fruits et fleurs
qu'ils ont ported a la reyne d'Angleterre
a St Germain pendant les mois de May,
Juin, Juillet, Aoust, et Septembre de la
presente ann^e, cy 22 5 1.
{Archives Nationales, Se~rie O 1 , registre 2170, fotw 467.)
COMPTES DES BATIMENTS DU Roi sous LE REGNE
DE Louis XIV., tome iii., 1688-1695, publides par Jules Guiffrey
ST GERMAIN, 1689
Menuiserie
1 6 janvier-22 mai : a Francois Millot, menuisier, parfait payement
des tables de cuisine et armoires qu'il a livrez au chasteau de
286 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
St Germain aux endroits occupez par le Roy et la Reyne
d'Angleterre (6 p.). 3O75H. 1 os. yd.
10 avril-27 aoust: a luy, pour reparations de menuiserie dans le
passage de Pappartement du Roy et autres endroits du d. chasteau
(3 p.). 53IH. 33. iid.
Serrurene
30 janvier-17 juillet : a Joseph Rouille, serrurier, parfait payement de
IQ2IH. IDS. a quoy montent les gros fers qu'il a fournis aux
nouveaux bastimens de la cour des cuisines et de la ferrure qu'il a
aussi fourni au d. chasteau pour les appartemens occupez par le
Roy et la Reyne d'Angleterre (6 p.). I72IH. IDS.
14 aoust- 1 8 decembre : a luy, sur les gros fers et serrures qu'il a
fourni et repar6 au d. chasteau (5 p.). 105011.
Plomberie
22 may: a Jaques Lucas, plombier, parfait payement de H33H.
143. $d. a quoy montent 28343 livres de plomb qu'il a mis en
ceuvre et livre au nouveau bastiment de la cour des cuisines.
633H. 143. 5d.
Peinture
3 juillet : a Louis Poisson, peintre, a compte des ouvrages de dorure
et de peinture en blanc qu'il a fait aux oratoires de 1'appartement
de la Reyne, au d. chasteau de St Germain. IOOH.
Dtpensts extraordinaires de St Germain
5 juin : a Mathieu Lambert, fayancier, pour 31 pots de fayances de
differentes grandeurs, par luy fournis pour mettre des fleurs dans
1'appartement de la Reyne d'Angleterre. 77H. IDS.
23 octobre : aux nommez Constillier, jardiniers du Val, pour les fruits
et fleurs qu'ils ont portez a la Reyne d'Angleterre, pendant les
mois de may, juin, juillet, aoust, et septembre de la pre"sente anne"e.
225H.
Ouvriers d joumtes
1 6 Janvier : aux ouvriers qui ont travaille a nettoyer et mettre en
couleur les planchers des appartemens occupez par le Roy et les
Reyne d'Angleterre au d. chasteau de St Germain.
31 IH. I2S. 6d.
a ceux qui ont travaille a remplir de glace les quatre nouvelles
glacieres de St Germain et celle du Val. 122711. 143.
St Germain
19 mars-24 septembre : a Jaques Barbier, magon, a compte des
reparations de ma$onnerie qu'il a fait en la de*pendance du
chasteau de Saint-Germain (9 p.) (pieces). I3OOH.
1 " H " instead of / for " livres " in the accounts.
HOUSEHOLD AT SAINT-GERMAIN 287
19 novembre : a luy, pour retablissement aux potagers, astres de
cheminees et au carreau de plusieurs planchers des offices et
passages du chasteau. IJH.
12 fevrier : a Jaques Maziere et Pierre Bergeron entrepreneurs, parfait
payement de 61911. 53. id. a quoy montent les ouvrages et repara-
tions de magonnerie par eux faits dans les offices du chasteau de
St Germain. igu. 55. id.
21 may: a Francois Gobin, mac.on, pour un fourneau de mac,onnerie
qu'il a fait au rez-de-chaussee du d. chasteau dans une cheminee
de 1'appartement de M. le la Feuillade, ou loge 1'apoticaire de la
Reyne d'Angleterre. I5H.
Vitrerie
15 janvier-17 de*cembre : a Claude Cosset, vitrier pour reparations
de vitrerie qu'il a fait au chasteau et dependances de Saint-
Germain-en-Laye depuis le mois de decembre 1689 jusqu'a la fin
novembre 1690 (12 p.). 136111. 95. gd.
Dtpenses extraordinaires
1 5 Janvier : a Prudhomme, potier de terre, pour deux cents pots de
terre qu'il a livrez a 1'orangerie de Saint Germain pour replanter
les arbrisseaux dans la d. orangerie. 3OH.
10 septembre : a Mathieu Lambert, fayancier, pour 9 cuvettes, fac.on
de porcelaine, qu'il a livrees dans les cheminees de 1'appartement
de la Reyne pour y mettre des fleurs. 2411.
ST GERMAIN, 1693
Labeurs
i er feVrier : a Charles Fontaine, terrassier, pour les trous qu'il a faits
dans le fonds du fosse du Chateau de Saint Germain, et pour y
avoir mis toutes les ordures et les pierres que les Anglais y avoient
jetez. 20H.
CHAPTER XIV
FRESH SCHEMES FOR AN INVASION OF ENGLAND
IN spite of the discovery of Preston's plot, and the
consequent act of retributive justice of which James
complained, English Jacobites were by no means
deterred from further negotiations with Saint-Germain.
In the early part of 1691 there was quite a surprising
crop of penitents who sought to make terms with
James. At the time he seems to have believed in
their sincerity: he was always credulous and optimistic,
and his agents were too ready to construe vague ex-
pressions of regret for the past, or discontent with the
present, into assurances of unalterable fidelity to the
Stuart cause. It is probable, as James had good reason
to believe in the light of subsequent events, that many
of the men, who had taken the oath of allegiance to
William and were now in his service, felt a certain
sense of uneasiness and insecurity, lest James might
after all come back, and wished to provide for their
own safety in such a contingency, without the slightest
intention of sacrificing any present advantages. " Their
seeming repentance," thought James, " had all the
markes imaginable of sincerity," though " it is hard
(considering what has happened since) to make a right
288
FRESH SCHEMES FOR INVASION 289
judgement of their intentions, and whether they had any-
further aim in what they did, than to save themselves
from the just resentment of an offended Prince, should
he fortune to return by other means." l
James expresses himself as being specially surprised
at receiving overtures from Churchill and Godolphin.
Godolphin held the office of First Commissioner of the
Treasury. William appeared to trust and esteem him,
and thoroughly appreciated his invaluable capacity for
finance. He had so little to gain by playing false to
the master he was serving, that James might well
wonder at receiving any assurance of his repentance.
But the Jacobite agent, Captain Henry Bulkeley, was a
man of tact and resource ; he was besides an old
acquaintance of Godolphin. So when, on a first visit,
Godolphin showed himself shy in coming to the point,
he called again. This time Godolphin was less guarded,
and .talked of resigning his office ; and on a third
occasion when Bulkeley met Godolphin walking with
Churchill in the Park, he invited them both to dine at
his lodgings, trusting by that means to ascertain whether
anything might be hoped for from Churchill. But
meanwhile Churchill unbosomed himself to another
Jacobite agent, Colonel Sackville, giving him the
fullest assurance of his repentance for the part he had
played in the Revolution, and declaring that his
anguish was such that he could neither eat nor sleep.
The Jacobites, consulting together, could hardly believe
the evidence of their senses. What might not be
hoped for from the apparently sincere repentance of a
man so important on the Council board and so popular
with the army as Churchill. Another of James's agents,
1 Memoirs of James II.
19
2 9 o THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Lloyd, 1 visited him with Sackville, when he readily
acquainted them both with all William's designs, as far
as he knew them, together with all the strength of the
army and the fleet, and the preparations that were then
being made for the conduct of the war. This amazing
change of front on the part of Churchill, together with
further assurances from Godolphin (encouraged, as
Bulkeley affirms, by the support of Halifax), was
regarded by James's agents in London as of such
primary importance that David Lloyd was deputed to
carry the intelligence of these repentances in high places
to Saint-Germain.
James was frankly surprised, but the opportunity
of coming to terms with the ministers of the usurping
Prince of Orange was not one to be neglected for a
moment, or, as James phrases it, " The King's mercy-
full disposition inclined him to forget the greatest
injurys upon the least show of amendment." Churchill
committed himself to writing, for James's Memoirs
quote from letters, the first of which was received
as early as January, in which he expressed himself
in the most exaggerated terms. " He would give up
his life with pleasure," he said, " if he could therebye
recall the fault he had committed" ; and "he should
be ready with joy upon the least command to
abandon wife and children and country to regain and
preserve his [James's] esteem." James's kind replies
so much encouraged him that by April, Churchill had
demanded and obtained written pardons for himself and
Godolphin.
From intelligence sent to James by his agents and
supporters, the King had drawn up a paper showing
1 ? Captain Lloyd of the Navy.
291
the disposition of parties in England. It is preserved
in the Bibliotheque Nationale, and it is dated 1691.
There is a certain vagueness about its tone which
could not have been very reassuring to practical
politicians, if, as is likely from its being written in
French, it was intended for the information of Louis
XIV. and his ministers. The counties of England
are gone through. Gloucestershire is described as being
generally well disposed towards James, from assurances
given by the Duke of Beaufort and the Marquis of
Worcester. The " Comte de Lindsey " says the same
of Lincolnshire; the " Comte Macklesfield " answers for
Cheshire and Wales ; while in Somerset and Devon
James can count on the great influence of the Lords
Paulet and Mohun. Exeter is strongly attached to the
Jacobite cause, according to the Chevalier John Tre-
lawney, Lord Arendel, and Mr Godolphin. In Corn-
wall 7000 miners would rise in James's support if they
had a commander ; and in Northumberland, Norfolk,
Lancashire, Cumberland, and Westmorland the greater
number of people are well disposed (sont affectiones) to
James. The Commons are described as being very
discontented with the present government. There
follows a list of the English fleet, giving the men
necessary to man each ship, and the number wanting in
every case to make up the full complement. Nucleus
crews were an enforced necessity of the British fleet at
this time. Altogether there was good reason for James's
belief that his cause was prospering and his adherents
on the increase in England. During the early months
of this year he and Maria were as usual frequently at
the French Court. On at least one occasion they were
closeted for some time with Louis discussing their
292 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
prospects. (The occasion noted was when they had
come over to Trianon to see a performance of Le
Bourgeois Gentilhomme " ; James had already received the
first of Marlborough's letters.) The time was yet to
come when Louis obviously avoided being alone with
them, and when they, even if an opportunity offered,
tacitly and resignedly avoided any mention of the
hopes they still cherished. 1
In March, Louis XIV. determined to go in person
to the siege of Mons, hoping to disconcert the plans
of the allies by suddenly wresting this all-important
fortress of the Spanish Netherlands from their hands.
James was eager to accompany him, but Louis knew
that such a colleague would prove a distracting encum-
brance, and begged him to stay where he was. After
farewell visits had been interchanged between Versailles
and Saint-Germain, the French King set off without
him. By the middle of April he was back again at
Versailles, having triumphantly carried out his purpose.
William III. had learned too late of his intentions, and
in spite of the most strenuous exertions the fortress
fell. Visits of congratulation were paid. Maria and
James went over to Versailles to compliment the Most
Christian King on the day of his return ; all the Court
were assembled to receive him, and Monseigneur left
1 In February an event took place at Saint-Germain which caused
much gossip and excitement. The two young brothers of Lord Salisbury
quarrelled and fought a duel, wounding one another very seriously.
They afterwards were reconciled, asking one another's pardon,
and both abjured Protestantism. The elder, who was only nineteen,
died of his wounds ; the other, who was very ill at the time, announced
his intention of entering the monastery of La Trappe, as soon as he
should be sufficiently recovered. Their brother, the Earl, James Cecil,
was almost half-witted, and a favourite subject for lampoons ; he had
already become a Catholic ; he was impeached in 1690.
JAMES DRTMMOND, EARL OF PERTH.
FRESH SCHEMES FOR INVASION 293
off the mourning he had worn for the Dauphine on
this happy occasion.
During the early summer months (1691) James and
Maria paid many visits to the French King. Now it
was to Marly, where they drove on the heights, walked
in the gardens full of spring flowers, and after a state
supper, drove back to Saint-Germain in the cool of the
evening. Another time it would be a stag-hunt, which
Queen Maria accompanied, driving in a caleche with
Madame de Maintenon, the Duchess of Tyrconnel,
and the Comtesse de Gramont. Towards the middle
of July Louis arranged an illuminated water party for
the King and Queen of England one fine evening.
They came over to Versailles, where Louis spent some
time in going round his stables with James, who
declared he had never seen so many fine English horses
together in his life before. They then went on to the
canal, where there was music, the ladies of the Court
following in gondolas. They landed at Trianon, which
was illuminated, and, after a stroll, supped under the
peristyle at five tables. Louis and the English King
and Queen sat at the first as usual, while other members
of the royal family Monsieur, Madame, Monseigneur,
and Mademoiselle took the head of the other tables.
On one of the several occasions during these months
when James came to Versailles, he had a long conversa-
tion with Louvois, the war minister. In spite of all
the hopeful news from England, no steps had been
taken by the French King to restore James ; and the
delay had been due to Louvois. Louvois was always
hostile to any such costly and unprofitable scheme, and
threw the weight of his influence in the scales against
it. At this time, however, several circumstances con-
294 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
spired to make him give a less unwilling ear, if not
to James's plans, then at any rate to some schemes
for helping the Stuarts. Lauzun had returned from
Ireland, but was not in good odour. Louvois hated
him, and was willing, if Louis agreed, to do something
more in Ireland, at any rate for the Jacobite cause,
which indeed was progressing better there than had
been expected.
But on the i6th of July the great war minister died.
For more than twenty years he had conducted the
military affairs of France with consummate address and
an organising ability which touched the point of genius.
Self-confident and overbearing, Louvois had more than
once offended his master, and, more important still, he
had incurred the hostility of De Maintenon, who never
forgave him for having dissuaded Louis from publicly
recognising her marriage. He had made himself
additionally unpopular a few months before, when the
question of the King's presence at the siege of Mons
was under discussion. He sought to dissuade Louis
from taking the ladies of the Court with him, on the
ground of the expense it would involve. In spite of
the weakening of his influence, he still further inflamed
the King's irritation by obstinately opposing him in
military details of the siege of Mons. After the return
of the Court, the minister realised how great had been
his indiscretions ; he trembled for the consequences.
His friends noticed that he was moody and distrait.
Saint-Simon, a boy at the time, met him one afternoon
as he was going in to work with the King. Later he
heard that Louvois had been taken ill, that he had
returned home on foot, had taken some slight remedy,
and was dead. It was not long before people began
FRESH SCHEMES FOR INVASION 295
to whisper that he had been poisoned. The young
Saint-Simon, with the cold-blooded inquisitiveness that
characterised him, hung about the Court to catch a
glimpse of the King and see how he looked after learn-
ing of the loss of this faithful, highly placed, and once
highly valued servant. It seemed to the boy that the
King's demeanour, though dignified as always, had a
certain air of relief about it ; and instead of taking his
afternoon walk about the grounds as usual, he paced
to and fro in the orangery, looking continually towards
the lodging of the war minister, in which Louvois was
lying dead.
James and Maria, hearing at Saint-Germain of this
important event, hastened to send an equerry to present
to Louis their formal expressions of condolence ; but
the French King, to the consternation and amazement
of the courtiers who surrounded him, replied almost
gaily : " Monsieur, give my compliments to the King
and Queen of England, and tell them from me, that
my affairs and theirs will go on none the worse for
what has occurred." The astonished equerry bowed
and withdrew in silence. The next year was to prove
how far Louis XIV.'s words were justified.
In August, Maria d'Este was far from well, and left
Saint-Germain for a time to take the waters at Forges,
from which, however, she derived no benefit. In
September, she and James paid a visit to Fontainebleau
which lasted some days. The Queen seemed still to
be ailing. During their visit the usual shooting and
hunting parties, and military reviews, took place, with
portique or the performance of some comedy in the
evening, at which the English King and Queen were
not always present. They had many private conversa-
296 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
tions with Louis XIV. These visits, though essential
from motives of policy, seem to have become less and
less congenial to Maria d'Este. She had no taste for
gaieties and spectacles, she disapproved of comedies,
and though she appears from her letters to have had
little time to herself at Saint-Germain, she could at all
events arrange her life there according to her taste.
She had on this occasion tried to get Madame de
Maintenon to use her influence with the King on
behalf of her friends at Chaillot, who were in need of
funds, as is evident from the following :
" FONTAINEBLEAU, Oct. J .
" According to my promise, my very dear Mother, I
send you my news from this place, which as far as
regards health, are good, thank God, although the life
that I lead here is very different from that at Saint-
Germain. I have already been to the chase four times,
and we have had very fine weather. The King over-
whelms us as usual in a thousand ways with his
goodness and kindness ; we are no less sensible of it
because we are accustomed to it. On the contrary,
that makes us more and more penetrated with a sense
of gratitude (nous en somes toujours plus ptnetres et
reconoissans). I have seen Madame de M[aintenon]
twice. She has been very out of sorts. At present
she is better. Yesterday I broached the subject of
Chaillot to her quite naturally. I told her what I
had determined on with you, and many other things
besides. She said she had made the King see the con-
dition which your house is in. However, if you do
not wish to be flattered, I must say that I do not
believe anything will come of this at present, for a
reason that I will tell you when I see you. I am
doubtful if I shall speak to him about it. I very much
wish to, for indeed I am ashamed on her account as
FRESH SCHEMES FOR INVASION 297
well as my own to be unable to obtain anything. I
believe I have nothing to reproach myself with on this
point, with regard to which I have done and will always
do everything I can think of to render you some little
service. ... M. R."
Shortly afterwards the King and Queen left Fontaine-
bleau. Their visit terminated on October nth. James
went away for his annual sojourn at the monastery of
La Trappe, which was to him what Chaillot was to
his wife.
The day after he had gone, Maria found time to
acquaint her friends at Chaillot with a piece of personal
news. She was once more in hopes of having another
child. The immense importance which both she and
James attached to this expected event has already been
the subject of remark. It would help to remove the
stigma which slander had cast on the birthright of the
little Prince of Wales, and if the child should prove a
boy, it would carry on the Stuart line beyond the cavil
even of the most ill-disposed.
It was on account of her state of health that the
Queen commissioned one of her ladies to write to
excuse herself from paying some promised visit to
Chaillot.
"SAINT-GERMAIN, Oct. 20, 1691.
" As I thought to embrace you, my very dear and very
honoured Mother, I find myself forced to tell you that
this time one must sacrifice to the good God the pleasure
of seeing one's friends. Our wholly incomparable Queen
is constrained to follow the counsels of the wisest, and
not to take the air at present at the risk of bringing
back the inflammation in her teeth. She is at present
almost quite well, but it is necessary to take all sorts of
precautions in order to keep so. The King considers
298 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
this necessary ; he must be obeyed. The King of
France is expected here to-morrow. In short, every-
thing combines to deprive our Queen and ourselves of
one of our greatest pleasures. I hope it will be com-
pensated for by other agreeable ones. Meanwhile, let
us be prepared to bear cheerfully the pain of too long
an absence. I hope to have leave to pay you a little
visit next week. ... I end my letter to give place to
a worthier and more perfect pen, that will console you
on the other side of this sheet. . . ."
Here Maria d'Este takes the pen from the hand of
her lady-in-waiting and continues the letter herself :
" I am wholly mortified, my very dear mother, that
I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you to-day, as
I had proposed ; but it has seemed for some time, as if
God took pleasure in sending me all sorts of mortifica-
tions. It is true that I have had several very diverse
ones, even since I saw you. But what is to be said
about all that except, * Dominus est : quod bonum est
in oculis suis faciat ' ? I must explain M. de . . . . 's
letter, for it is impossible to me to have any secret
from you, and I must tell you, that besides my inflamma-
tion (which, however, has been very violent), and
though less so than it was is not quite gone, and
besides the visit from the King that I must receive
to-morrow, I have still another reason which prevents
my going to you, and that is some expectation of being
with child ; but as I am not yet at all certain about it,
I do not like it talked about. In a few days, I shall be
able to decide about it, and I will let you know. If it
prove true, alas ! my dear mother, what pain to be so
many months without seeing you ! But still in that and
in all else God is Master, and one must wish what He
wishes. I beg you not to speak of this little secret,
unless to my little sister c la Deposee,' to whom I am
going to tell it. To all the others give the reasons of
my inflammation and the King's visit."
FRESH SCHEMES FOR INVASION 299
This news soon became public property, and was
noted by Dangeau in his memoirs on December ist.
An important exchange of prisoners was effected
during November. Lord Mountjoy, who had
languished in the Bastille for some months, was ex-
o *
changed for Anthony Hamilton's younger brother
Richard. This step had been proposed long before, but
had been rejected for reasons which were not very
creditable to James's honour or good sense. Mountjoy
was one of the emissaries who had been sent over to
France from Ireland before James's Irish campaign,
in order to acquaint James with Irish feeling. But
Tyrconnel, who sent him in company with Chief Baron
Rice, who was a Roman Catholic, gave instructions to
Rice to tell James that Mountjoy should be arrested
ostensibly because he was a traitor, actually because
his detention would deprive the Irish Protestants of a
leader. It had been proposed at one time to exchange
him for Mountcashel ; but James was unwilling
because, so D'Avaux says, he knew in what estimate
the Irish Protestants held the imprisoned nobleman.
Mountjoy was a cultivated man of letters, and had
formed in Dublin a Royal Society modelled on that of
London. He had held the colonelcy of a regiment in
Ireland. After his services to James had been so
requited, he not unnaturally transferred them to
William, and died fighting on his behalf at the battle
of Steinkirk, the same year.
In the midst of more serious business, James took
part in the marriage festivities of the Due de Maine.
This was the lame child of Louis XIV. and Madame de
Montespan, to whom De Maintenon had been nursery
governess. Louis disapproved of his son's marrying,
300 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
and tried to dissuade him from it, on the ground that
it was not for such as he to make a lineage. But De
Maintenon, interceding for her favourite, overruled the
King's objections, and a daughter of the Prince de
Conde was decided on for the bride. The Prince was
greatly pleased at the prospect. He had three
daughters for M. de Maine to choose from, all ex-
tremely little. An inch of height that the second had
above the others procured her the preference, much to
the grief of the eldest, who was beautiful and clever,
and who dearly wished to escape from the slavery in
which her father kept her. 1 The dignity with which
she bore her disappointment was admired by everyone,
but it cost her an effort that ruined her health. The
marriage was celebrated on March I9th, a shortly after
Louis and James had returned from a great review
at Compiegne. James was present, and afterwards
performed the ceremony of handing the chemise to the
bride, as his wife was precluded from taking part in
any festivities.
During the closing months of 1691 James seems to
have been much occupied with the Irish regiments
that were now arriving in France. For more than a
year the contemned Irish had held out, fighting with
a courage and determination similar to that which two
centuries later was to prolong the war so long after the
British forces were in possession of the capitals of the
Orange Free State and the Transvaal. Unlike the
Boers, however, and unwisely, the Irish elected to
sustain a siege the siege of Limerick and to stake
their all on pitched battles. The bloody rout of
Aughrim and the fall of Limerick (September-October
1 Saint-Simon. 2 Dangeau.
FRESH SCHEMES FOR INVASION 301
1691) extinguished the last Jacobite hopes in Ireland
and sent many thousands of Irishmen into voluntary
exile. They had not been without French assistance
in their struggle.
Lauzun's stay in Ireland had not long survived that
of James. He had reiterated loudly the French
opinion that the Irish could not and would not fight,
and, after the fall of Cork and Kinsale in the October
of 1690, had followed James into France. He had
brought Tyrconnel with him both were to repeat that
the Irish war was useless. That appears to have been
what the Stuarts were willing to believe after the
disaster of the Boyne and James's flight for which
the pleas of the cowardice of the Irish and the useless-
ness of prolonging the war would have been the only,
if not the sufficient, excuse. As early as August I5th,
1690, a month after James's arrival from Kinsale at
Saint-Germain, the Queen had written to Lauzun : "In
the pitiable state of affairs in Ireland I ask no better
than to see you safely here again, and to have your
advice in all our business, which is truly in a desperate
condition." She adds that Louis had told them that
he believed Lauzun was on his way home with the
French troops, for positive orders had been sent to
him (Lauzun) to that effect ; and once more she recurs
to that descent on England which James would have
always preferred to the expedition to Ireland, and
which he desired none the less because of his failure
in the task he had undertaken. " But," adds Maria
sadly, " no one believes a word we say, nor will listen
to our proposals for a descent into England before the
Prince of Orange returns there."
Such were the reports that Lauzun and Tyrconnel,
302 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
coming over to France together, were to bring or to
confirm ; but Tyrconnel changed his views (or the
expression of them) in France, and said that with French
help the Irish cause would, so to speak, live to fight
another day. Doubtless this change of front surprised
Lauzun, who found himself in disgrace in consequence,
and, but for the solicitations of James, 1 and probably of
Maria, would have experienced one of his periodic
reversals of fortune again. The Stuarts, however,
never lost faith in him. " I trust," says a letter to him
from Maria, "that I may yet be happy enough to
repair your losses, which are as sensible to me as my
own, and to recompense your services."
Tyrconnel went back to Ireland, where he had left
the young Duke of Berwick commander-in-chief not
an ideal appointment at this time ; and the campaign,
pumped up with fresh supplies, went on briskly during
the spring and summer of 1691. Tyrconnel returned
from France to Ireland with supplies, and accompanied
by Sir Stephen Rice (Chief Baron Rice) and Sir Richard
Nagle. Berwick was recalled, and replaced by an
experienced soldier in the French general, St Ruth,
who was accompanied by D'Ussen and De Tesse ; the
defence of Ireland was reorganised and replenished.
Tyrconnel and Sarsfield were not congenial allies :
though the campaign did not suffer on that account.
On the 1 2th of July St Ruth was killed at Aughrim,
and his death was the direct cause of the rout. A
month later Tyrconnel, masterful to the last in spite of
his failing health, died of apoplexy, and the war
flickered out. The English commander, William's
general, De Ginkell, tried by giving good terms better
1 Kelly's Macaria Excidium^ 383-384 ; cf, 360, 361.
FRESH SCHEMES FOR INVASION 303
terms than were subsequently ratified to induce the
Irish soldiers to stay in Ireland under the new govern-
ment. In vain : the Irish would not fight for William.
Five thousand sailed from Limerick, four thousand
from Cork. Two thousand set out afterwards. Many
left their wives and children behind.
In December James went to Brest to meet the Irish
exiles, nine thousand of whom had disembarked under
the Comte de Chateau-Renaud, who had commanded the
French fleet in Bantry Bay. Louis XIV. accommodated
the King of England with the relays of carriages for his
journey to Orleans, whence he embarked on the Loire.
James wrote to Louis to say he was forming these
troops into seven regiments of fourteen hundred men,
which would make two battalions each, and a regiment
of cavalry of six hundred horse. There were, he adds,
another four or five thousand men still to come under
Sarsfield. He went over to see Louis in January (1692).
Maria was now keeping her room. Louis returned
the visit on January I2th, when the talk was all of
the new Irish regiments. Louis consented to James's
proposal that they should be provided with red
uniforms, but not unnaturally declined to give them a
higher rate of pay than his French soldiers, as James
suggested. There were now about twenty thousand
Irish in the French service. Sarsfield, who had been
created Lord Lucan in the spring, and the Duke of
Berwick, were given the command of James's guards. 1
In January James's cause in England had undergone
a serious reverse of fortune. Marlborough, the most
treacherous of all the unfaithful servants by whom
William III. was surrounded, after betraying the
1 Dangeau, iv., January-February.
304 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
master who had made his fortunes, and transferring his
allegiance to the Prince of Orange, was now believed
to have formed an ingenious plan for substituting the
Princess Anne, a puppet in his hands, for both of them.
The Jacobites, when at last they came to suspect his
intentions, informed William's trusted friend, the Earl
of Portland, of the plot. Marlborough was dismissed
from all his offices, and subsequently sent to the
Tower. Before this Marlborough had used his in-
fluence with Anne to make her write a letter to her
father expressing her regret for the past. The bearer,
Captain Lloyd, was long delayed, by cross winds and
the strict watch that was kept on the English coasts,
from delivering it into James's hands, and the letter
was not received till April (1692).
On the other hand, the death of Louvois had effected
an apparent improvement in James's prospects. Louis
had at last consented to attempt the invasion of
England, and the preparations were now being
vigorously carried on. Louvois had been succeeded
by his son Barbesieux, a young and inexperienced man,
whose pleasure-loving, self-indulgent nature unfitted
him for so important an office, in spite of his undeniable
abilities. James had everything to gain by an attempted
descent on England, and risked nothing. Louis, on
the contrary, had everything to lose by failure ; but the
strong hand of his great minister, Louvois, once
removed, James's insistence gained the day. That he
was insistent is shown by the survival of two at least
of the memorials he presented to Louis on the subject,
both of which were written in January 1692. James
was besides frequently admitted to long private inter-
views with Louis, in which he no doubt urged his
FRESH SCHEMES FOR INVASION 305
cause. 1 James determined, when all should be ready, to go
down to the coast and superintend operations in person.
Before James left for the coast, on his way, as he
hoped, to make a triumphal return into his kingdom,
he thought it well to issue an invitation to representa-
tive officials and ladies in England to attend the Queen's
lying-in. He therefore wrote to Lords and others
of the Privy Council as follows :
"... That we may not be wanting to ourselves now it
has pleased Almighty God, the Supporter of Truth, to
give us the hopes of further issue, our dearest Consort
the Queen, being big, and drawing near her time, we
have thought fit to require such of our Privy Council
as can possibly come to attend us here at St
Germains to be witness at our dearest Consort the
Queen her labour. We do therefore herebye signify
our royal pleasure to you, that you may use all possible
means to come with what convenient hast you can,
the Queen looking about the middle of May next,
English account, 2 and that you may have no scruple
on our side, our dearest brother, the Most Christian
King, has given his consent to promise you, as we
herebye do, that you shall have leave to come, and (the
Queen's labour over) to return with safety ; tho' the
iniquity of the times, the tyrannic of strangers, and a
misled partie of our own subjects have brought us
under the necessity of using this unusual way, yet we
hope it will convince the world of the truth and
candour of our proceedings to the confusion of our
enemies."
Letters . to the same effect were sent to various
ladies, but, needless to say, James's invitation pro-
duced no results, for, as he put it, " none durst venter
to undertake such a journey."
1 Macpherson ; Dangeau, January 27, February 18.
2 Old Style.
2O
306 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
As the time approached for the invasion of England,
James delivered himself of a declaration, perhaps the
most tactless of all he ever penned. It began with a long
preamble which leads to James's flight to France, and the
settlement of England after his departure, on which his
comment was that " the grounds on which they are built
are too vain and frivolous to deserve a confutation."
After comparing William with Nero, he points out that
"if it should please Almighty God, as one of the
severest judgments upon this kingdom, . . . that we
should not be restored during our life time ; yet an
indisputable title to the crown will survive in the
person of our dearest son the Prince of Wales." After
prohibiting William's subjects from paying any taxes,
he promises pardon to his rebellious people, with the
exception of a long list of nobles, divines, and other
distinguished men, down to the wretched crowd of
fishermen who had maltreated him at Feversham.
Among this formidable list of exceptions were further
included all those judges and juries who had been
guilty of convicting conspirators against the Govern-
ment which employed them, and all spies who had
reported Jacobite counsels to William. Protection was
promised to the Church of England, and liberty of
conscience was to be established; but the English people
knew from experience just how much might be ex-
pected of James in the matter of religious toleration, and
it was noticeable that he had given no guarantee not to
repeat his former illegal acts. The whole tone of the
declaration was threatening. James could not have
served William's cause better than by its publication.
It was calculated to offend his most zealous supporters
by its wholesale vindictiveness, and was drawn up by
FRESH SCHEMES FOR INVASION 307
the most unpopular of his advisers, Melfort. James
had it inserted in his Memoirs that the "declaration
was drawn up by my Lord Chancellor Herbert, who
was sure to take care of the Protestant interest, a man
far from a vindictive spirit, and in the opinion of some
was much more indulgent than could reasonably have
been expected, considering the provocations the King
had received from all ranks of people." 1 The Memoirs
also explain that Churchill was included in the list of
exceptions in order not to cast suspicion upon him,
although he " looked upon him as his principall agent
at that very time." The declaration was considered so
damning that some English Jacobites published a false
one, in which James was made to appear in a spirit of
clemency ; while the Government reprinted and dis-
persed the original. James was not left in doubt of the
temper in which it had been received, for he comments
in the Memoirs that "they thought his Majesty's
resentment descended too low to except the Feversham
mob ; that five hundred men were excluded, and no
man really pardoned except he should merit it by som
service, and then the pardons being to pass the seals,
look't as if it were to bring money into the pocket of
some favourite." One of those who most strongly
expressed their disapproval was Admiral Russell, whose
adherence, as commander of the English fleet, was of
paramount importance to James, and, as he phrases it,
" there appeared a necessity of doing all that was
possible to content a person, who held the crown of
England so far in his hands as that it was in his power
to set it again on his Majesty's head, if he really
designed it." No one was more fully alive to this than
1 Clarke.
3 o8 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Russell himself. In his opinion, the important services
he had rendered to William at the Revolution could
not be, and had not been, highly enough rewarded.
Arrogant, avaricious, and of an ill-conditioned temper,
Russell listened to James's emissaries and coquetted
with Saint-Germain. In an interview with the inde-
fatigable Lloyd at this time, Russell expressed his desire
to serve James on conditions " if he would reign a
Catholic King over a Protestant people. He must forget
all past misdemeanours, and grant a general pardon,
and then he would contribute what he could to his
restoration." At the same time, Russell declared that
if he met the French fleet " he would feight it even tho'
the King himself were on board." He held out hopes,
however, that he might so dispose the fleet under his
command as to give James an opportunity of landing
on the English coast. James had to exact what satis-
faction he could from such contradictory assurances, for
in his position he " was forced to seem well contented
with what those men were pleas'd to promis, and make
use of such instruments without urging them too much
as far as they could go with ease."
James's agents, like himself, were too ready to
construe vague expressions of discontent into definite
promises of support. In one important instance at
least they were badly hoodwinked, for Rear-Admiral
Carter of the Blue, after encouraging Jacobite emissaries,
informed Mary what they were doing. James was
perhaps only wise after the event, when he wrote that
"fear alone would make those mercenary soules his
friends, and that nothing but the preparations where
he was could produce that effect."
These " preparations " were well calculated to ensure
FRESH SCHEMES FOR INVASION 309
success. William had gone to the Continent at the
beginning of March, in ignorance that any invasion
was then intended. Mary, who knew that there was
a certain amount of disaffection in the fleet, sent them
assurances of her entire confidence in their fidelity
and zeal ; they responded with a loyal address.
There was, however, a certain proportion of loyal
Jacobites, especially in the North of England, where
Roman Catholics had secretly collected arms and formed
themselves into regiments. This time marked, in fact,
an important crisis in James's fortunes, his second great
chance. An initial success would have brought over the
wavering and the timorous. His army was to consist
of all the Irish regiments in France, under the command
of Lord Lucan, together with some ten thousand French
troops under Marshal Bellefonds. These troops were
to be conveyed across in transports from Ushant,
convoyed by a fleet of eighty ships. All was calculated
to be in readiness before the English and Dutch fleets
could assemble. Nothing but a special intervention of
Providence for the purpose " of sanctifying the King
by continual sufFrings could have ordered it in the
manner it fell out." Contrary winds delayed the
junction of the two divisions of the French fleet, which
were at Brest and at Toulon, till the English and Dutch
ships were assembled in the Channel. James set out
for the coast. Before he left, he invested with the Garter
his son, who was nearly four years old ; the Duke of
Powis ; and Lord Melf ort. He arrived at the camp at La
Hogue, on the coast of Normandy, on the 24th of April.
Here he was destined to see the wreck of his hopes.
Tourville, the victor of Beachy Head, bore down on
the combined English and Dutch fleet on May 1 9th, and
3 io THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
was worsted and outnumbered, "for he, counting it
too great a dishonour to shew his stern to the enemie,
and trusting to the strength of his own ship, the Royal
Sun, a mighty vessel of 120 guns, resolved to stand
the brunt, and lay like a castle in the sea attacked on
all sides, being too well mann'd to be boarded by the
enemy." Thus Tourville and the captains who stood
by him " could never after get cleer of the English,
but were forced to that scurvey alternative, either to be
taken, or run ashore," and though part of the fleet got
away to St Malo, " Tourville, with sixteen great
vessels, was necessitated to run aground." Here the
sailors, disheartened by the late defeat, soon abandoned
their posts, " at the first approach of the English (tho*
but in chalops), who, notwithstanding the continual
fire of several batteries rais'd on the shore, burnt
all those men of war that had run upon it." "The
French mariners often went off undisturbed in their
boats from one side of a French ship, while the
English had entered and were destroying it upon the
other, . . . the enemies making little resistance because
they saw it was fruitless. Few prisoners were taken,
for the officers were possessed with the idea of the
seamen, that the destruction of the ships was their
only object." *
From the shore James looked on helplessly at the
disaster, at considerable personal risk:
"This defeat was too considerable to be redeemed
and too afflicting to be looked upon, nor was it even
safe to do it long, for as if everything conspired to
encreas the King's misfortune and hazard, his own
ships, as it were with their dying groans would have
1 Dalrymple.
FRESH SCHEMES FOR INVASION 311
endanger'd his life, had he not been timely advertised
to remove from the place where he fortuned to stand ;
for as soon as they were burnt to the guns, which were
most of them loaded, they fired on all hands, which
raked the very place where the King had been, and did
some small damage on shore, so little was such an
accident foreseen." l
The fight had lasted five days, and the victorious
fleet drew oflf on May 24th.
James was abundantly mortified by this disaster.
Not only had he seen his own hopes defeated, but he
had involved the prestige of his patron and protector,
the King of France. His own disappointment was the
least of his discomfiture. "To see the King of
France who had always been happy and victorious,
drawn in to be a sharer of his misfortunes, was what he
had scarce constancy to support, had not the hand of
God which thought fit to sanctify him by the way of
afflictions given him a patience and resignation suitable
to those tryalls."
1 Clarke's Life.
CHAPTER XV
BIRTH OF A PRINCESS : THE ENGLISH JACOBITES
DURING James's absence in Brittany in the spring of
1692, Maria was not without visitors, though she was
deprived of the companionship of her friends at Chaillot.
Louis had been over hunting at the end of April, and
next day it was announced that Lauzun, emerged yet
again from the shadow of royal disapproval, was to be
made a Duke "because the Queen of England had
earnestly desired it." Whatever may be believed of the
ingratitude of the Stuarts, no reproach of that kind can
ever be cast at Maria of Modena, who had never for-
gotten what she thought she owed to Lauzun for
preserving James from danger in Ireland, and who
kept her promise that she would try by her actions to
prove to Lauzun the gratitude which it was beyond
her power to express. 1
In May came another visitor whom James and
Maria had greatly hoped to see. As early as January
1 " Without seeing into my heart you could not judge of my gratitude,
for it is beyond my power to express. I shall try to prove it to you
and all the world by my actions, and I have only too many occasions
of doing so in protecting you from enemies who seek nothing so much
as your ruin. . . . The King and I employ ourselves daily in justifying
your conduct which has been faultless." Letter to Lauzun (B. Mus.).
312
BIRTH OF A PRINCESS 313
there had been rumours that the Queen Dowager of
England, Charles II.'s widow, who had made herself
rather a thorn in the flesh to William and Mary, was
returning to Spain through France. Catharine of
Braganza did not propose to come to Saint-Germain
at first. But at last, at the end of May, the Queen
Dowager actually came and spent two hours at
Versailles. Little Prince James went to meet her, in
his father's absence, his mother being confined to her
room. Catharine spent two hours with Maria, hours
full of all the latest gossip about the doings of the
interlopers in London, and who was secretly inclined
to the King de jure, while giving lip-service perforce
to the King de facto. Maria, on her side, must have
had much to say of French fashions ; the kindness
of the French King ; her difficulties in dealing with the
needy refugees of Saint-Germain. She was at this time
suffering from deep physical and mental depression.
She had written to La Mere Priolo on June I4th :
" What would I say to you, my very dear Mother,
or rather what would I not say to you, if I could be
in your arms for one little quarter of an hour ? Yet I
believe the quarter of an hour would be more probably
passed in tears and sighs, and that my eyes, my groans,
would speak much more than my lips, for in truth
what is there to be said after all that has happened, and
in my present state, but * O Altitude ! O Altitudo ! '
Ah, how far removed are the ways of God from our
ways, and His thoughts from our thoughts ! Indeed
we see that in our last misfortunes, and the unforeseen
and almost unnatural accidents by which God has
overthrown all our designs and has seemed to declare
Himself so clearly against us to overwhelm us " ; and
3 i 4 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
she sums up her bitter disappointment, her resignation
and submission to the Divine will, in the words of
Samuel: "Dominum est, quod bonum est, in oculis
suis faciat." " That, my dear Mother, is what I would
do and say, and in this you have encouraged me by
your words, and in your letters which are always so
dear to me ; but I do and say all this so little and so ill,
with so bad a grace and so unwillingly, that I can have
no reason to hope it will be pleasing to God. Help me
with your prayers, and encourage me always with your
letters. ... 1 have suffered much in body and mind
these past days, but at present I am better both in one and
the other. 1 am weary of the continued expectation of
the hour of my lying-in. It will come when God wills.
I tremble with fear at the thought of it, but I very
much wish it were over, in order not to weary myself
and all the rest of the world with waiting. When I
began my letter yesterday I was uncertain what the
King was doing, and of the time when I should have
the happiness of seeing him ; for he would not stir
from La Hogue, although there was nothing to be
done there, and the state in which I am speaks for
itself to make him return to me. However, he would
not decide anything and I think he has done right,
although it has cost me dear without having the
King's orders, which Milord Melfort has just brought
us this morning, which are that for the present there
is nothing for my King to do except to return here."
She adds that Louis has written a kind and encouraging
letter to her by Melfort, and concludes : " All this
comforts me, and the hope of having the King near me
in my confinement consoles me greatly. . . . There,
my very dear Mother, is some account of what has
BIRTH OF A PRINCESS 315
passed and is passing in my poor heart. You know and
understand it better than I do myself."
Towards the end of June James returned. Once
more his hopes were deferred, and he had seen them
literally turn to ashes as the tinder of the gallant
vessels smouldered on the water-line. A week later,
on June 28th, " the Queen was delivered of a princesse,
which gave him at least some domestick comforth." l She
was christened Louise Mary : the Most Christian King
stood godfather to her, and the ceremony of baptism
was performed with great magnificence and solemnity,
" tho' no one came out of England according to the
King's invitation." However, besides the Princesses,
and chief ladies of the Court of France, the Chancellor,
the first President of the Parliament of Paris, the
Archbishop, "the wife of the Danish ambassador,
Madame Meereroon, as a person on whose testimony
the people of England might reasonably rely, was
present at the Queen's labour and delivery, and not-
withstanding her averseness to the King's interest
could not refuse owning the rediculousness of that
false and malicious insinuation which had wrought
him so much mischief, she being an eye-witness of
the contrary herself." 2 If James could have been
persuaded to take such precautions at the birth of
his son, he might have still been on the throne of
England.
During June Louis XIV. was in camp, and the day
after the birth of their daughter James and Maria had
the satisfaction of learning by a courier of the fall of
Namur. This stately fortress, which raised its head
proudly above far-reaching stretches of cultivated land
1 James's Memoirs. 2 Ibid., 497.
3 i6 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
watered by the Sambre and the Meuse, had never
surrendered in all the many wars which had swept
across the Netherlands. It was believed to be im-
pregnable, and had recently been re-fortified. Louis
had the great advantage of being first on the field.
He was accompanied by all the imposing ceremonial of
his Court ; the ladies remained at Dinant. 1 At first the
siege was conducted in still, sunny weather, and the
King's tent and those of all the Court were pitched in
a beautiful meadow. But on the 8th of June, the
feast of St Medard, the French St Swithin, the fine
weather turned to heavy rain, the trenches became
canals, the camp a swamp ; the soldiers sought for
images of St Medard, and burnt and broke all those
they could lay hands on. Even the horses of the
King had to live on leaves, and the French cavalry
horses never recovered the effects of their hardships
before Namur. But on the ist of July the citadel
of Namur surrendered.
The besiegers themselves were exhausted. Nothing
but the presence of Louis, who had continued to direct
operations from his bed, to which he was confined by
gout, had turned the scale. William had tried in
vain to dislodge the army of Luxembourg, which covered
the besiegers. 2 Before he left Namur, Louis learned
of the destruction of his fleet at La Hogue ; but, as
always, he received both James and the defeated admiral
with dignified reassurances. On July i6th, when the
King of England came to Versailles, Louis said to
1 " According to the old Persian luxury, he used to bring the ladies
with him, with the music, poems, scenes for an opera and a ball, in
which he and his actions were to be set out with the pomp of much
flattery."
2 Saint-Simon.
BIRTH OF A PRINCESS 317
Tourville in his presence : " I am well content with you
and with all the navy. We have been beaten, but you
have won glory for yourself and the nation. It has
cost you some vessels ; that can be repaired next year,
and surely we shall defeat our enemies."
In August, when Monseigneur came to Saint -
Germain, James and Maria told him of the death of
poor Lord Mountjoy at the battle of Steinkirk, in
which William had again been defeated by Luxem-
bourg, the chief of Louis's generals, though the losses
had been almost equally heavy on both sides.
An accusation levelled at James about this time has
never been refuted. A plot for William's assassination
was committed to Grandval, a French soldier. It was
hatched by Louvois' successor, Barbsieux. The scheme
was discovered, and Grandval was executed ; but before
he died he wrote a confession in which he affirmed that
before setting out for the Low Countries he was
admitted to an audience by James and his Queen at
Saint-Germain, and that James had " encouraged him
to go on with it and promised great rewards." l
Meanwhile, at Saint-Germain, the pressure of financial
difficulties was beginning to make itself seriously
felt, and must have cast a gloom over the Court.
Though it was far from being the priest-ridden abode
of envy, hatred, and malice that Macaulay would have
us believe, there must inevitably have been a certain
amount of jealousy and dissatisfaction among a number
of people who, from necessity or choice, had lost their
worldly possessions and incurred exile through following
the fortunes of the Stuarts. There must always be
among such some who believe their sacrifices to have
1 Burnet.
3 i8 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
been unequally requited. James was, besides, too ready
to lend an ear to newcomers to the exclusion of older,
more trusted advisers. The pension of 40,000 a
year which Louis put at the disposal of his guests was
insufficient for the needs of the ever-increasing army
of dependents. James's agents had to be paid, and
paid heavily, for the risks they ran in venturing them-
selves in London. The Queen speaks of the economies
they have been forced to make at Saint-Germain in a
letter written to La Mere Priolo at a rather later date,
probably early in 1693 :
" It is a long time since I have seen the King look
so well, but his kind heart and mine have suffered much
for some days over this desolating reform which we
expected, and for which we have tried to prepare our-
selves for some months, and which has now begun to
be carried out among our poor troops. I can tell you
with truth that the extremity of these poor people
touches us far more keenly than our own losses ; but
I must tell you at the same time that we are well
content with the King, and we have reason to be so,
for he spoke to us yesterday about this with great
kindness, and has convinced us that without the con-
sideration that he has for us, and the wish that he
has to please us, he would not keep a fourth part
of those that he is willing to keep for love of us.
I will enter into details about all this when I have the
pleasure of seeing you, which will be fifteen days
from to-day, please God. Meanwhile, pray do not
speak of this affair, unless someone mentions it to
you ; for it is not yet public, but it will be soon. . . .
Pray well for us, my dear Mother, for in truth we are
in extreme need of it. I do not weary in praying for
you as for myself that God may give us grace to fill
our hearts with His holy love. If we are so happy as
to obtain it, we shall be indifferent to all the rest, and
BIRTH OF A PRINCESS 319
even content that all else is lacking to us, provided we
possess that. . . . M.
" Here is a prayer from the hand of my son, which
seems to me well enough written to send you. I believe
my dear Mother will be well pleased to have in her
hand something that comes from this dear son."
During the autumn of the year James and Maria had,
besides their usual visits, made some stay at Fontaine-
bleau, where there was a larger Court than usual for
the occasion. Dangeau notes that all the ladies paid
assiduous court to Maria. James hunted every day,
and lansquenet was played in the evening, " parceque
la reine aimat ce jeu la." The early months of this year
had been more than usually gay at Versailles, on account
of the visit to France of the Prince Royal of Denmark,
who was travelling incognito. Monsieur gave a
magnificent ball for him at the Palais Royal, which was
attended by the royal family, and at which the Prince
appeared with his suite in Moorish dress ; and one still
more magnificent took place at Versailles on February
3rd, to which James and Maria were invited. They
were the only guests present who did not wear masks.
There was an early supper, and Louis himself left soon
after midnight. Most of the guests changed their
dresses and appeared in different costumes during the
evening. On the I3th the Prince of Denmark visited
Saint-Germain, and found James and Maria falcon-
flying. The usual visits were interchanged between
the two Courts till March, when Maria d'Este was
ill for a few days.
In the spring of 1693 took place an important change
in James's Council. The Earl of Middleton was made
first minister over the head of Melfort, who, however,
320 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
made no difficulties about yielding the position to him.
The English Jacobites had great confidence in Middle-
ton, and at the French Court he had a high reputation
for integrity and honesty. After the battle of La
Hogue, 1 communications between James and the English
Jacobites had been continued, hopeless as the situation
then seemed. The active intriguer Lloyd had become
suspect, and James made choice of a certain Cary, a
priest, to take his place, and to carry the King's in-
structions to Middleton in England. Cary returned
in January 1693, and brought with him eight proposals
which the Jacobite party in England had drawn up.
Middleton himself seems to have disapproved, or wished
James to think that he did not wholly approve these
proposals ; James regarded them as hard. The Jacobites
had, they said, no doubt that they could immediately
effect his restoration, when he had agreed to their terms.
Middleton was to come to Saint-Germain to discuss
details when they received an answer from the King.
As soon as Cary returned, James deputed Melfort to
convey the terms of his supporters to Louis XIV. at
Versailles. Cary was sent for also and interviewed
by De Croissy ; 2 both Louis and his minister were
of opinion that James had no choice but to agree
to them.
Accordingly a declaration was drawn up and reluctantly
signed by James, with many searchings of conscience
and mental reservations. The compounders would
have effected a settlement by the simple expedient of
James's resigning his crown in favour of his son, who
would then have been educated in the Protestant faith.
1 May 1692.
2 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
BIRTH OF A PRINCESS 321
But to such a suggestion James was incapable of listen-
ing for a moment. The declaration that he had to
sign was sufficiently humiliating. "We cannot . . .
enter into all the particulars of grace and goodness,
which we shall be willing to grant, yet we do herebye
assure our loving subjects, that they may depend upon
every thing their own representatives shall offer, to make
our kingdom happy." James promised to lay aside
all thoughts of animosity and resentment for the past,
which " should be buried in perpetual oblivion " ; a
free pardon and indemnity to all who should not oppose
him by land or sea ; a free Parliament was to be called
and all grievances redressed ; all laws passed since his
abdication were to be ratified by him. He was made
to promise to "protect and defend the Church of
England as it is now established by law, and secure to
the members of it all the churches, universities, colleges,
and scools together with the immunities, rights and
privileges." He promised " an impartial liberty of
conscience," and that he would not dispense with
religious penal laws. He gave assurances that the
Most Christian King would not require any money
compensation, but would be content with " the glory
of having succor'd an injured Prince " ; and the declara-
tion concludes : " We only add, that we come to vindi-
cate our own right, and to establish the liberties of
our people, and may God give us grace in the
prosecution of the one as we sincerely intend the
prosecution of the other. April iyth, 1693."
James's apparent submission to these terms for it
seems to have been nothing more was sorely against
the grain. In his Memoirs he gives a long and puzzle-
headed justification of his action, which amounts to little
21
322 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
more than that he could not help himself, and he did
not mean to keep his word : " He had nothing els
to do." The Jacobites in England were not in a
position to take the initiative. As for France, the^great
and long-continued drain of the war was at last making
itself acutely felt. " The country being almost ruined
by the great taxes, together with the scarcity of wine and
corn, occasioned by the great rains which fell the
summer before, so that nothing but his Most Christian
Majesty's personal vigor and friendship to the King
supported it ; and should the King have refused those
proposals, soever hard they appeared, the clamor of
the whole country would have been so great, his Most
Christian Majesty could not have been able to have
resisted it, and probably the King would have been
sent out of the kingdom as an opiniatic bigot." But
though James was coerced into acquiescence, he called
in his priests to salve his conscience. Those of his
own household disapproved of this declaration, but
some French divines, including the famous Bossuet,
lent their authority in support of James's action.
Melfort received instructions from James to exonerate
him with the Pope for the apparent leniency of the
declaration. "Enfin celle-ci j'entends la declaration,"
he wrote, " n'est que pour rentrer et Ton peut beaucoup
mieux disputer des affaires des Catholiques a Whythall
[Whitehall] qu'a Saint-Germain."
When Middleton arrived at Saint-Germain, Melfort's
unpopularity had reached a point which would soon
have brought James's affairs to a standstill. The Scots
detested him, the Irish had insisted on his dismissal,
and the English, especially the Protestants, despised his
abilities and disliked him personally. James never sent
BIRTH OF A PRINCESS 323
an emissary into England, they complained, without
bringing particular instructions in his favour. 1 Melfort
was not at first superseded on Middleton's arrival at
Saint-Germain, and between the two a good under-
standing seems to be indicated in the cypher letters that
Middleton wrote to his friends at home. He was
graciously received at Versailles, but was quite un-
prepared for the high estimation in which the abilities of
William III. were held there and in France generally.
At Saint-Germain his reception was very cordial :
" I was overjoyed," he writes, " to find the King and
Queen fully convinced how kind and useful I had been
to them. I can only tell you in general that the in-
denture is signed, which you may see at the place you
used to go to in a morning where you have often met
540 [me] to whose letter I must likewise refer you.
You will not be surprised to hear that lies have been
already started at Saint-Germain concerning 78
[Middleton]. But perhaps you may too hear, that
from London cautions have been given of me as a
Presbyterian and Republican. Excuse my not writing
to Lord Churchill. But let him know, that by the
next he shall hear from 540 [Middleton] and that his
affairs are in as good a posture as we could wish.
Post-haste. Adieu." The letter to which he refers his
correspondent gives further details of the position of
affairs in France : " As to what concerns Wilson
[Middleton] he has reason to be satisfied, being enter-
tained by the good farmer [King] and his wife [the
Queen], better than he could expect ; nor can I omit
telling you that the bold Briton [Prince of Wales] sur-
prised me with joy, being infinitely above what has
1 Clarke, 507.
3 2 4 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
been reported of him. But what surprised Wilson
[Middleton] most was the Lord of the Manor [Louis
XIV.]. He less admires his fortunes, since he was
acquainted with him, and received civilities from him
which he cannot modestly repeat. Both he and his
trustees [ministers] seemed satisfied with the particulars
and the estate, and are resolved to go on with the
purchase, cost what it will, but cannot determine the
time, till it appears whether this season proves more
favourable than the last. The greatest rub in the
matter is the high value they have for him [William
III.] who keeps possession, and by the glasses they have
used the leech appears to be a leviathan. But nothing
has been omitted to undeceive them. It is not to be
doubted, but the properest means will be used to pur-
suade the tenants of their interest to induce them therebye
to turn to us. It will be necessary therefore that they
should be informed of what is designed. But the pre-
cise time is left to the lawyers who are to manage the
suit, whose merits I have represented as I ought. . . .
In the maine Mr Milles [Melfort] and Wilson [Middle-
ton] are in perfect friendship ; and indeed the first is
entirely disposed as you could wish ; and I doubt not
you will do him justice both here and there." 1
This very curious instance of blind prejudice, which
characterised so many of Middleton's countrymen, is
in marked contrast to William's own attitude about
Middleton's migration to France. Like all great men,
he was generous in his estimation of the abilities of
others, and he expressed to Portland his dissatisfaction
with Middleton's presence at Saint-Germain. " I don't
at all like M. Middleton's having gone into France,"
1 Nairne Papers, quoted by Macpherson.
BIRTH OF A PRINCESS 325
he wrote. " He is not a man who would take such a
step without some important and well-schemed inten-
tion." (" II ne me plait nullement que M. Middleton
est alle en France. Ce n'est pas un homme qui voudrait
faire un tel pas sans quelque chose d'importance et de
bien concerte.")
This year two disasters which befell William again
raised the hopes of Saint-Germain and gave great
impetus to Jacobite activity in England. These were
the defeat of the allied troops at the battle of Landen
and the loss of the Smyrna fleet. The second of
these two misfortunes took place in June. The Smyrna
merchant fleet of four hundred vessels sailing for the
Mediterranean with wares for the Eastern markets,
was attacked and destroyed by the French navy. The
English admirals, believing that their protection was no
longer necessary, had drawn off their men-of-war, and
left the merchant vessels in charge of a small convoy.
The loss to England meant several millions, and would
have been still greater but for the gallant self-sacrifice
of the Dutch ships that were among the convoy.
Amidst the universal indignation were murmurs that
the fleet had been betrayed by treachery ; its departure
had been delayed, it was said, until the French were
ready to put out to sea, and intelligence of the move-
ments of the enemy had been suppressed by disaffected
officials. 1 The defeat at Landen was to a great extent
neutralised by William's dauntless energy in reassemb-
ling his forces. The losses of the allies were estimated
at 2000 men ; those of the French were much greater.
On this occasion Louis XIV. again went to the front,
accompanied by all the paraphernalia of his Court. He
1 Burnet.
326 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
had greatly superior forces, and William himself believed
that the situation could be saved only by a miracle.
That miracle was performed for him. The tears of
Madame de Maintenon at parting from Louis, and her
letters after his departure, weakened his resolution/ and
he announced his intention of returning to Versailles,
and ordered Marshal Luxembourg to send a large
detachment of the army into the Palatinate. Luxem-
bourg besought his master on his knees to change so
disastrous a resolution. The young Saint-Simon,
meeting his superior officer in the camp on the morn-
ing of June 9th, was told the news by him with shouts
of contemptuous laughter. The general officers were
unable to conceal their indignation, while their sub-
ordinates spoke loudly with a licence that could not
be restrained. Notwithstanding the depletion of his
forces, Luxembourg gained a dearly bought victory,
after a most bloody and hardly fought contest, in
which William III. had part of his scarf carried away
by a musket-ball, while another went through his hat.
Patrick Sarsfield, Lord Lucan, lost his life ; the Duke
of Berwick was taken prisoner.
It was at the battle of Landen that the Duke of
Berwick, employed with Sarsfield to force the village
of Neerwinden, met William of Orange for the first
and last time. The Duke, in the rout which followed
an unsuccessful charge, was recognised by his uncle,
one of the Churchills, and was perforce taken prisoner.
After uncle and nephew had embraced one another, " he
told me," writes the Duke of Berwick in his memoirs,
" that he was obliged to conduct me to the Prince of
Orange. We gallopped off for a long time without
being able to find him : at last we met him in a hollow
BIRTH OF A PRINCESS 327
where neither friends nor enemies were to be seen.
That Prince paid me a very polite compliment, to which
I only replied by a very low bow : after having gazed
on me for a moment he put on his hat, and I mine :
then he ordered that I should be conducted to Lewe."
The kinsmen never met again, and Berwick was after-
wards exchanged. It was Berwick's fate, happier than
that of Sarsfield, to win a reputation only inferior to
that of his uncle, the Churchill who became the Duke
of Marlborough, as a soldier. Never a great victor,
he was an incomparable defensive strategist. Like
Sarsfield, " he was brought up to uphold a sinking
cause and to utilise in adversity every resource."
France, by gaining this victory of Landen, seemed to
have a momentary advantage, but the depletion of her
resources by the war was beginning to tell. Two bad
harvests in succession, and a failure in the vintage,
caused a terrible deficiency in bread and wine ; the
misplaced efforts of the government to mitigate the
general distress only aggravated it. But peace was not
yet, the French demands were too high to be taken into
consideration by the Allies. The immediate result of
William's reverses was seen in England by a great out-
burst of activity on the part of the Jacobites, and a
whole crop of seditious pamphlets from their unlicensed
printing presses. By the spring of 1694, James was in
very active communication with Admiral Russell, who
was once more in command of the fleet, and with
Churchill and Godolphin.
Meanwhile James and Maria went to spend their
usual autumn visit at Fontainebleau. They arrived
there towards the end of September. The customary
routine was observed ; though on this visit Louis appears
328 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
to have called for Maria every morning and accompanied
her to mass, bringing her back to dinner. In the after-
noon there were hunting parties, in the evening cards
and music, from which Louis always retired to Madame
de Maintenon's room after he had done his duty by
his guests. James and Maria wore complimentary
mourning during their stay, because the French Court
were in mourning for the Queen of Sweden, though
no notification of her death had been received at Saint-
Germain. On Sunday, the 4th of October, Maria learnt
news that much distressed her, of the death of Lady
Errol, the Prince's governess, a lady whose place was
hard to fill. On the same day she wrote to Caryll :
" I was trewly concerned at the sad news you sent me
last night of my poor Lady Erroll's death, which you
will easily believe knowing how great a losse she is to
me, and how difficult a matter it will be to find one to
fill her place, even but near so well as she did ; but
God's will must be don in all things, and i will ever
submit to it with all the calmnesse that my warme
temper is capable of ; i beseeche God to inspire the
King and me what to do for the good of our children
in this unhappy conjuncture ; i shall be at St
Germains by Wednesday night, if it please God, and
between you and i, i shall tell you that i long to be
ther, tho it is impossible to be used with a greater
regarde and kyndnesse then wee are by this King, but
a little retirement and the sight of my children is a
greater comfort to me than any other this world can give
me ; i don't doubt but Fr. Innes will take all imagin-
able care of Lady Erroll's concerns, and as to the burial
if any thing be wanting, you may order Conquest from
me to give what money you thall think fit to make it
decent, and well, i think her body might be enbalmed,
so that if her friends in Scotland should desire it here-
BIRTH OF A PRINCESS 329
after they might have it, in fine, I would have
nothing omitted in any kynd, that may shew the esteem
and kyndnesse the King and i had for her, which
could not be more than she deserved. If i have time,
i will write one word to my sonne, and inclose it in
this for you to give him. Pray remember me kindly
to Mrs Stafford and Dr Betham, i am perfectly satisfyed
they do theyr parte and think it needlesse to re-
comend it to them. Tell Sir W. Waldgrave that i
have received all his trs, and am satisfyed with his care
of L> Erroll, which is all i have to say to you till we
meet, for then i shall have something to tell you that
will not displease you. M. R."
A few days later the visit ended. With the New Year
1694 James entered on active and widespread negotia-
tions with English Jacobites through his agents, and it
is not surprising that the King should have been buoyed
up with false hopes, when his former servants were so
lavish in promises, and his agents so ready to magnify
their success in obtaining them. The disaster to the
Smyrna transports had induced William III. to reappoint
Russell commander of the fleet, and preparations were
being made for destroying the harbour of Brest, where
the French fleets had been accustomed to assemble.
About the middle of March Lloyd was sent from Saint-
Germain to sound Russell, but he could get only vague
assurances of support from him in general terms. He
then approached Godolphin, who declared that James's
Queen had written to the Earl of Peterborough, " as-
suring him that means would be found to elude what
had been seemingly promised, which had so disgusted
those engaged in the affair that they resolved never to
move their hand for the King's service." This was in-
dignantly denied at Saint-Germain, but the fact remains
330 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
that James had expressed his intention of not adhering
to the terms of his Declaration. Lord Shrewsbury,
weak and vacillating as ever, had accepted the Seals ;
but his intriguing mother assured Lloyd that he had
only done so to serve James more effectually hefeafter.
Churchill was in a different position from the others.
William refused to employ him ; he had therefore
nothing to lose by serving James, and everything to gain
by ruining the only man whose abilities could compare
with his own. With callous and cold-blooded cruelty
Churchill laid his plans. Russell refused to disclose
the destination of the fleet, but Churchill discovered it
from other sources. The land forces of the expedition
were entrusted to General Talmash, whose death would
ensure Churchill's own return to command. He wrote
to James early in May, giving all the details of the
English plan of campaign. He was only too success-
ful. The English fleet was temporarily delayed ; the
French hurriedly made preparations to receive them.
Believing that the French were unprepared and
ignorant of their intentions, Talmash entered the harbour
of Brest, and was compelled to beat a hasty retreat, with
the loss of a thousand men. Talmash himself was
mortally wounded, so that Churchill gained his ends.
The death of Talmash, by removing the only man
whose abilities could rival Churchill's, obliged the King
to recall him to his service. And after this year, as
Churchill had nothing further to gain from continuing
his intercourse with Saint-Germain, it came to an end.
CHAPTER XVI
JAMES AT LA TRAPPE
WHILE the innocent soul of Queen Maria sought a
refuge from the minor mortifications of her daily life
in the religious consolations of Chaillot, James strove
to expiate the sordid memories of his past days at La
Trappe. The Revolution has swept away even the
ruins of this sanctuary, to which James retired to
make peace with his uneasy conscience. As the Duke
of York, he had not a savoury reputation, and even
when he was on the throne James outraged the self-
respect and pride of his wife by bringing to Court
Catherine Sedley, the brazen daughter of a scandalous
father. By creating her Countess of Dorchester, he
brought on himself the public outburst from his
Queen that the ambassador of France and the nuns of
Chaillot have alike recorded. " Let me go away," she
had exclaimed passionately. " You have made this
woman a countess : very well make her a queen ; put
my crown on her head, give her my dowry : I give you
up. Only allow me to go and bury myself in some
cloister, where I shall not be present at such an
indignity. . . . You are ready to sacrifice your life
and throne to your faith ; and yet you do not hesitate
331
332 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
to sacrifice the safety of your soul to a creature of this
kind ! " * James repented of his weakness even while
he was still under the spell of his ugly enchantress :
penitence alternated with self-indulgence. But even as
late as his Irish campaign, gossip credited the King of
England with misconduct. In his latter years James
believed himself to be atoning for the sins of the flesh,
by emulating the ascetic lives of the recluses of La
Trappe. He paid no fewer than ten visits to the
convent, staying there three or four days at a time.
Engraved above its doorway was the saying of St
Bernard, " O solitudo, sola beatitudo." Here the old
King learnt to thank God for the loss of all his earthly
possessions. " I thank Thee, oh my God, for having de-
prived me of three kingdoms, if it was to be the means
of making me better," became his daily prayer.
The rule at La Trappe was of the severest. The
brothers were vowed to silence. On meeting one
another they exchanged no other greeting than the
warning, "We must die, brother; we must die."
They contemplated open graves and slept in winding-
sheets. They are described in James's Memoirs as
" a convent of reformed Bernardins, who living up to
the rigour of that most penitential Father's rule, had
appear' d of late an astonishing example ; what corporal
austeritys, self denyals, and eminent perfection, men,
who seek the glory of God, and their own salvation
with a true Christian fervour, with the assistance of
His grace are capable of arriveing too : perpetual silence,
except when they sing the office in the church, keeps
their thoughts as continually fixed upon God, as their
tongues are permitted to utter nothing but His praise ;
1 Cavelli, i. 520.
JAMES AT LA TRAPPE 333
their surprising abstinence from flesh, fish, eggs, milk,
wine, in fine all but herbes, roots, and cider makes a
numerous community, live in a manner by their own
manual labour, and out of the product of a gardin ;
this with their other mortifications in watching, habit,
labour, could and heat, together with their obedience,
abjection, constant attendance at their duty tho' almost
continually sick, made the King think it a proper
scoole of Christian patience . . . and tho' it seem'd
impossible to rais these pious monks to a higher pitch
of vertue than they were already arrived too, yet they
confessed it gave them an additional fervour to see so
great a Prince accomodate himself ... to their very
corporal austeritys ; for unless the King was indisposed
he always eat in the refectory, suffring no addition but
that of eggs to the penetential diet the community
lived upon." The rule had been reformed by the
celebrated Abbe de Ranee, who came to have all that
ascendancy over James that a man of strong character
can exercise over a weak mind.
A marginal note in James II. 's Memoirs for the year
1695 observes that this year "the King applys himself
wholly to devotion." In proportion as James's earthly
prospects paled, his mind turned to the compensations
of a future life ; but as early as the defeat of the French
fleet at La Hogue in May 1692, his inclinations would
have led him to forgo the unequal struggle of
fanaticism and incompetence against genius. In
December of that year he wrote to the Abbe de la
Trappe : " You have left the world to work out your
salvation ; happy are those who can do it, those are the
only people I envy." And his biographer adds : " The
continual contradictions the King met with had so
334 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
weaned him from all thoughts of present happyness, as
made him in a manner now attend solely to the business
of gaining a future one, to which he perceived
Providence might lead him by the paths of affliction
and suffring, the surest road for all, but especially
such, who are penetrated with a grief and detestation
of their former disorders ; which the King was too
humble not to acknowlidg himself guilty of, and too
just not to think a punishment due too ; which made
him embrace even with chearfullness and alacrity such
as it pleased God to send, and even ad many of his
own, which, had not the discretion of his Director
restrained him in, might have gon to excess." 1
It was the first year after his return from Ireland
that James began his practice of retiring to La Trappe,
notwithstanding the private derision to which he was
sensible that it exposed him ; but the spiritual profit
he reaped from it made him continue it every year, and
" overlook the censures of worldly men, whose judge-
ments are seldom true, generally ill grounded and
always to be despised in such cases as these." It was
always James's custom to write notes of current affairs,
but in these later years he spent much time in
putting on paper spiritual reflections and prayers, in
which, says Mr Secretary Nairne, the King " describes
what passed within his own soul, filled with the senti-
ments of repentance and devotion. It may truly be
said, that his own picture is to be seen in them, drawn
to the life, as he was in his latter days : for he practised
himself all that he hath here writ." He sought in
some sense to approximate his life at Saint-Germain to
that of the devout monks of La Trappe.
1 Clarke's Ltfe, ii. 496.
JAMES AT LA TRAPPE 335
" Although I am a great admirer of La Trappe and
of the holy and exemplary lives of the monks in that
convent, and am overjoyed, when I hear that any has
left the world to retire thither, and though I have
great reason to praise the Divine Goodness, for having
put it into my thoughts to visit that holy place, as I
have derived so great advantages from it ; yet I cannot
be so partial as to think that a man cannot work out
his salvation in the world without retiring to La
Trappe or some other strict order . . . for our obliga-
tions to live in the world and to discharge the duties
of the station to which God has called us do by no
means hinder us from leading a Christian life. . . .
We are all of us, as well as the monks of La Trappe,
obliged to take up our cross and follow our Saviour ; and
although the duty of our station does not permit us to
practise so austere a silence as they do, yet we are not
less obliged than they are to govern our tongues in
such a manner, as not to offend our neighbour. Like-
wise although we have not made vows to govern our
eyes in the same manner as they have, we are as much
obliged as they are, to set a watch upon our eyes, so
as that we may avoid to look on the dangerous objects
which have caused the ruin of so many souls ; and
although we are not under an obligation to practise so
much abstinence, nor to apply to manual labour as they
do, yet we are obliged to observe temperance and
sobriety in our eating, and not to allow ourselves to
go to any excess in that way ; and if we cannot work
with our hands, we ought always to avoid idleness, to
apply, with attention to our own business and to assist
our neighbour as much as we can. Lastly we should
have the same Christian spirit with the monks of La
Trappe and allow ourselves to be guided by the same
maxims, and each in his own station and manner
should endeavour to work out his own salvation with
the same care and the same fear and trembling, as
they do."
336 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
It was with such pious if undistinguished composi-
tions that the King sustained his leisure hours at Saint-
Germain. The prayers that he composed are more
characteristic :
" His Majesty's thanksgiving to God for the particular
benefit bestowed upon him.
" I thank Thee, oh God, for all the favours which
Thou hast done me ; and particularly, for having saved
me from the hands of the rebellious paricides who put
to death the King my father. For having protected
me, in all combats sieges and battles, in which I have
been, by sea and by land, and for having delivered me
from so many other dangers to which I have been
exposed. For having given me such good health and
patience to suffer so many injuries, and for having
preserved me till now from all the snares of my enemies.
For having touched my heart with a true sense of my
past sins, and a regret for them ; a favour, which I
beseech God to continue to me ; and to augment in me
day by day, a detestation of my faults. And above all
1 thank God for having opened my eyes, and converted
me to the true Church."
It was perhaps in 1695, wnen > as he says, the "con-
stant ill success of all the King's endeavours had long
convinced him that Providence had marked out no
other way for his sanctification than that of suffring,"
that he drew up the following questions to his confessor,
the Abb6 de Ranee. They were preserved in Nairne's
handwriting, 1 and show the state of abject self-abase-
ment at which James had arrived :
" Qu. i. Whether considering the life I have led, and
that my age, as well as the station I am in, does hinder
me from using those penances and mortifications, which
1 Macpherson's Original Papers.
JAMES AT LA TRAPPE 337
would be requisite to shew the abhorrence and detestation
I have of my past offences against so good and gracious
a God, I ought not to be content, as a greater penance
than can be inflicted on me in this world, not to make
use of the prayers of the Church, to endeavour by them
to shorten my time of being in purgatory ? And whether,
what I have designed for that use may not be better
employed in charities and praying for all the faithful
departed ?
" Qu. 2. Whether it is not more meritorious and better
to lay aside, whilst one is alive, for such charities and
other pious uses, as one designs, than to leave the
burden on one's heirs and successors ? And whether
it is not deceiving one's self to expect any merit from
such gifts, as one leaves to be paid by his heirs, after his
decease, since it is a burden upon them, and that one
does not feel the inconveniency of it one's self ? "
James's religion was a craven and a fearful thing.
The sense of God's mercy and lovingkindness, or of
the peace that passeth all understanding, were far from
his confused and troubled soul. Priest-ridden and
timorous, he looked up to Heaven much as Caliban
regarded his Setebos :
" Lo ! Lieth flat and loveth Setebos !
Maketh his teeth meet through his upper lip,
Will let those quails fly, will not eat this month
One little mess of whelks, so he may 'scape."
" He sought rather than avoided," wrote Innes, " those
humiliations which affected his own person, and was
not content with that abjection the malice of his
enemies had reduced him too ; but by contemplating
his own former failings as to his morral life, more
than the indignities he had suffered in respect of his
character, he was much more intent to do penance
22
338 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
for the one, then to be deliver'd from the other ;
this made him turn St Germains into a sort of solitude,
and not content with that went to seek it at certain
times where it was to be found in its greatest per-
fection." l Yet, in spite of all the honest endeavours
after a religious life which his priestly scribe admir-
ingly records, James never attained to the spirit of
forgiveness. He could single out for punishment the
poor crowd of ignorant fishermen who had handled
him roughly at Feversham. He was far from attaining
to the spirit of " the truly patient man " who " minds
not by whom he is exercised, whether by his superiors,
by one of his equals, or by an inferior ; . . . but in-
differently from every creature, how much soever, or
how often soever anything adverse befall him, he takes
it all thankfully as from the hand of God, and esteems
it great gain." 2
Perhaps it was in a sense of humanity that poor
James was primarily lacking, and it is that which makes
him appear so unlovable. It was his own soul which
he sought so assiduously to save ; as he says of
La Trappe, " it gave me a true sence of the vanitie
of all worldly greatness and that nothing was to be
covited but the love of God, and to endeavour to live
up to his law, and to mortify one's self by all lawful
means, and to be sencible (at least such a miserable
creature as I that have lived so many years almost in
a continual cours of sin till God out of his infinite
mercy call'd me by his chastisement to him) how
necessary it is to continue visiting such a holy place
to gain strength, who have so much need of it."
1 Clarke, ii. 528. Supposed to have been written by Innes.
2 The Imitatio Christi.
JAMES AT LA TRAPPE 339
The Abbey of La Trappe, 1 which was founded when
St Bernard was Abbot of Clairvaux, lay in a deep valley
on the western edge of a wild and isolated forest,
alternating with wide stretches of water. At the time
James visited it, it contained about forty-eight inhabi-
tants. The rule, which had fallen into disuse, was
restored by the Abbe de Ranc6. In doing so while
still young himself, he had to struggle against monks
whose advanced years gave to their resistance, as to
their bad habits, the sanction of experience, and the
authority of old age. Although he wished to bring
them back to the ancient practice of their discipline,
he had against him the appearance of making innova-
tions ; he incurred the reproach of changeability, incon-
stancy, exaggeration. In order to succeed in his desired
end, he employed the only means which ensure success
gentleness, firmness, and perseverance. His attempt
provoked bitter animosity and revolt. The indignant
monks reproached him with the notorious shortcomings
of his own youth, and then opposed to him the more
impregnable resistance of inertia. So high ran the
feeling against him, that he was in danger of personal
violence. But De Ranee's patience and firmness
triumphed. In 1663, with the exception of a few old
men, who were pensioned off, the monastery reverted
to the strict observance of the Rule of St Bernard.
The studies of the monks were limited by De Ranc6
to the Bible and some treatises on asceticism ; their
occupations, to prayer and agricultural labour.
The desolate neighbourhood he rendered even more
lonely by diverting a road which led near the convent to
some distance from it. The soil was poor and sterile,
1 Du Bois' Histoire de La Trappe.
340 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
the climate unhealthy from the abundance of stagnant
water ; the only inhabitants, miserable beggars who
inhabited huts on the stony slopes. The convent itself
was planned with a view to the exercise of that charity
and hospitality which in bygone days rendered these
institutions so great a boon to the poor, and to those
who journeyed through unpopulated neighbourhoods.
The first court contained a hospice for travellers of
both sexes ; it was separated by a high palisade and a
thick hedge from the court of the monks. Beyond
was a large court-yard planted with fruit trees ; here
stood the dove-cot till 1674, when it was pulled down,
as flesh food was forbidden to the monks. On the
left were the storehouses and outhouses necessary for
the agricultural labours on which the monks were
always engaged. The mill was beyond this lower court.
It was worked by a stream which separated the great
court and the garden of the monks from the church.
At the door of the convent one of the monks fulfilled
the office of porter. The visitor entered a little hall
with the reception room for strangers or guests on the
right, and the dining-room on the left. While waiting
in the reception room he read the following rules :
" On supplie tres humblement ceux que la divine
providence conduira dans ce monastere, de trouver bon
qu'on les avertisse des choses qui suivent.
" On gardera dans le cloltre un perpetual silence.
Lorsque Ton parle dans les lieux destines pour cela, ou
meme dans les jardins, on le fait d'un ton de voix le
moins elev que Ton peut.
" On evite la rencontre des religieux autant qu'il est
possible, en tout temps dans celui du travail manuel.
" On s'adresse au portier si Ton a besoin de quelque
chose dans le monastere parceque les religieux qui sont
JAMES AT LA TRAPPE 341
troitement obliges au silence ne donnent nulle reponse
a ceux qui leur parlent. On ne se promene dans les
jardins entre onze heures et midi."
Visitors were allowed a slightly less restricted diet
than that of the monks. They dined on soup, two
or three dishes of vegetables, and a plate of eggs.
They had wine, cider, and beer to drink. The guests'
chambers were kept scrupulously clean. Women were
not allowed in the church ; they attended a little chapel
in the court.
James's first visit to La Trappe was paid in
November 1 69O. 1 He arrived there towards evening,
and as soon as the Abbot heard of his arrival he
hastened to receive him at the door of the monastery.
When the King alighted, De Ranee prostrated him-
self before him. " It is the custom among these
solitaries to behave thus towards all those from outside
who come to visit them, but the Abbot performed this
action, with so profound a humility and such a lively
expression of it on his features, and in his manners,
that it was easy to judge, that in respecting the sacred
dignity of the King's person, one could add nothing to
the veneration that he had for virtue."
James was distressed at seeing the holy man thus
abase himself, and hastened to raise him, on which the
Abbot exclaimed : " Sire, God visits us in your person ;
it is a grace and an honour of which we are not worthy,
but it is at the same time an inexpressible consolation.
What happiness for us to see in this desert this great
prince on whose behalf we have for so long continually
1 This account is taken from " The Materials for the Life of James by
Johnston, Prior of the Benedictines in Paris," Add. MSS., British
Museum.
342 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
offered prayers to God ! Yes, sire, we do nothing more
frequently or more ardently than ask God that He will
accord to your sacred person all the strength and all
the protection necessary to it, that He may pour forth
His grace upon you, and that He will finally give you
the immortal crown that He has prepared for all those
who have had the happiness, like your Majesty, to
follow Jesus Christ, and to prefer Him before all
things." James replied to this exordium in suitable
terms, and was then conducted to the church to pray.
The Abbot afterwards brought him back to the hall,
where they talked together till it was time for com-
plines, which the King attended.
James was entreated to retire immediately after
service, because the church was very cold and damp ;
but he insisted on remaining for the quarter of
an hour's meditation which completed the religious
exercises of the day. Supper was then served to him
by the monks and others. It consisted of roots,
eggs, and vegetables, which he ate with a good appetite,
in spite of the simplicity of the repast. A cleanly
poverty reigned everywhere, and took the place of the
magnificence with which kings are accustomed to be
served. The Abbe remained near the King, who, turn-
ing continually to talk to him, questioned him about the
solitary life. . . . He admired the framed rules of
conduct, and gave orders that copies should be made for
Saint-Germain. When he retired for the night, Abbe
de Ranee accompanied him, and remained in talk for
half an hour in his room.
The next day the King rose early, and attended
Tierce and High Mass, sitting in the first chair to the
right of the altar. While he made his confession and
JAMES AT LA TRAPPE 343
communion, the choir sang Psalm 118, which occurred
in the office for the day, the feast of St Cecilia. All
present were struck by its appropriateness. James
remained to Low Mass, and then went to watch
the monks at work. He "admired the order, the
modesty, the silence of these holy solitaries." But he
found the work very rough for people not intended
by Providence for manual labour, who were moreover
weakened by fasting and by the austerity of their rule.
He commented on this to the Abbe. De Ranee replied :
" That might be so if one were working for pleasure,
but when one worked as an act of penitence one did
not count the cost, and found strength sufficient for it."
James insisted on sitting at the Abbot's table, with
De Ranc on his right, Bellefonds on the left. He
also used the service of copper and faience that was in
use in the convent, and shared the ordinary food of
the monks. During the meal, which lasted an hour,
silence was preserved while one read aloud. An
elaborate code of signs was practised by the monks as
a means of communication when it was necessary.
Lord Bellefonds having told James about a hermit
who lived at some distance in the woods, the King
was anxious to visit him, and did so accompanied
by Bellefonds and Dumbarton. Bellefonds inquired
of the recluse how he managed to attend mass every
morning in winter when there were no roads and
snow was lying. The solitary replied that what he
had done for an earthly king when he was a soldier, he
could do for a heavenly King. " But what do you do
all day ? aren't you bored ? " persisted the flippant
inquirer. The hermit replied that, when one's
thoughts were continually directed towards eternity,
344 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
time seemed a thing of small moment. He went on
to tell them of his military life and experiences. " You
gave up all that," exclaimed Dumbarton, " to retire
into this desert ? " " By the grace of God," replied the
hermit, "I make little account of all worldly fortunes."
On taking leave of him James regarded the solitary
long and earnestly, almost with envy, it seemed to the
bystanders. "A bien, monsieur," he said at last, "pray
God for me, for the Queen, and for my son." The
anchorite replied by a profound reverence, and the
King retraced his steps to La Trappe, passing with
indifference over the rough road and through wet fields
which lay between him and it. On his return he
attended vespers and complines.
Next day he heard mass at 5.30, and listened to the
prayers for those about to set out on a journey.
While he was waiting for his carriage in the guest-
room, it was noted that he read attentively the rules of
conduct for the forgiveness of enemies, as if he would
commit them to memory. On bidding farewell to the
Abbe, he said, with that kindly air which characterised
him : " One must come here to learn how God ought
to be prayed to and served. I shall try to imitate you
as far as it is possible in my position, and I hope, God
willing, that this will not be my last journey here."
So far from its being the King's last visit, it became his
annual practice, and on at least one occasion he was
accompanied by the Queen. There are two letters of
hers relating to her journey to La Trappe and her experi-
ence there. The first of these was written to Chaillot
in May 1696 : " I believe my dear Mother will not be
vexed to learn that I am at last resolved to give myself
the pleasure of visiting La Trappe. I shall begin my
JAMES AT LA TRAPPE 345
journey on Saturday, please God, and shall sleep that
night at Chartres, where I shall remain all Sunday, to
perform my devotions in the Church of Notre Dame,
and I shall find also a few minutes to go and see our
sisters who are in the town. Monday I shall sleep at
La Trappe, where I shall stay two whole days, leaving
on Thursday morning. I shall be back here [Saint-
Germain] Friday evening. For my journey I shall
want the costume which is at Chaillot, which please
send me."
Besides his intercourse with La Trappe, James was
assiduous in visiting convents and churches in Paris
and the neighbourhood which were famous for their
piety. He practised penances regularly in his own
house, adding " many bodily mortifications to his long
and assiduous prayers, as fasting, discipline, and wear-
ing at certain times an iron chain, with little sharp points
which pierced his skin." * He fasted on Saturdays from
Christmas to Candlemas, though it was not the custom,
and the Queen attempted to dissuade him from it,
pointing to Mr Innes, the almoner in attendance, whom
she instanced as an example of a good man who did
not fast on these days. " Upon which the King
whispered the Queen in the ear, c Had I lived in my
youth as Mr Innes has done, I would now doe as he
does.' " 2 He was sensitive about concealing his acts of
self-chastisement, and " haveing once accidentally left
his discipline where the Queen fortuned to see it, her
Majesty never perceived him, (she said), in greater
confusion." On the same principle, James " shun'd
not the diversions of the French Court ; till the end of
his life he hunted, and accepted the Most Christian
1 Clarke. 2 Ibid.
346 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
King's invitations to Versailles, though " he was for
takeing away, if possible, by publick authority all such
dangerous diversions as gameing, operas, plays and the
like." In his last years " he was far from saying any
harsh or bitter things of those who had used him with
the greatest indignity, . . . looking upon them as in-
struments of God's justice to exercise his patience, . . .
and therefore blessed God for his misfortunes, which
brought him into the occasion of knowing the truth
in his youth, and of following its prescriptions in his
old age."
CHAPTER XVII
FURTHER JACOBITE NEGOTIATIONS THE
ASSASSINATION PLOT
THE year 1694 passed uneventfully for Maria d'Este.
Like the other five of her exile, it had been one of
frustrated hopes. She seems to have recovered from
the painful illness of which she complains to her friends
at Chaillot in the closing days of December 1693, for
she and James were much at Versailles, staying there
till one o'clock to play lansquenet with Monseigneur
on January 5th. A hard frost put a stop to all hunting
and outdoor sports, and made the roads impassable.
But in February James and his wife went to Versailles
to celebrate Mardi Gras, which fell on February 23rd.
A masked ball of great magnificence took place ; the
young Duchesse de Chartres and her sisters led the
dancing, and James and Maria stayed till one o'clock,
though Monseigneur kept up the dancing till four.
In May the cabal against Melfort was at last success-
ful in effecting his dismissal, 1 for he was besides accused
of infidelity to James by English Jacobites. James
himself parted from him very reluctantly. When Louis
1 " II y avail a Saint-Germain une cabale fort oppos^e a lui"
(Dangeau).
347
348 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
went over to Saint-Germain a few days later, on June
2nd, the English King told him that Melfort would be
given some new title in recompense for his dismissal,
and in token of his own and the Queen's unalterable
regard. Middleton remained at the head of James's
advisers, an arrangement much more pleasing to
Versailles ; but Melfort was obviously a more congenial
adviser to James, whose arbitrary nature resented all
suggestions of compromise urged by Middleton 1 and the
party he represented. That Melfort was neither in
favour with Middleton nor Louis XIV.'s ministers
appears clearly enough from a letter written by
Middleton to John Caryll from Fontainebleau, when
James and Maria were staying there later in this year :
" I wish the Lord Melfort does not come to spit in
our potage ; for if the ministers believe that he will be
acquainted with what hath been proposed, we need
think no more about it." z
From Maria's letters to Chaillot and to John Caryll
at this time, she seems to have taken little pleasure in
the numerous visits they were paying to Fontainebleau
and to Versailles in spite of the efforts which Louis
made to amuse and interest her in his fountains and
in his new contrivance of moving mechanical bridges
on one of the artificial lakes. None the less they
may have served as a distraction from the sordid
anxiety about money which seems to have pressed
more heavily than usual on the Court of Saint-
Germain at this time, when the claims of their pensioners
were outrunning their means of supporting them.
1 Melfort succeeds with the King by humouring him and always
telling him that he is right, said Tyrconnel (Avaux).
2 Macpherson, October 3rd, 1694.
FURTHER JACOBITE NEGOTIATIONS 349
Middleton wrote in June to an English member of
Parliament :
" I have received yours of the 23rd of May. It
is most certainly true that the merchant who owns
the goods, 368 [King James] stands in great need of
money, and indeed it is not to be wondered at,
considering his great losses and his numerous family ;
and would therefore be glad if any of his friends or old
customers would advance him what they can spare,
which shall be punctually repaid with interest as soon
as he is in a condition to appear on the exchange. In
the mean time he might be put in a condition to
maintain his poor workmen, who are in great misery." 1
In August Louis commissioned the artist Mignard
to paint James and Maria's portraits. They came to
Versailles to sit to him, because " Le bonhomme
Mignard" who. was over eighty, declined to go to Saint-
Germain on the score of its being unhealthy. 2
A gloom was cast over the visit of the English royal
family to Fontainebleau this year by the news of the
death of Maria d'Este's brother, the Due de Modena,
who was succeeded by her uncle, the Cardinal Rinaldo
d'Este. The Queen learned of her brother's death on
Sunday, September 26th. She was overcome with grief
and spent the next day in bed, where all the courtiers
came to condole with her in the evening. All amuse-
ments were suspended. The next day Louis was ill
with gout and unable to leave his room, and he was
still an invalid when James and Maria's visit came to
an end next day, so that Monseigneur and Madame
saw them off. Louis's next visit to Saint-Germain, at
1 Nairne Papers in Macpherson.
2 " Qu'il y a de maladies" (Dangeau).
350 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
the beginning of December, was for the purpose of
inquiring into an untoward incident that had recently
taken place there between some of James's and his own
men, in which two Englishmen, the Governor of the
Bass and his brother, had been killed in a scuffle. " The
accused had taken flight, so that justice could not be
done ; but James was much distressed at the loss of his
adherents.
So the year slipped away without having materially
altered the position of the exiles at Saint-Germain for
better or for worse. In 1695 James, to quote his
Memoirs, "applied himself wholly to devotion." He
inaugurated this access of piety by turning one of his
illegitimate daughters out of the house. She was
Henrietta, the widow of Lord Waldegrave, the former
English ambassador at the French Court, who had died
some time before, and, like the Duke of Berwick, was
the daughterof Arabella Churchill, Marlborough's sister.
But " its having been discovered," as Dangeau discreetly
puts it, "that she was dans un etat ou une femme veuve
ne doit pas etre," she was banished to a Paris convent.
The affair appears to have been conducted with consider-
able publicity, and James and Maria evidently thought
the scandal aggravated by Lady Waldegrave's refusing
to give any clue to the author of her disgrace. This
sordid little tragedy had a sequel two months later,
when she married Lord Galmoy, James and Maria still
declining to see her again. She went subsequently to
live in England. Lord Galmoy already had a record
in Ireland of cruelty and treachery, though he was a
capable cavalry leader. The murder of Captain Dixie,
to which allusion has been made, left an indelible stain
on his character, and was directly responsible for the
FURTHER JACOBITE NEGOTIATIONS 351
bloody and ruthless character of some of the fighting
at Newtown Butler, Enniskillen, and elsewhere which
afterwards took place. Galmoy had stayed in Ireland
till the last, fighting under St Ruth, and being present
in the last stand before Limerick. William gave
permission to Lady Galmoy to return to England in
November of the same year. Her mother, Arabella
Churchill, had married some time before James left
England, and cherished a violent hostility towards her
former lover, although he had recognised all her children,
in opposition to the wishes of Maria. James must, or
should, have felt at this time that the sins of his youth
were being visited upon him, for both he and his wife
were much opposed to the marriage which the Duke
of Berwick contracted on March 26th with Lady Lucan,
Sarsfield's widow. It was a love-match, and took place
at Montmartre. James had gone over to Versailles the
Sunday before to tell Louis privately about it.
If James was disappointed in the marriages of his
natural children, he learned with indifference of the
death of his eldest legitimate daughter. The news of
Mary's death from small-pox, which had taken place at
the end of the year (December 28th, 1 694), was not con-
firmed at Saint-Germain till January I5th following.
Her father comments on " so favourable an occasion for
engaging in some new attempt," but adds that " all the
King got by it was an additional affliction to those he
already underwent, by seeing a child he loved so
tenderly persever to her death in such a signal state of
disobedience and disloyalty." He stooped to the
pettiness of requesting Louis XIV. that the French
Court might not wear mourning.
The hopes of Saint-Germain were raised by the news
352 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
of the complete mental and physical prostration of
William III. after his wife's death. In England a
scheme for the King's assassination was set on foot in
the spring of 1695, by the lowest class of adventurers
among the Jacobites. Sir John Fenwick, a notorious
and swaggering malcontent, had cognisance of it, but
afterwards denied that he had approved of their design ;
and while the conspirators were awaiting James's authori-
sation of the scheme, William had sufficiently recovered
himself to go into Flanders.
In the Flanders campaign of the coming year the
tide of success turned in William's favour. The
fortunes of France, and with them those of James,
underwent a heavy and irreparable loss in the death of
the distinguished general who had defeated the Allies
at Steinkirk and Landen. " M. de Luxembourg est
mort ce matin," wrote Maria to Chaillot on January
4th. " Le roy y fait une grande perte, et par consequent
nous aussi."
Louis replaced Luxembourg in the command of
his troops by the Due de Villeroy, a man to whom he
was personally attached, but who had small qualifications
for the post. The young Due de Maine was to
accompany him to the Netherlands. Meanwhile
William III., leaving an army in Flanders under
Vaudemont, proceeded to invest the fortress of Namur,
which he had determined to retake. Villeroy wrote to
Versailles that he would compel William to retire after
he had defeated Vaudemont. But he had formed his
plans without estimating the character of the Due de
Maine in the capacity of subordinate officer. This
young man now proved himself an apt pupil of
Madame de Maintenon. When he received orders to
FURTHER JACOBITE NEGOTIATIONS 353
charge, he insisted on first confessing to a priest ; thus
invaluable time was lost, and Vaudemont was able to
effect a retreat. The general officers saw in desperation
an easy victory slipping from their grasp. One of them
came to the Due de Maine and implored him with tears
to obey orders ; but, stammering and nerveless, he refused
to stir. No one dared tell Louis the truth : the Due
de Maine Madame de Maintenon's nurse-child was
the dearest of all his children, legitimate or illegitimate.
To learn what had really taken place, he sent for a valet
called Lavienne, " an honest, but coarse, rough, and out-
spoken man." 1 From him he learned the humiliating
truth. Studiously composed as Louis XIV. was in all
emergencies of life, his self-control was not proof against
this blow to his pride. Shortly afterwards, as he was
leaving the dinner table, he saw a servant, in the act of
clearing away the dessert, put a small biscuit in his
pocket, whereupon the King, rushing upon the terrified
man, broke his cane across his shoulders, while the
courtiers, who could form no conjecture as to the real
cause of the King's anger, looked on fearful and
bewildered. Meanwhile William had achieved his
purpose ; the fortress of Namur had surrendered, and
Boufflers, the general commanding it, had been arrested
in response to Louis XIV.'s breach of faith over the
garrisons of Dixmuyde and Deyne, who had been
carried as prisoners into France. This was the great
military event of the year.
Meanwhile life at Saint-Germain had run on its
usual course. Maria d'Este had been ailing again early
in the year, for, writing to Sister Marie Constance at
Saint-Cyr on the Tuesday in Easter week, she says : " I
1 Saint-Simon.
23
354 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
passed the three holy days at Chaillot in good health,
thank God, but since Easter Day I have not been very
well. It is not a serious illness, but it is tiresome for
me, since it prevents my going to Versailles to pay my
court to the King, whom I have not had the honour
of seeing for a long time."
In April James and Maria may have been present at
the wedding festivities of their friend Lauzun. This
intrepid adventurer now settled down in life. On May
28th he married Mademoiselle de Lorges, sister-in-law
of the Due de Saint-Simon, a little girl of fifteen, who
had attracted the elderly attentions of Lauzun (he
was then sixty-three) at the wedding reception of
Madame de Saint-Simon. "You are a bold man,"
said Louis to the bride's father, " to take Lauzun into
your family." The wedding was private, but the
bride afterwards " received company in bed." Lauzun
had not asked a dowry with his wife, and she was to
remain under her father's roof ; but he very soon had a
violent rupture with her family and took her away.
With the graceful kindliness that always characterised
Louis XIV. in his dealings with Maria, he had a party
at Trianon for the celebration of little Prince James's
seventh birthday, on June 2Oth. They arrived in the
evening for lansquenet, and saw a performance of Lully's
last opera, Ads and Galatea^ returning home after
supper. Another little instance of the French King's
consideration for her is noted by Dangeau in the
following August, when Louis had arranged to meet
Maria in the Forest of Marly for a stag-hunt. The
weather was atrocious, but he persisted in keeping his
appointment because he " had promised this little
diversion to the Queen of England," and he thought
FURTHER JACOBITE NEGOTIATIONS 355
that in any case they would be able to go for a drive
together, " being always very careful to give to the
Queen every consolation great or small that was in his
power." In July James had spent some days at La
Trappe, and in October he and his wife paid their
annual visit to Fontainebleau. They left home on
September 28th, early in the morning, and dined at
Fremont, where Louis's servants attended on them,
arriving at Fontainebleau at eight in the evening. Maria
was accompanied by the Duchess of Tyrconnel, the
Comtesse d' Almond, and the Duchess of Berwick. The
visit was much the same as former ones. The usual
" appartements " took place in the evening, from which
Maria absented herself on Saturday in order to make
her confession for the Sunday communion. The days
passed in music, cards, and hunting parties. Louis always
spent some time with his guests every evening, and saw
that the Queen's card-party was made up before he
withdrew to Madame de Maintenon's rooms. Maria
gave some account of this visit in a letter from Fontaine-
bleau to Mere Priolo, the ex-mother superior at
Chaillot, " La Deposee " :
" For the last six days I have been trying in vain to
find a moment in which to write to you, my very dear
Mother. Yesterday evening I thought myself sure of
one before supper, but M. de Pontchartrain l came
into my room, as I was finishing the letter to our
Mother, and prevented me. It was not any more
possible to do it before leaving Saint-Germain, but you
are sure of my heart, my dear Mother, and for that
reason I know well that you will not stand on ceremony
over my letter. ... I try here to do my best towards
God and man, but alas ! I fail greatly in my duty
1 Minister of Finances.
356 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
towards both. There is a great deal of dissipation
here, but it is true besides, that I am never so convinced
of the littleness and vanity of the world, as when I am
in the midst of its greatness and its highest magnificence.
To-morrow I shall complete my thirty-seventh .year ;
pray God, my dear Mother, that 1 do not pass another
without serving and loving Him with my whole heart.
I entreat Him to fill yours with His Divine consolation,
or with strength to forgo it. ... 1 am as usual here
always very well treated by the King and everyone else."
The visit of the King and Queen ended on October i ith.
They paid other visits during the last months of the
year ; but from this time on, when James and Maria
went over to spend an evening at Marly or Versailles,
the Queen adopted the discomposing habit of leaving
the card-table during the evening for an hour or so, in
order to say her prayers a practice that must have
savoured rather of ostentation. Later she returned
and played again till supper-time. The visits that the
French royal family paid to Saint-Germain seem to
have been merely in the nature of afternoon calls.
They were always of frequent occurrence. Mon-
seigneur and La Princesse de Conti sometimes came
over together, and James often joined royal hunting
parties. The year 1695 had been uneventful, but 1696
dawned with fresh hopes for the exiles of Saint-
Germain. James, " awaked again about the beginning
of 1696 by fresh solicitations from his friends in
England, was prevailed upon to try his fortunes once
more." The King of France lent his support to the
scheme. This was James's last chance, and the last
serious menace which beset William from Jacobite
animosity.
During the winter the English Jacobites had been
FURTHER JACOBITE NEGOTIATIONS 357
boldly displaying their sentiments, aggressively drink-
ing their symbolic toasts to King James, and announcing
their expectations of a revolution in his favour in
the near future. The Jacobite scheme was twofold.
James's English supporters were to rise in arms, while
an army of ten or twelve thousand men was to be
assembled at Calais and invade England, with James at
its head. But to make things doubly secure a secret
plot was formed, known only to a few conspirators, for
the assassination of William. The scheme of invasion
was doomed to failure from the first, owing to James's
inveterate disingenuousness. Just as a debtor can
never prevail upon himself to give a complete state-
ment of his liabilities to the well-wisher who is seeking
to clear him from them, so James was guilty at this
crucial moment of a duplicity towards the man to
whom he already owed so much, which ruined the last
chance of his ever seeing England again.
At the outset James seems to have conveyed to
Louis a wrong impression of the intentions of his
supporters quite honestly. A certain Mr Powell,
deputed by the leading Jacobites to acquaint James
with their intentions about the beginning of February,
had a rather hurried audience with the King and Queen
at Saint-Germain, and, carried away by zeal, gave them
the impression that " the Jacobits offered to rise out
of hand, if the King were but ready to pass." James
told him to put the messages from his supporters in
writing, but immediately after gave verbal information
to Louis that England was ready to rise whenever
required.
On this understanding the French King prepared
for an invasion. It was not till James received Powell's
358 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
written note of his instructions that he realised that his
Jacobite supporters were prepared to declare themselves
only when he was landed at the head of a French
army. James then dishonestly determined to leave
Louis under the false impression he had given him.
He " thought not fit to unsay what had been already
tould his Most Christian Majesty, or alarme the
French Ministers, which would certainly retard the
preparations, if not make them be quite laid aside."
Thus the preparations went on. Berwick was deputed
to go to England to make all arrangements with the
English Jacobites for their rising, and to tell them that
French troops were being assembled in readiness for
embarkation at Calais as soon as the news arrived that
their insurrection had begun.
Another point of interest concerning this scheme
of invasion is its bearing on the question of how much
James knew about the Assassination Plot. His
Memoirs protest that he "was no ways privy to the
design, neither commissioned the persons nor ap-
proved the thing " ; but Sir George Barclay, the leader
and instigator of the plot, relates how the King
" called me into his closet " for a private audience,
before he left Saint-Germain, and gave a written
commission authorising " such . . . acts against the
P ce of Orange and his adherents as may conduce most
to our service."
On February 28th James left Saint-Germain for
Calais, after many interviews with Louis XIV., being
" hasten'd away from the Court of France sooner than
otherwise he intended, . . . which giveing too early an
alarme, hinder'd his friends in England from perform-
ing their part, and in the end ruined the whole designe."
FURTHER JACOBITE NEGOTIATIONS 359
Louis had hurried James off because he thought the
secret of the proposed invasion could no longer be
kept, giving him parting injunctions " not to let the
men embarke till he was sure the Jacobits were up in
England." On the way to Calais, where he arrived on
the 2nd of March, James met Berwick returning with
the unwelcome news that the English would not rise
till the invasion was accomplished. Berwick was well
aware of the details of the Assassination Plot. James,
however, went on " after having heard the relation and
what condition he had left things in in England," as
" he still hoped something might happen, on which he
could rais a request to let the troops embarke first."
There can be little doubt that this " something " was
William's assassination, for Berwick had gone on
to Versailles to acquaint Louis with its probable
accomplishment.
Berwick's own account of his visit to England is
quite without ambiguity on this point. " I went to
London," he says, " where I had general conversations
with some of the principal Lords, but it was in vain
that I told them all the strongest reasons that I could
imagine to impress on them the necessity of not letting
slip so favourable an opportunity ; they remained firm
in their desire that before they rose, the King of
England should land with an army." Berwick admits
that they were wise in this decision, because, if a revolt
had taken place in England, William would have
instantly blockaded the French ports, while the raw
levies of the insurgents would have been opposed by
disciplined and seasoned troops. On learning of the
Assassination Plot, Berwick immediately returned to
France, " in order not to find myself confounded with
360 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
the conspirators, whose design appeared to me difficult
of accomplishment." On reaching France he met
James, who had, he thought, been " too precipitately "
despatched by the French Court. He informed
Louis XIV. of the Assassination Plot, and it was
decided that all should go on as arranged if anything
happened. Berwick then returned to Calais to await
events, while James was waiting at Calais or at Boulogne,
whither he went later.
The Queen was in her usual state of anxious dis-
quietude in his absence. She had been ill in the early
part of February. Monseigneur, coming over to call,
had found her in bed ; but she was sufficiently recovered
to take refuge with her friends at Chaillot the day her
husband left. She was not, however, in good health,
for she writes from Saint-Germain in March to " La
Deposee " : "If you could imagine, my dear Mother, to
what point I have been overwhelmed by pain and
business since I left you, your good heart would have
pity on mine, which is more oppressed and discouraged
than it has ever been. . . . The King remains at
Calais, or perhaps is now at Boulogne. As long as he
remains there, there is some hope." Louis was more
than usually assiduous in paying the Queen visits of
consolation during these weeks of waiting, but she
did not recover either her health or spirits. At a
review at Gressillon in April, at which Louis attended
the door of her carriage on horseback, those present
commented on the great change in her appearance since
her illness, which was accentuated by the fact that, as a
pious tribute to her husband, Maria never rouged in
his absence.
She had, though, other occupations besides saying her
FURTHER JACOBITE NEGOTIATIONS 361
prayers and being entertained by Louis. She evidently
took an active part in whatever business was being
transacted. There had been much discussion as to
what form of Declaration James ought to draw up : he
seems to have intended to please all parties by confining
himself to amiable generalities, and only dispersing his
Declaration on landing. It is evidently to this fact
that Maria alludes in the following letter to Caryll :
" 1 have sent my tre to Paris as you desired to go
by the post. Col. Dorington goes to-morrow morning
post to the King, if ther be any mor declarations don,
you might send them by him ; i have to-day a tre
from the King from Montreuille, wher he lay a
thursday night ; . . . the King sends me no news at
all, he was to be yesterday at noon at Calais ; M. de
Croissi is sick and could not com hither, he has sent me
1'Abbe Renaudaux * to whom i have given the declara-
tion, to give to Croissi from me. M. R."
Another letter follows closely on the above. Caryll
seems to have been the only person outside Chaillot
upon whose sympathy and understanding the Queen
felt she could rely, and in the next few years the tone
of her letters to him becomes more and more intimate
and affectionate, and even gay. She was now again at
Chaillot :
" CHAILLOT, Sunday night, Ap. 1696.
" I kept the groom in hopes to have sent you word
that i had heard of the King's being at Calais, but ther
was no tre for me at the post-house this day, which i
believe was caused by the King's not coming to Calais
a Friday till the post was gon, but to-morrow I shall
certainly heare, and send you hear enclosed the news
1 The Abbe Renaudot was a political agent, and a friend to the
Jacobite cause. The Renaudot Papers in the Bibliotheque Nationale
are a valuable source of information on the Stuarts at this period.
362 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
that the King of France was pleased to send me this
afternoon, which you will see by his owne tre was all
he had. O pray God send us som to better. purpose,
however i take it very kindly of him to send me what
he has. The news you may shew to Mr Stafford, but
the tre is only for yourself. Pray send me both back to-
morrow, your tre came to me this morning just as i
was writing to the King, so that i sent the great paquet
with my letter. There is no doubt but Lord Middleton
intends you should open his closet, for els, how should
you send him what he asks. I believe you may safely
do it. M. R."
Though James remained at Boulogne till the end
of April, all chances of the hoped - for invasion
had long since dwindled away. Soon after his
arrival at Calais he learned that the Assassination Plot
had been discovered. The plan had been to lie in
ambush on Turnham Green, and fall on William as he
was returning from hunting in Richmond Park. To
ensure its success the conspirators found it necessary
to increase their number to forty, and thus, unfor-
tunately for themselves, accidentally included among
them one honest man. 1 As soon as he fully understood
that he was to be one of eight men who were to
stab the King to death in his coach, this man, a certain
Catholic gentleman, whose name was Pendergrass, gave
immediate information to Portland. The royal hunt
was postponed ; the conspirators were arrested, tried,
and executed, though Sir George Barclay, with remark-
able prescience where the safety of his own skin was
concerned, made good his escape to France.
Meanwhile the French fleet was detained in port by
1 There were in all three informers, but the character of the other two
would not have entitled them to credence.
FURTHER JACOBITE NEGOTIATIONS 363
contrary winds. The English fleet put out to sea, and
every preparation was made to resist the proposed
invasion. James's last chance was gone, and this
attempt in two ways ruined his prospects. In the first
place, the discovery of the proposed scheme of assassina-
tion and foreign invasion produced an immense wave
of loyalty towards William throughout the length and
breadth of England ; in the second, the conspirators on
trial accused many public men of being in communi-
cation with Saint-Germain. This was no news to
William, but Godolphin, Churchill, Russell, and others
were indignant that James had kept their secret so ill
that it should be common talk, " so ever afterwards gave
that for a reason why they should correspond no more."
Even Anne, who " had all along kept up a fair
correspondence with the King full of assurances of duty
and repentance," now wrote asking his consent to her
acceptance of the Crown should it be offered to her, in
the event of William's death.
At the end of April, James realising that any further
stay at Boulogne was now futile, wrote to Caryll :
"BOULOGNE, Ap. 29, 1696.
" I received this morning yours of the 2yth, and
send you back here enclosed the bill you sent me and
signed so that you have but to send to Parry to receve
the summe mentioned in it, and lett him keep it in his
hand till further orders, believing I shall now stay so
little here as not to have need of it, since I see no
manner of reason for my staying here any longer now
that the world must find the descent is layd aside
for the present, but before I stir from hence must
expect an answer to E. Mid ; letter went yesterday to
M. de Ponchartrain which is all I have to say at
present. J. R."
364 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
On May 5th he was back at Saint-Germain. Maria
met him at Saint-Denis. The next day, Sunday, Louis
came over to visit them, but James was deeply dejected.
" He was more and more convinced that afflictions were
necessary for him ; ... his present concern was to
reap a Christian frute from these seeds of affliction which
Providence had sent." To the end that he might
obtain a more abundant harvest of this nature, he set
out for LaTrappe on June 2nd, taking Maria with him;
but they were hardly arrived when they were followed
by the news that little Prince James had an attack
of small-pox. Maria wrote to Caryll the same day :
"June 5, 1696.
" You know me to well not to believe that i was very
much allarmed yesterday morning, at the news you sent
the King of my son's being ill, i had once a mind to
have gon back, but having no horses upon this road,
and the King hoping my son would do well persuaded
me to com on, we had a terrible journey of it, and did
not get hither till almost 10 o'clock, tho' wee left
Chartres at half an hour past nine this morning. Parry
came by eight, and i thank God, your letter and Sir
William Waldgrave's has put me at ease, pray tell
Sir William that i do not at all doubt of his great care,
and that i have charged my son to obey him exactly till
i get to him, which will be on Friday night if no
accident happens to hinder it, of which we have had
good store since we left you, the worst has been this
last night, that by the carelessness of one of my grooms,
one of these stables was sett on fire, all burnt with 4
of my horses, but we shall make a shift to go back for
all that on Thursday morning, as i intended. It was
great comfort the whole convent was not burnt, and
that 'scape comforts me for that other losse, pray tell
Mr Plowden, whom I think is in waiting this week,
JAMES II., HIS WIFE MARIA, AND THEIR TWO CHILDREN.
FURTHER JACOBITE NEGOTIATIONS 365
and also to Mr Perkins that i am pursuaded of theyr
care, and that I am sure they will not leave my son
without one of them night nor day, if his illness lasts
any time i think it necessary he should have some
woman to look after him as 1 sent word by Mr
Wyburn yesterday, not having time to write. They
cannot have a better than Mrs Stafford near my child.
... I thought to have written two words to her but I
fear I shall not have time : pray bid her embrace my
poor girl for me and the King . . . and keep her
from her brother till he is quite well, i thank God i am
so, ever since i had been a few hours in the coach the
first day of my journey, we are hear in a terestial
Paradise, yett, i dont at all forget my friends, at the
head of which without wronging any, i putt Mr
Secretary Caryll. MARIA R."
CHAPTER XVIII
TREATY OF RYSWICK END OF JAMES'S HOPES
WHILE James was, as he phrased it, " turning his whole
attention to gaining a heavenly crown," to his great
surprise an earthly one was offered him. This was
none other than the crown of Poland. The late King,
John Sobieski, died " under general contempt." His
wife was a Frenchwoman who intrigued continually
with Versailles, and his government was consequently
so vacillating and feeble that latterly hardly any business
had been transacted. The King had devoted himself
to amassing sufficient money to secure the election of
his son to the throne after his death. When this took
place there was a considerable party in favour of the
young Sobieski, notwithstanding his mother's unpopu-
larity. The Polish nobility, however, " plainly set the
crown up for sale," and encouraged all candidates that
would bid for it. The crown was eventually given to
the Elector of Saxony, who abjured his religion, distri-
buted eight million florins among the Poles, and was
supported by all the other candidates, who united in
opposition to the French party. 1 It does not appear
that James would have had much chance of sitting on
1 Bumefs History of His Own Time.
366
TREATY OF RYSWICK 367
the throne of Poland even if he had entertained any
idea of it. But the offer, which took the form of a
message sent through the French ambassador in Poland,
the Abb6 Poliniac, was immediately declined by James
on the ground that " it would amount to an abdication
indeed of what was really his due, and therefore he was
resolved to remain as he was, tho' he had less hopes of
being restored than ever."
The summer passed uneventfully at Saint-Germain ;
the only domestic event of importance was the appoint-
ment of Perth as governor of the Prince of Wales.
The selection of the child's tutor had been made with
many prayers and searchings of heart by his mother.
She writes to " La Deposee " at Chaillot on July 25th :
" I have another kind of news to send you, which is
that the King has this morning named Milord Perth
governor of my son ; we have just put him into his
hands. It is a great business settled for me, and I
hope that God will bless this choice that we have made
after having prayed more than a year, in order that
God may inspire us to do well. Tell this to our dear
Mother from me, for I have not time to write to her.
Her prayers and yours, with those of all our dear sisters,
have had a great part in this election, which I believe
to be pleasing to God ; for he is a holy man, of dis-
tinguished merit, as well as of great ability (grande
qualitf]. 1 am content to have my son in his hands,
not knowing any better ; but I have put him above
all, and in the first place, into the hands of God, who
by His mercy will take care of him, and will give us
grace to bring him up in His fear and love." The
Queen adds giving a little glimpse of their daily
occupations that yesterday and the day before the
368 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
King of France and Madame de Maintenon had been
to Saint-Germain, and that the next day they were to
visit Saint-Cloud, to be present at the baptism of the
Orleans grandchild, Mademoiselle de Chartres.
It is Madame who, in one of her letters, written
about this time, gives a picture of little James. This
poor child, brought up in an enervating, priestly atmo-
sphere, showed early promise of intelligence :
" 20 Sept. 1696.
"The Prince of Wales is the prettiest child it is
possible to see. He understands French now, and
talks readily. He is not like his father or mother, but
greatly resembles the portraits of the late King of
England his uncle, and I am persuaded that if the
English saw this child they could not doubt that it
was of the royal family."
Writing a year later, the kind-hearted Madame
says :
" 15 Sept. 1697.
" I love this child with all my heart. It is impossible
to see him without loving him. He has a very good
nature. I believe that in time he will become a great
King, for although he is only nine years old, I am
persuaded that from now he would govern better than
his father."
In October James and Maria went to stay at Fontaine-
bleau, arriving there on the loth. It must have been
a melancholy visit, for the Queen was ill at the time,
and was obliged to stay indoors, while Louis was suffer-
ing from an attack of gout, and had himself carried in
to see her in a chair. The visit was prolonged till the
26th on account of her illness, which continued so as to
cause James some alarm. Sir William Waldgrave was
TREATY OF RYSWICK 369
sent for from Saint-Germain to attend on her. The
King wrote himself to Caryll, asking that her own
physician should come at once, and at the same time
reassuring their faithful friend and servant. After
telling Caryll that the Queen's " cholick " continues,
James asks him to send Sir William Waldgrave, " he
knowing her constitution, while those of his profession
here do not, it not being good to lett such an ailment
continue upon her ; besides there is a reason at this
time, which has hindered those here from giving those
remedys she can take proper for her distemper ; you
need not be allarmed at my sending for S r Will, for
I hope by that tyme he can gett hither she will be
quite well. However there will be no harm in his
coming hither, therefore lett him know from me, he
should immediately come away in a post chaise, so that
if this letter gets to you to-morrow morning, he may
be easily here to-morrow night. J. R."
Maria had already written to Caryll two days earlier,
telling him of her illness, and replying to some request
of his on a family matter. The niece alluded to in the
following letter was most likely one of the daughters of
Philip Caryll, about whom John wrote later to his sister,
Mary Caryll, Abbess of the Benedictine monastery at
Dunkirk. She was thought to have a religious
vocation, and John Caryll promised to settle an annual
sum upon his sister's monastery on behalf of this niece,
if she made her profession there. This letter was
written by Maria on October I5th, 1696 :
" FONTAINEBLEAU.
" I approve intirely all that you have done concerning
your niece, you may at all times with all safety make
use of my name, when it is to do you or yours any
24
370 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
good, for you may be sure i shall always be ready to
do that, i shall take care to have Mrs Rutter remooved
when i com back to St Germains which i hope will
be in eight or nine days at furthest ; wee shall speak of
it to-morrow to this King who is very civil and kynd
to us, as he used to be, but doe not care to enter into
busenesse with us. You will have heard that the
Emperor and King of Spain have accepted the neutrality
in Italy, so the peace is quite made of that syde, and
i have reason to beleeve it will soon be made everywher,
God's will be don, he knows what is best for us, and
for all the world, and will certainly turne all to his
greater glory. . . . i cannot brag of my health for i
have not been well these three days, i have the
cholick. MARIA R."
Two other points touched on in the letter call for
elucidation. Louis's determined avoidance of business
with the King and Queen of England had a definite
reason. In spite of the exhausted state of his treasury,
he had laid up stores and provisions for the year's
campaign at Givet ; but the town had been taken by
surprise and all its provisions totally destroyed. He
was not then in a position to take the offensive.
England, meanwhile, was passing through an acute
commercial crisis during the restoration of the currency.
William was at his wits' end for the means of feeding
his army in Flanders. In August, Portland had gone
over to London to bring back supplies ; his mission
had been successful, but there was a general feeling of
uneasiness among the Allies that England was reaching
the end of her resources. France was nevertheless
reduced to opening secret peace negotiations, in which
Louis consented to recognise the Prince of Orange as
William III. of England. But meanwhile an important
PRINCE JAMES STIART (THE OLD PRETENDER) AND HIS SISTER,
THE PRINCESS LOUISE.
TREATY OF RYSWICK 371
defection took place among the Allies. The Duke of
Savoy joined France, and insisted that Spain and the
Emperor should recognise thenceforward the neu-
trality of Italy. They consented in spite of William's
remonstrances. It is to this that Maria alludes in her
letter. The peace was to be consummated by the marriage
of the Duke of Savoy's daughter to Louis XIV.'s
grandson, Monseigneur's eldest boy, the Due de
Bourgogne. This had already been much talked of,
and had even reached the ears of the little Princess
Louise at Saint-Germain. It is again Madame who tells
us of it in one of these delightful letters of hers :
" 26 July 1696.
" The other day they were saying at Saint-Germain
before the little Princess of England that the Due de
Bourgogne was going to marry the Princess of Savoy.
The dear child began to cry violently, and said that
she thought the Due de Bourgogne would never marry
anyone but herself, but from the moment he married
the Princess of Savoy she would go into a convent and
would never marry all her life. They cannot console
her ; she is quite sad since she has heard the news."
As the Princess Louise was at this time just four
years old, she must have been as precocious as Madame
declares all French children to have been.
In the following November the Princess of Savoy
arrived. Louis went to meet her at Montargis. The
little girl, with a preternatural shrewdness, at once
ingratiated herself both with Louis and Madame de
Maintenon, the only two people who really counted.
Louis wrote to De Maintenon as soon as he had seen
the Princess : " She has the most grace and the most
beautiful figure that I have ever seen, dressed like a
372 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
picture, with very bright and beautiful eyes, and
regular complexion, red and white just as it should be ;
the most beautiful black hair, quantities of it. She is
thin, as is proper at her age. Very red thick lips,
white but very irregular teeth, well-made hands, but
of the colour of her age." The King found her rather
awkward but pleasing, and just what he could have
wished. Onlookers noticed that as he led her up the
steps the little girl frequently kissed the King's hand.
Writing to De Maintenon, Louis expresses a kindly
wish that he will be able to maintain the ease of
manner that he has assumed till they reach Fontaine-
bleau. Soon after her arrival, James and Maria came
over to Versailles to make the Princess's acquaintance.
As prospective Queen of France, she was given a
fauteuil. She returned the visit, calling at Saint-
Germain on November i6th. She was afterwards
taken by De Maintenon to Saint-Cyr, where she was
to continue her education, as she was then only eleven
years old.
The year 1697 was to be fraught with humiliation
for James and Maria. The tentative peace negotia-
tions which had come to nothing in 1696 were resumed
and concluded. Maria had foreseen this, but James
seems to have been hurt and surprised that the faithful
friend and benefactor, who for the last eight years had
sacrificed men and money in his interest, should at
last be forced to consider the condition of his own
exhausted country. As he wrote to the Abbe de La
Trappe, "The world was indeed no less astonished
than the King that when his Most Christian Majesty
seem'd to have got a perfect superiority over his
enemies by so many victories, and now a separate
TREATY OF RYSWICK 373
peace with Savoy, he should however grasp so greedely
at a general one, as to abandon for the sake of it, the
cause of a Prince, his near relation, his friend and ally,
whose protection as it gave lustre to his actions, so the
glory of his restoration seem'd to be what was only
wanting to complete his character. ..."
James did not acquiesce in the proposed negotiations.
He made a futile appeal to the Emperor, representing
to him, through a private agent whom he despatched to
Vienna, "what he had suffered and how unjustly he
had been oppressed, . . . how shocking and misterious
it appeared to the Christian world, that his Imperial
Majesty, and other Princes of the House of Austria,
so famed for their piety and religious zeal, should con-
tribute to the dethroning a Catholic Prince." He
suggested that his own restoration would fitly con-
summate a European peace, and hinted that his Most
Christian Majesty was open to concluding a separate
peace with the Empire on advantageous terms. His
agent was refused an audience, and told that the
Emperor, as it was, had very recently received a letter
" full of deep resentment from the Prince of Orange,"
because he had admitted an emissary from Saint-
Germain. The Imperial confessor, Father Millingatti,
told James's agent that his master " had done nothing
but what was both conscientious and allowed by the
common practice of Christian princes." That in enter-
ing into an alliance against France he had merely
sought to defend his own State from an unjust aggressor,
and that he always looked upon William III.'s invasion
" as unjust and impious, and heartily prayed for King
James's restoration " a piece of mysterious casuistry
which James compared with " Charles V. makeing
374 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
public prayer for the Pope's delivery, whilst he himself
kept him prisoner in the Castle of St Angelo."
Disappointed in this direction, James then sought
at least to be represented by a minister in the Peace
negotiations ; this, of course, was refused, and he was
forced to derive what satisfaction he might, from
drawing up a manifesto setting forth his hard case,
hoping thereby at least to obtain some reparation ; but
this too the confederate Princes ignored. " By certain
rules of policy he was totally neglected."
The King and Queen had besides at this time to
suffer an access of anxiety as to their ability to meet
their household expenses. A nun of Maubuisson,
Marie de Brinon, writing in February 1697 of recent
events, says : " Our good King James regards every-
thing in a spirit of constancy and virtue. He endures
not only as a saint, but as a King removed from all
baseness, the loss of three crowns that God will restore
to him in heaven, if He does not do so on earth. . . .
The Queen of England is no less saintly, and in truth,
it is a great happiness to be so in the midst of so great
misfortunes. I have heard a lady of her Court say
that she despoils herself of everything that she has to
support the poor English who have followed them, and
that she sells even her diamond sleeve-links, and tells
her as she performs these charitable actions that she is
overjoyed to deprive herself of things to keep others."
The peace negotiations which were opened by Louis
XIV. early in the spring dragged on because Spain
and the Emperor wished to continue the war. Spain,
with an imbecile and moribund King, had always been
an obstructive influence in the coalition. Both Louis
XIV. and the Emperor had claims on the Spanish
TREATY OF RYSWICK 375
throne when Charles II. should die ; this event was
now believed to be imminent, and it was obviously to
the advantage of the Emperor that the coalition should
still be in arms to support his claim when the throne
fell vacant. The plenipotentiaries met in March at a
house belonging to William III. at Ryswick, between
Delft and The Hague. William, having decided that the
conditions offered by Louis were advantageous, decided
to put a stop to these discussions. The terms of the
treaty had been privately decided by Bentinck, Earl
of Portland, on behalf of William, and by Marshal
Boufflers on behalf of France, and committed to writ-
ing in July. By September a treaty was concluded
between England, Holland, France, and Spain.
The following month the Emperor also made terms.
His delay involved the loss of Strasburg, which Louis
was at first prepared to resign. By the terms of peace,
France gave up all conquests made since the Peace of
Nimeguen in 1678. Louis consented to recognise
William as King of England, and Anne as his successor.
William asked that James and Maria should no longer
be permitted to reside at Saint-Germain, to which
the King of France replied that he could not with-
draw his hospitality from his luckless guests, or
suggest their resigning their asylum at Saint-Germain.
Boufflers, however, gave Portland to understand that
the matter might be arranged by the English royal
family's removing to Avignon, where they would be
too far off to stir up malcontents in England. Louis,
on his side, asked that William should grant a general
amnesty to Jacobites in England, and that Maria
should receive the jointure of 50,000 a year that had
been settled on her as Queen of England. All these
376 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
matters were arranged by compromise. William, while
declining to entertain any suggestions as to his course
of conduct towards his own subjects, gave assur-
ances that Maria should receive whatever sum she was
legally entitled to, as soon as the Stuarts should' have
retired to Avignon or Italy. There was nothing left
for James but dignified acquiescence, a course of con-
duct always incompatible with his temperament. The
opportunity for another manifesto was too tempting to
be resisted. He was so ill advised as to issue a most
futile protest, which could only make him look ridicu-
lous. The preamble was as follows :
" James, by the Grace of God, King of England, etc.,
to all Princes, Potentates, etc. After so long and
ruinous a war to Christendom, being convinced that all
the contending parties are disposed to peace, and even
on the point of concluding it, without our participation,
we think it requisite in this conjuncture to make use
of the only means remaining in our power to assert our
undoubted right, by a solemne protestation against what-
ever may be done to our prejudice."
After citing the manifold injustices from which he
held himself to be suffering, the King continues :
"We therefore sollemly protest (and in the strongest
manner we are able) against all what-soever may be
treated of, regulated, or stipulated with the usurper of
our Kingdoms, as being null by default of a lawfull
authority.
" We protest in particular against all Treatys of
Allyance, confederation and commerce, made with
England since the usurpation, as being null by the
same want of authority, and consequently incapable
of binding us, our lawful heirs, successors or subjects.
Wefurther protest in general, against all Acts whatsoever
TREATY OF RYSWICK 377
that pretend to confirme, autherise, or approuve directly
or indirectly the Usurpation of the Prince of Orange,
against all the proceedings of his pretended Parliaments
and whatever tends to the subvertion of the fundamental
laws of our Kingdom, particularly those relating to the
succession to our crowns."
This monumental act of folly was perpetrated by
James in June. The student of history can only con-
template its vast futility with compassion, and hope that,
while it provoked sneers and laughter among his con-
^jtemporaries, its author derived some gratification to his
pride from this ill-timed act of self-assertion.
Through the summer visits were interchanged between
Saint-Germain and the French Court, as if there were
no epoch-making decisions pending at Versailles. But
as the time for the annual autumn visit of James and
Maria to Fontainebleau drew near, they had need of
all their fortitude to support it, for it unfortunately co-
incided with the conclusion of peace. James and Maria
do not seem to have appreciated these visits very highly
at the best of times such, at least, was current gossip,
to which Madame de Sevigne gives expression : " The
English Court is at Fontainebleau, where they are having
comedies and ftes and being bored (according to what
they say), and so much the worse for them." How
much the worse for them at this moment an entry in
the King's Memoirs records : " One would have
thought the King had now gon through all the stages
of contradiction, yet one remained which nothing but
an absolute dominion over himself, could have made
him bear with so good a grace, this Peace fortuned to
be concluded about that time of the year his Most
Christian Majesty was used to go to Fontainebleau, and
378 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
whither he was always accustomed to invite the King
and Queen for ten or fifteen days, which invitations
his Majesty receiving as formerly, arrived there the
very day the news was brought this Peace was being
signed " (September 24th). James seems to have
behaved very creditably, and merely sympathised with
Louis on the disagreeable necessity of having had to
conclude it ; while Louis so James told the Abbe de
La Trappe " was more mortify'd in telling it me than I
in heering it, he say'd indeed he would do all he could
to sweeten the bitter draught."
Neither James nor Maria was present at the
" appartement " that was held on the evening of their
arrival. For the rest, the visit passed as usual with
hunting and card parties. At one of the former the
little Princess of Savoy was accidentally present at the
death of a wolf, while out driving. The visit ended
on October 6th, and a few days after her return to
Saint-Germain, Maria wrote an account of it to her
friend, Mere Priolo, "La Deposee," at Chaillot:
"... I will be content with telling you that notwith-
standing all that has happened, we are satisfied from the
bottom of our hearts, with our great King. He was beside
himself with vexation at seeing us arrive at Fontainebleau
at the same time as the courier who brought news of the
peace. He showed for us much kindness, pity, and
even pain over what he was unable to avoid doing ;
for the rest, no change will take place in our residence
at Saint-Germain. It appears quite decided by what
he has told us ; I say ' appears,' for truly, after all we
have seen happen, how can one believe oneself sure of
anything in this world ? They have promised the King
to give me my dowry. I have begged him to be so
kind as to let it be paid to him for me, for I do not
TREATY OF RYSWICK 379
wish to ask or receive anything except from him, to
whom alone I wish to be under any obligation. But I
am letting myself be carried away, without wishing to
enter into the matter. I don't know what I've said,
but in any case pray burn my letter."
There were great festivities this autumn, in which
James and Maria took part at Versailles, and which,
one hopes, served as some distraction after all they had
been through. People said that his humiliations had
impressed James but little " in so much that as the
most shining virtues are not exempt from censure, so
the King's patience and seeming easiness was term'd an
insencibility and he in some measure despised, for what
merited the highest praises ; but he was no less apprised
of that than of the rest, and upon occasion speaking of
it, to a person of great piety sayd he was glad that
haveing lost everything else he had such frequent
occasions given him, of making a sacrifice of his repu-
tation too."
In November of this year the marriage of the
Princess of Savoy and the Duke of Burgundy was
celebrated with great magnificence, with gorgeous and
prolonged festivities. James and Maria arrived after
the actual marriage service, which took place on the
morning of November 23rd, when the two children,
accompanied by Monseigneur and all the Princesses,
proceeded to the chapel, where the marriage was cele-
brated and the register signed. Dangeau helped to
carry the bride's train, which, he observes, was very
heavy, in the passage to and from the chapel. After
mass there was a grand banquet of the royal family at
a horseshoe table, the King in his arm-chair in the middle,
with all the Princes and Princesses of the Blood to
380 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
right and left. The little Duchess was discreetly
carried off by Madame de Maintenon to her own
apartments, to rest there during the afternoon.
The day passed wearily. At seven o'clock James and
Maria arrived, and were at once set to play portique, till
eight, when a magnificent display of fireworks took place,
in spite of heavy rain. Supper was served immediately
afterwards, at which those present sat in the same order
as at dinner, except that Maria sat, as always, between
Louis and her husband. After supper, which was on
the most magnificent scale, they repaired to the little
Duchesse de Bourgogne's bedroom, where, after the
King had dismissed the men present, there was con-
ducted the legal and elaborate ceremony, customary in
those days, which are in some ways so akin to ours, in
others so infinitely remote, of putting the newly
married couple to bed. The little Duke undressed in
an anteroom with his tutor, the Due de Beauvilliers,
where James presented him with the nightshirt ; the
little Princess was undressed by her ladies, and presented
with her nightgown by the Queen of England. The
two children were then put to bed on either side of the
great old heavily draped four-post bed of the period,
with all its curtains looped back ; and Louis and every-
one else went away, except Monseigneur and his son's
tutor l and the Duchesse de Lude, and some other of
her ladies who were in charge of the Princess. Mon-
seigneur chatted for about a quarter of an hour with
the newly married couple, and then, as the Due de
Beauvilliers was taking his son away, he told him he
1 They sat in the " ruelle," the space between the bed and the wall,
which, in times when it was the fashion to conduct business and receive
guests in bed, played an important part.
TREATY OF RYSWICK 381
might kiss the Princess, against which the Duchesse de
Lude indignantly protested. Louis had said that his
grandson was not so much as to kiss the tip of the
Princess's finger till they became man and wife in more
than name, which did not take place till two years later.
The bride returned next day to her ordinary life and
her lessons at Saint-Cyr.
One would like to know what Maria d'Este wore at
this marriage. She cannot have hoped to vie with the
ladies of the French Court, for on this occasion a sort
of madness of extravagance seized everyone. Louis
himself said he wondered men could be such fools as
to ruin themselves in dresses for their wives. Even
Saint-Simon, while sneering at the folly of his neigh-
bours, spent 20,000 francs on dresses for himself and
his wife ; and there was such a demand for workpeople
that Madame la Duchesse, truculent as usual, sent her
servants to take away those of the Due de Rohan by
force, of which the King hearing, sent them back im-
mediately, with his usual good sense, though he very
much disliked De Rohan. On the nth James and
Maria came over again to a Court ball, the finest,
thinks that experienced courtier, Dangeau, that he had
ever seen. It began at the early hour of half-past six,
directly the party from Saint-Germain arrived. About
forty ladies, all magnificently dressed, took part in the
dancing, young and old, from the dowager Princesse de
Conti to the little bride. But the arrangements had
been made so badly that there was frightful over-
crowding. Even Louis himself was inconvenienced, and
Monsieur was hustled in the crowd. James and Maria
were at another ball on the following Saturday,
December i4th, at which things were better arranged.
382 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
They arrived half an hour late, for the roads were
slippery with hoar-frost, and their horses had been
delayed. After midnight the guests supped at seventeen
tables, and Louis found time for some talk with James
and Maria. The wedding festivities came to an end
with a performance of Destouches' opera, Isst, at
Trianon, at which the King and Queen of England were
again present.
CHAPTER XIX
JAMES Il's FORLORN HOPES FROM THE PAPACY AND
SCOTLAND PORTLAND'S MISSION
THOUGH James's hopes of seeing his wrongs redressed
through the intervention of the Papacy had ended in
a succession of disappointments, he still cherished
expectations from that ineffectual potentate. Of the
three men who had occupied the Chair of St Peter
since James's accession, Innocent XI. was the greatest.
Beneath an outward bearing of studious gentleness
and extreme humility he concealed a dauntless courage
and unyielding integrity. No one of his predecessors
had ever shown a more unflinching determination to
uphold the rights and dignity of the Papacy. He had
abolished the nepotism which was threatening to produce
a public bankruptcy, and he had defied at all hazards the
pretensions of Louis XIV. He was encouraged in his
attitude of resistance by the universal opposition that
the King of France had aroused in Europe, and by
the formation of the League of Augsburg, which he
had secretly joined. Innocent had never approved or
encouraged James's course of action when he was on
the English throne. He disliked the Jesuits, and, as
Ranke points out, " saw in everything which was done
383
384 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
in France and in England contrary to his wish and
will, the work not indeed of the whole order of the
Jesuits, for their General in Rome stood rather on the
side of the Pope but of a section of it which had
attached itself to the policy of Louis XIV., and on its
side did not recoil with horror from a breach with the
Pope." 1
Innocent XL, moreover, induced the General of the
Jesuits to rebuke James's Jesuit adviser, Father Petre,
for his ambition. James had not, therefore, much to
hope from the Pope when he took refuge with the
Most Christian King. Innocent's successor, Alexander
VIII., who ascended the Papal chair in 1689, maintained
the spiritual claims of the Papacy. The unsuccessful
attempts to interest him on James's behalf have been
recorded in a previous chapter. 2 Alexander died in 1 69 1,
and was succeeded by Innocent XII., a member of the
ducal family of Montelione in Naples. He modelled
his policy and conduct on those of Innocent XL, by
whom he had been promoted to the cardinalate, and he
patched up the quarrel with France and received the
submission of the French clergy. James sent Sir John
Lytcott on a mission to him to ask for financial
assistance for his proposed descent on England before
the battle of La Hogue in 1692. Innocent promised to
furnish twenty thousand crowns, after an interview in
which Lytcott urged his master's claims with extreme
importunity.
Lytcott, in his report of the audience, says : " The
truth is, I find on the whole he has been so teized and
threatened by the House of Austria, that he is in a
1 Ranke, History of England in the Seventeenth Century.
2 Chap. vii.
JAMES'S FORLORN HOPES 385
manner forced to trim, even contre-cceur, nay so far
that even the money mentioned is, he said, to pass as
subsistence for the poor Catholics and Churchmen.
Further he has given a kind of promise, he will still
use all efforts as soon as the news comes of the
descent." The Pope was as good as his word about
the money promised, which he sent to Lytcott next
day rather more even than had been promised. But
the envoy lingered on through the summer months of
1692, and in the meantime the victory of La Hogue
had cooled the zeal of James's friends at Rome, including
the Pope himself. At the end of July Lytcott wrote
an account of his farewell audience. On this occasion
his Holiness " reiterated his promises that he would
in ogne Punto do whatever he could. Quickly after "
(to prevent, perhaps, a further address) " he rang his
bell, and called for a little plate, on which was a chaplet,
two gold and two silver medals of his own impresa,
which he was pleased to give me out of his own hand,
with 200 indulgences, and a gracious kind of embrace,
whilst I did inginochiarmi to receive his last blessing ;
after which and returning humble thanks for all, and
leaving him to his own piety, I retired in form ; and
truly, whatever comes from him seems to proceed
perfectly from the bottom of a most sincere heart."
After Lytcott's return James had no representative
at Rome, though Cardinal Howard looked after his
interests unofficially and reported on them. Later on
Perth was sent to Rome. He gives a very instructive
and full account of the feeling with regard to the
claims of James and William III., whose respective
abilities were fully realised there. " All here," he says,
" are very cold in our concerns. Press them with the
25
3 86.THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
injustice the King meets with, you get a cold l Yes, he
is ill dealt by, but what shall we do to get a peace ?
For the Prince, if he lives, will reign no doubt ; but
how turn out the Prince of Orange ? He is in
possession. He is brave and wise, and has got the
way of managing England. He is master of Holland ;
he is the cement, that glues together the different
interests of the confederacy. If at last the collegati
should fail him ; if England should grow uneasy, he
has money laid up, an army at his devotion, and will
trouble Europe, if he get not leave to live out his
usurped possession.' This is the common talk, and
even some we look on as our firm friends believe this
to be reasonable." 1 A little later, in June 1695, Perth
sent a full account of his audience with the Pope.
He appeared fully sensible of James's sufferings, and
" said he was a saint. c But what can we do ? ' cried the
old man bitterly. ... * Catholic Princes will not
hearken to me, they have lost the respect that used to
be paid to Popes : religion is gone and a wicked policy
set up in its place.' . . . * God knows,' he said, * to
restore the King I would give my blood ; but Christians
have lost all respect, even to us, to us ! ' said he. ' But
can it be believed,' continued his Holiness, 'that I
should ever consent to any peace, that excludes that
good King from his just right. God forbid ! God
forbid ! But what will become of all this ? The
Prince of Orange is master : he is arbiter of Europe.
The Europeans and King of Spain are slaves and worse
than subjects to him. They neither dare nor will
venture to displease him ' and here he struck twice
with his hand upon the table and sighed. c If God '
1 Macpherson's Original Papers.
JAMES'S FORLORN HOPES 387
(said he) * by some stroke of omnipotence do it not, we
are undone.' '
To all these letters Caryll wrote sympathetic and
encouraging replies. He compares a European peace
that shall exclude James with that between Herod and
Pilate, and truly he exclaims : " It requires a virtue no
less consummated and try'd than our master's ; and
give me leave also to add, your lordship's, not to be
scandalised, at so much of the scribe and pharisee so
near the chair of Moses. In the meantime it is no
small comfort to every true Christian to find that his
Holiness himself, of all the Court of Rome, is the
least tainted with that corrupt policy which makes a
sacrifice of justice and even of religion to worldly
interest."
James sent a memorial to the Papal nuncio when
the terms of peace were being discussed, entirely
dissociating himself from any agreement with the
proposals, and especially from the suggestion that the
Prince of Wales should succeed to the throne of
England on William's death, to which " his Most
Christian Majesty had underhand prevailed with the
Prince of Orange to consent." 1 James seems to have
immediately repudiated this suggestion without giving
any consideration to it. His reasons for doing so he
set forth explicitly in his letter to the nuncio. The
Roman Catholic Princes, he affirmed, were in a league
to strengthen the enemies of their Holy Religion ; and
he continued : " But if to punish them God abandons
them to their blindness and that the state to which
Europe is reduced will oblige it to conclude a peace,
without doing justice to his Britanic Majesty, he hopes
1 Clarke, 574.
388 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
that his Holiness will not allow himself to be surprised
by the artful expedients which the mediators may
propose ; as his Britanic Majesty will never consent
that his incontestible right shall be called in question.
For instance, it cannot be denied but by receiving a
pension from the Prince of Orange, though there were
never so much cause for it, his Britanic Majesty would
tacitly renounce his right, and if he consented that the
Prince of Wales should reign that would be a formal
renunciation, because the Prince of Orange could only
promise a thing he could not perform because of the
reversion to Anne. The Prince of Wales by succeed-
ing the Prince of Orange yields his sole right which is
that of his father, and being obliged to the people for
his elevation would not reign except during their
pleasure, and therefore if his Britanic Majesty was
capable of consenting to so disgraceful a proposal he
might be justly reproached with ruining the monarchy,
which has always been hereditary, by making it elective."
Thus James obtained little from the Papacy but
sympathy, and that was practically all that the successive
Popes had either inclination or ability to give him.
At the beginning of the year 1698 he had to undergo
a new humiliation. William II I. 's great friend and
confidant, William Bentinck, Earl of Portland, was
sent on a confidential mission to Versailles. Among
other instructions confided to Bentinck was that of
inducing Louis to consent to the removal of James and
his family from Saint-Germain, and to refuse shelter in
France to conspirators against the life of the King of
England. The question of the Spanish Succession,
which was also to be discussed, did not directly concern
James.
JAMES'S FORLORN HOPES 389
His Memoirs only make brief mention of this
embarrassing occurrence. " His [James's] enemies
could not so easily lay aside their malice, as he the
remembrance of it, for immediately after the peace, the
Prince of Orange sending his great favorit Bentinck
in quality of ambassador into France, made use of that
occasion to press further hardships against the King
. . . the guilty conscience of his master, and those of
his party could not bear so near a sight of what
obraided them continually with their injustice and
infidelity, and hovered over their heads like a cloud
that still threatened a storm."
For obvious and practical reasons, it was a serious
inconvenience for William to have a father-in-law at
his gates who was unwearied in fomenting sedition,
and would have condoned his assassination. The pangs
of a guilty conscience did not appear in the demeanour
of his ambassador. England had never been so
splendidly represented. Portland was accompanied by
his son, Lord Woodstock, and twelve gentlemen, each
of whom had a numerous retinue. Crowds lined the
streets to see his entry into Paris in a state coach drawn
by eight grey horses ; he, whose stiff bearing and
uningratiating manners had rendered him generally
unappreciated among the English, with whose language
he was unfamiliar, became the man of the moment
in Paris.
The ambassador was fe"ted, courted, admired as a
model of all that was elegant and courtly. " The Earl
of Portland," says Saint-Simon, " came over with a
numerous and superb suite. He kept up a magnificent
table, and had horses, liveries, furniture, and dresses of
the most tasteful and costly kind." Portland had his
390 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
first audience of the King on the 4th of February, and
remained four months in France. His politeness, his
courtly and gallant manners, and the good cheer he
gave charmed everybody, and made him universally
popular. It became the fashion to give fe'tes in his
honour ; and the astonishing fact is, that Louis XIV.
who at heart was more offended than ever with the
Prince of Orange, treated this ambassador with the
most marked distinction. One evening he even gave
Portland his bedroom candlestick, a favour only
accorded to the most considerable persons, and always
regarded as a special mark of the King's favour.
Portland kept William III. fully informed of his
interviews with Louis XIV. and his minister. Writ-
ing from Paris on February 1 6th, he says :
" This morning I went to Versailles and saw the King.
. . . After I had finished speaking, he said that he
could not imagine why I asked that he should remove
King James ; that he was so near a relation, that he
was grieved for his misfortune, that he had liked him
for so long, and that in honour he could not send him
away, that Mar 1 de Bouflers had told me the same
thing positively at our interviews, and that upon this
I had desisted from my request, and that it ought to
be sufficient, that he gave his word that he would not
help him, and that he would sincerely maintain the
peace. I told him that there was no need to feel com-
passion for his withdrawal, since your Majesty had
engaged to give him or the Queen his wife about
50,000 sterling annually to live elsewhere, that if he
refused to withdraw on these terms it could only be in
the hope of using this money to raise commotions or
something worse, that your Majesty expected this with-
drawal as a thing agreed, since my only reason for not
continuing to insist upon having this inserted in an
39 1
article of peace was the regard which was felt for his
Most Christian Majesty, and that your Majesty did
not wish to exact a thing which might be disagreeable
to him, but that I had positively declared to him that
without this withdrawal the peace could not last, and
that he had immediately afterwards in the conversation
asked me where it was wished that he should retire, that
I had mentioned Rome or Modena, as to which he had
asked if Avignon would not be a suitable place, to which
1 had consented, that what confidence your Majesty
had in the word of his Most Christian Majesty could
not extend to what did not depend upon him, as, for
example, to what the seditious in England might
attempt, otherwise the English nation would be in a
perpetual mistrust as to the continuance of peace, and
that from the constitution of the Government, Parlia-
ment would not be induced to do what was necessary
to make it lasting, and that the principal means to
that end was to cause his withdrawal, as to which he
answered that absolutely he could never be prevailed
upon to make him do it. After this I reminded his
Majesty that he had said nothing as to the second
point which I had had the honour to mention to him,
which was that of the assassins. He said that he was
not acquainted with them, and did not know that there
were any of them here, and that his knowledge of the
affair was imperfect. I said that I could well believe
that his Majesty was not acquainted with men of that
sort, or at least not as such, and that if it were his
pleasure to be informed of the persons and the fact,
he had only to let me know in what authentic form he
wished me to do it, and that 1 would charge myself
with the duty of doing it to his satisfaction before any
steps were taken against these men. I named to him
the principal people in the proclamation ; he answered
that the D. of Barwick could only have been in
England for the landing (four la descente\ that S r
George Barckle was cashiered (cassi) with the company,
392 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
and that he did not know where he was, that of
Harrisson he had never heard speak, although I told
him that he had been made prior of an English convent
here, and as to Berkenhead, his Majesty said that he
had never been employed except to carry letters, and
after a short silence he said that it was useless to speak
further on the subject, since he could give no other
answer as to the one point or the other ; upon which
I withdrew. I can tell your Majesty that the Most
Christian King spoke this time in a much drier tone
than on the former occasion."
Writing later on this same subject of those concerned
in the plot to assassinate William, Portland says :
" The D. of Berwick expresses himself everywhere
with extreme resentment because when, in conformity
with your Majesty's orders, I have spoken of all those
who took part in that horrible plot to assassinate your
Majesty, he finds himself named amongst them, and
does not consider that his name is first in the Proclama-
tion. All the officers who are his creatures do the
same. If they continue to do this indecently against
one who is vested with the honorable character of
your Majesty's ambassador, I think that I shall be
obliged to take notice of it and to complain to his
Most Christian Majesty."
Portland was naturally anxious to avoid coming into
contact with the late King of England. Not so James,
who, with characteristic lack of tact, rather sought him
out : " On the 2yth [of May] there being a Review of
the troops of the Household in the Plain of Arches,
where the King and the Dauphin, the young Princes
of France, and divers persons of quality were present,
his Excellency went thither also ; but would perhaps
have forborne coming if he had known that King
James and the titular Prince of Wales had likewise
JAMES'S FORLORN HOPES 393
been there. The Prince of Wales, by his Father's
directions, endeavoured to join in conversation with the
Lord Woodstock, but the Lord Portland, his Father,
knowing the young Prince's design, order'd his son
to avoid him ; as he did himself all those that belong'd
to the Court of Saint-Germain, tho', it was reported,
King James had caused it to be insinuated to his
Excellency, that he never pretended to make his
Lordship answerable for the ill usage he received from
him he represented. At this Review King James did
all he could to engage the attention of Lord Cavendish,
and the other English noblemen to accost him, but all
imitated the Earl of Portland."
This was after Louis had given James a very
definite hint to avoid the English ambassador and his
suite ; he sent him a message through Lord Middleton,
soon after Portland's arrival in France, requesting him
to keep his household out of the way when the Earl
was at Versailles. 1 Dangeau, who mentions this fact,
says, apropos of Portland's visit, that James, who
bore this new reverse of fortune with admirable
modesty and constancy, lost nothing of Louis's attention
to himself, and was some cause of inconvenience to
Portland, who twice had to retire, once from Marly,
once from Meudon, when he intended to be present
at the royal hunt, because James was in the field.
The ambassador, he adds, received a rebuff from De
la Rochefoucauld, to whom he applied for permission
to hunt the royal hounds, receiving for answer that
De la Rochefoucauld was unable to put them at his
disposal, as he always held himself ready to receive the
King of England's orders. Louis himself was puncti-
1 Dangeau, February 17, 1698.
394 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
liously careful not to intermit his usual visits to Saint-
Germain, or his entertainments to Maria and James,
while the English ambassador was in France.
Portland comments in his letters to William on the
embarrassment caused him by coming into contact with
James and his court :
E. of P. to K. W.
"22 Feb. 1698 (N.S.), PARIS.
" I have reason to think that for the future they will
not allow Englishmen of the suite of King James to
come where I am, and the care which they take in this
regard will perhaps be all that I may expect."
"7 Mar. 1698, PARIS.
" Your Majesty's refusal to permit the English, Irish
or others to remain in England contrary to the Act of
Parliament angers them against King James, and dis-
quiets them greatly because they are poor and have
difficulty in living here. The Due de Lauzun who is
the principal counsellor of King James seems to affect
to pay me civilities to a degree that surprises everyone.
I do not know what his intention may be, if he has
one as I think. As King James often goes hunting
with the Dauphin, this often hinders my going, as I
do not wish to find myself with him. From the way
in which everyone tells me he speaks in my favour it
is thought that he would make no difficulty about
meeting me."
In June Portland took his leave.
The Act of Parliament alluded to by Portland was
another result of the peace which caused serious incon-
venience and a fresh burden to James. This law made
it high treason to hold any correspondence with the
exiled royal family, and obliged all those who had been
in James's service since the Revolution, or even in
JAMES'S FORLORN HOPES 395
France, unless they had had a pass from the Govern-
ment, to quit the British Isles, or be held guilty of high
treason. "This his Majesty sayd, afflicted him more
than all the rest, he was sencible what he had suffered
himself was nothing comparatively to what his past
disorders might justly deserve, but to see his Loyal
Subjects so used for their fidelity to him, was what
made him stand in need of a more than ordinary grace
to support." As a matter of fact, by far the greater
number of those who had incurred this penalty obtained
leave from William to remain in England, on giving a
guarantee of good conduct.
An additional cause of distress to James was the
influx of Irish priests into France, in consequence of the
banishment of the regular clergy after the peace. "So
that they came flocking over into France, and above
four hundred arrived there in some months after : the
relief of these distressed persons, together with such
numbers of other Catholicks as these bills of banish-
ment forced out of the kingdoms, brought a new burden
as was sayd, upon the King, who had the mortification
even after having distributed amongst them what was
necessary for his own support to see great numbers
perish for want, without his being able to relieve them."
The law enforcing this, to which William had always
been opposed, was found necessary, as its preamble
states, because the Popish priests " do not only
endeavour to withdraw his Majesty's subjects from
their obedience, but do daily stir up, and move sedition
and rebellion to the great hazard of the ruin and
desolation of this kingdom." All bishops, vicars-
general, and regular priests were to leave Ireland before
May 1698, or incur the penalties of high treason.
396 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
A solemn procession and intercession was held at Rome
for the persecuted Catholics of the three kingdoms.
Maria, writing to Chaillot in February 1698, says :
" From Rome they send us news that the Pope has
had public prayers for our persecuted Catholics in the
three kingdoms. There has been one of the most
solemn processions that has ever been seen in Rome.
All the secular and regular clergy took part in it, all
the Sacred College of Cardinals except three, two of
whom were ill. Our Holy Father intended to go to it
himself, if the weather had not been very bad. It
took place on Sunday, the day of the Conversion of
St Paul. I am sure they will be very glad to hear
this news at Chaillot, and I hope that God will hearken
to the prayers of so many of the faithful united together
for the conversion of sinners, and the perseverance of
the persecuted ; for this was the intention of these
prayers. The King, my husband, was not mentioned by
name, but as he is the chief of those persecuted, he is
prayed for in the first place, and I hope I am also
included, as I am among the number."
In this letter also Maria gives some details of their
life at Saint-Germain. She has been very well herself,
but the King has had slight fever for about a week,
though not sufficient to prevent his hunting and going
to Marly, where " we were the day before yesterday till
one o'clock, watching youth and age dance. I take very
little pleasure in all that, and even after it is over I
am greatly fatigued." She goes on to send news of her
children : " The Prince of Wales has had two big
teeth pulled out, and bore it with much fortitude.
They had been very painful and prevented him from
sleeping. They were decayed," adds his fond mother,
to whom all such details are precious, " and were the
JAMES'S FORLORN HOPES 397
last two in his mouth. . . . My daughter's nose is still
a little black from her fall ; for the rest, both of them
are well. Here is an exact account of the health of
all those who are dear to me, and to you as well, for
my sake." During this summer the Queen was ill
with fever, which left her very weak ; but she was well
enough to attend the baptism of the Chartres baby,
Madame's grandchild, at Saint-Cloud in August. Louis
was present. The Duchesse de Bourgogne was god-
mother to the child, who was christened Adelaide, while
Monseigneur stood godfather. After the ceremony was
over, the guests drove in the grounds in caleches. James
and Maria returned to Saint-Germain without waiting
for the " collation " that subsequently took place.
In September James attended the magnificent review
which, at De Maintenon's instigation, Louis was holding
at Compiegne for the military instruction of the young
Due de Bourgogne. It was so costly that, coming after
so long and exhausting a war, it amazed Europe, and
ruined individuals as well as whole regiments. 1 All
the Court were present. Marshal Boufflers entertained
James and Maria to lunch, together with Monseigneur
and his children, waiting on them himself. The review
seems to have resembled in some respects modern
manoeuvres. James was present at several mimic
engagements, and made a round of the trenches to see
the " improvements in modern warfare."
In October James and Maria paid their annual
autumn visit to Fontainebleau, coming via Paris. Louis
and the Court received them between their lodgings
and the chapel. The visit this year was diversified by
the marriage of Mademoiselle, Madame's daughter,
1 Dangeau.
398 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
with the Duke of Lorraine. His father had been
deprived of his dominions by Louis XIV., and died on
his way to Vienna, where he was to receive the command
of an army that might have restored to him his
birthright. On his deathbed he wrote to the Emperor :
" I departed from Inspruck to come and receive your
orders. Our God calls me hence, and I am going to
render Him an account of a life which I had devoted to
you. I humbly beseech your Majesty to remember
my wife, who is nearly related to you, my children,
whom I leave without any fortune, and my subjects,
who are oppressed." * Lorraine was restored to the young
Duke Leopold by the terms of the Peace of Ryswick.
James and Maria spent the second day after their
arrival in calling on members of the royal family.
The Princesses, who never seem to have lost an
opportunity of annoying Monsieur, announced their
intention of wearing mourning at the forthcoming
marriage of his daughter " Mademoiselle " with the
Due de Lorraine. As usual, he could never settle their
quarrels for himself, and complained to Louis, who
ordered them to send at once to Paris or Versailles for
suitable clothes.
The fianfailles of Mademoiselle took place at six
o'clock on the evening of Sunday, October I2th. Louis
went to see Mademoiselle beforehand, but she burst into
tears and cried so that he was quite affected by it
himself ; as for the Duchesse de Bourgogne, who also
went to see her, she cried so that conversation was
impossible. At the, fianf allies the dresses were superb,
especially that of Monsieur, who had decked himself
out in cloth-of-gold, with black satin trimmings and
1 Dalrymple.
JAMES'S FORLORN HOPES 399
diamonds. A magnificent diamond shone in his hat,
which was trimmed with black plumes ; he also wore
black silk stockings. Mademoiselle's dress was black
embroidered with gold, over a petticoat of silver cloth
embroidered with gold, and a veil of point cTEspagne.
The whole sounds heavy for her years, but the weight
of their clothes cannot have been heavier than the
hearts of the sad little reluctant brides of those days.
The marriage was by proxy, the Due d'Elbceuf repre-
senting Leopold Due de Lorraine. After the wedding
the Duchess of Lorraine was taken to Paris by her
father.
Kind as Louis was to his guests, and considerate as
ever in all that concerned their comfort, they could not
help feeling that their relations towards him were not
what they had been. Writing to the faithful Caryll
on October 1 4th, the Queen says : "... i thank God
the King is quite well, and i have been so ever since i
came hither, wee have seen this King in private but
once, and i sayd nothing of my concerns, i keep it for
the last visite, which will be to-morrow or next day,
and on Wednesday i hope to find my children and
friends at St Germains in good health. . . ." James also
wrote to the Secretary the day after, a letter which
suggests that he was something of a hypochondriac in
his later years. This letter is inscribed to " Mr Secretary
Caryll from J. R." It is written in a clear and large
hand, but the writing is slightly tremulous :
" This morning I receved yours of yesterday, with
the enclosd, w ch I send back to you, the Queene
and I read it this after diner and are much satisfyd with
the exact account he gives of all things under his care,
you did very well to give those directions you did to
400 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Mr Poore, but I hope L d Chancelor will recover by
what you say of him. Should he miscarry, 'twould
be a very great losse to me ; I left my will with S r
R. Nagle. I had in the night a little heat and unequal-
nesse in my puls w ch did not hinder my sleepihg, all
Mon. Faggon asked me was to drinke some the, and
ly some tyme in my bed, w ch I did till ten in the
morning, dined with the King, and have not found
further inconveniance, only did not go out with the
Queene to the Salut at the Lady, it being somewhat
cold, hoping in God to heare no more of this little
distemper, and to be able to go ahunting to-morrow,
two days since a courrier came from Spaine who con-
firms the [news of] that King's continuing in good
health." 1
On October 22nd the King and Queen returned to
Saint-Germain.
Towards the end of his life, James, disappointed
alike of substantial aid from the Pope and a restoration
at the hands of his English subjects, seems to have
looked towards Scotland as the goal of his hopes.
With the Revolution in Scotland James had been only
indirectly concerned, since his expectation of making a
triumphal entry into that country from Ireland had
been disappointed. The change of government there
had been accompanied by great disorder. The religious
question was more embittered, the dividing line
between parties more complicated, than in England. 2
Though actual warfare ended soon after the death of
the Jacobite leader, Dundee, Scotland in 1691 was, in
Dalrymple's phrase, " ripe for any mischief." The un-
1 Caryll Papers.
2 In the reign of the last two Stuarts, Episcopacy had been estab-
lished with much persecution, and Catholics had been put in the
principal offices.
JAMES'S FORLORN HOPES 401
fortunate Massacre of Glencoe in 1692 embittered the
Highlanders against the Government, 1 and subsequently
the failure of the Darien scheme profoundly irritated
the whole Scottish nation against the English Court.
This scheme of colonising the Isthmus of Darien
(Panama), which the Scots had hoped to make the
great market for Eastern trade, had ended in disastrous
failure and the death of nearly all the colonists. The
scheme was impracticable from the first, but the Scots
attributed its failure to English national jealousy, and
William's fear of rivalry to Dutch trade.
Thus it came about that James had many adherents
in Scotland. Among the most picturesque and affect-
ing scenes that can ever have taken place at Saint-
Germain, was the King's farewell review of the
followers of Dundee, who, being forced to fly to France,
took service as privates in the French army, that
they might avoid being a charge upon their King. 2
" They consisted of 1 50 officers, all of honourable
birth, attached to their chieftains, and to each other.
. . . Finding themselves' a load upon the late King,
whose finances could scarcely suffice for himself, they
petitioned that Prince for leave to form themselves
into a Company of Private Centinels asking no other
favour than that they might be permitted to chuse
their own officers." James assented. They repaired to
Saint-Germain to be reviewed by him, before they were
"modelled in the French army." A few days after they
came, they posted themselves, in accoutrements borrowed
from a French regiment, and drawn up in order, in a
1 History has exonerated William from all blame for this savage act of
tribal vengeance, to which he gave his assent under a misapprehension.
2 Dalrymple, vol. i. p. 358, and vol. ii., App.
26
402 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
place through which he was to pass as he went to the
chase. " He asked who they were, and was surprised to
find they were the same men with whom, in garb
better suited to their rank, he had the day before
conversed at his Iev6e. Struck with the levity of his
own amusement contrasted with the misery of those
who were suffering for him, he returned pensive to
the palace. The day he reviewed them, he passed along
the ranks, wrote in his pocket-book with his own hand
every gentleman's name, and gave him his thanks in
particular ; and then removing to the front, bowed to the
body with his hat off. After he had gone away, think-
ing honour enough was not done them, he returned,
bowed again, but burst into tears. The body kneeled,
bent their heads and eyes steadfast upon the ground,
then passed by him with the usual honours of war."
The King's speech on this occasion rises to an
eloquence foreign to him. " My own misfortunes,"
he exclaimed, " are not so nigh my heart as yours. It
grieves me beyond what 1 can express to see many
brave and worthy gentlemen, who had once the prospect
of being the chief officers in my army, reduced to the
stations of private centinels. Nothing but your loyalty,
and that of a few of my subjects in Britain, who are
forced from their allegiance by the Prince of Orange,
and who I know will be ready on all occasions to serve
me and my distressed family, could make me willing
to live. The sense of what all of you have done and
undergone for your loyalty, hath made so deep an
impression in my heart, that if ever it please God to
restore me, it is impossible I can be forgetfull of your
services and sufferings. Neither can there be any
posts in the armies of my dominions, but what you have
JAMES'S FORLORN HOPES 403
just pretensions to. As for my son, and your Prince,
he is your own blood, a child capable of any impres-
sions ; and as his education will be from you, it is not
supposable he can forget your merits. At your own
desires, you are now going a long march, far distant
from me. I have taken care to provide you with money,
shoes, stockings and other necessarys. Fear God, and
love one another. Write your wants particularly to me,
and depend upon it always to find me your parent
and King."
Perhaps James never felt the humiliation of his
position more keenly than when bidding farewell to
this little band of gallant gentlemen, who, after having
sacrificed their families and fortunes in a lost cause,
took service as common soldiers under an alien rule,
rather than burden with their support the man for
whose sake they were beggared. It may be that some
of these men returned to their homes in 1696. For
the Memoirs note that at the time of the Assassination
Plot, when Berwick had gone over to England, " several
gentlemen of the guards who were weary of serving as
common men, . . . desired leave to go over into
England and Scotland upon their private concerns."
It was thus towards Scotland that James's hopes
were directed in the closing years of his life. This
appears clearly from the letters of the Earl of Man-
chester, who came to Versailles as English ambassador
in the autumn of 1699, just at the time when James
and Maria were at Fontainebleau, so that he had to
defer his audience with Louis XIV. " I shall obey his
Majesty's orders," he writes, " in making the compli-
ments, when I shall have a convenient opportunity, for
at present it is not proper for me to go to Fontainebleau
4 o 4 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
if I were in a condition, the Court of St Germains
being there ; and they are like to continue so long,
that I imagine the Court will return to Versailles in
less than a fortnight after they leave that place." l
Manchester took care to receive constant intelligence
of the going and coming of Jacobite agents at Saint-
Germain, which he immediately communicated to the
English Government ; they seem to have been for the
most part obscure persons of little account. "The
state of affairs at St Germains continues much the
same as it was," Manchester wrote at the end of
September ; " they are still pleasing themselves with
hopes the nation will recall them at last," though their
best chance at present, he adds, is that the death of the
King of Spain may plunge Europe into a War of
Succession. He is informed that " K. J. has certainly
a considerable sum of money, and it is said to be two
hundred thousand English pounds. He is in a very
good humour, and his emissaries here, do all they can
to get the English to St Germains. I am apt to think
they prevail mostly with the Scotch." On this point
he is very explicit. " One Berkeley, a short thick
brown fellow, aged about twenty-eight, with a large
mouth, came about a fortnight past to St Germains
and brought a letter from Lord Drummond and some
other noblemen of Scotland, to Lord and Lady Perth.
The chief matter he came about was to communicate
a design they had formed of debauching the Army
there, and that they had already begun by some
dragoons. They have invented a sort of Button, which
every one that engages for King James wears on his
Coat ; that they have a small Roll of Parchment in each
1 Memoirs of Affairs of State, Christian Cole, 47.
JAMES'S FORLORN HOPES 405
Button, on which are written the first letters of these
words : l God bless King James and prosper his interest,'
which will appear out of the Button, if it be turned
round by an Instrument like a screw, made on purpose.
Berkeley is gone to St Amand to receive Orders of
my Lord Melfort."
These letters of Manchester are specially valuable,
even coming from a hostile witness, as they lift the
veil from Saint- Germain, about which there is little
intelligence obtainable at this time. As he becomes
better informed of the condition of affairs there, he
writes on November 4th : " I am now assured that the
only Hopes they have at St Germains is in the present
conjunction of affairs in Scotland by the disappointment
of Darien, etc. It is certain they are under debate,
whether they shall not send some person of Note with
Proposals to the most considerable men there."
Both James and Maria had been ailing from time
to time during this year 1699, and towards the end of
it the King's health gave cause for considerable anxiety.
Maria was taken ill again with violent colic during
their visit to Fontainebleau, and was unable to attend
mass, or take her meals in public. Writing to Caryll
on September 2ist, she says :
" i have been ill two or three days, but thank God
i am quite well again, this is the first day i have been
so, have been but once a hunting, and not played at all,
so that i have don nothing extraordinary since i came
hither ; the King hunted three days together, but i
thank God he is very well, we have sayd nothing yet
of going away but i hope it shall be next weeke with-
out faile. hear is not one word of news, i am sure it
is non to tell you that you have all my esteem and
friendship. M. R."
4 o6 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
James also wrote to Caryll from Fontainebleau :
" FOUNTAINBLEAU, 1699.
" Parry gave me your letter with the Scale in it you
sent me, w ch it seems I droped, lett him that found it
have a Louis-d'or, yesterday was a day of rest for we
only took the aire by the cannal side in Coaches, this
day we began to hunt, had a short chase, so that to-
morrow I am to go out againe, pray lose no tyme in
sending to me those letters I expect for no tyme is to
be lost. J. R."
Nothing else of moment happened during their visit,
except that James's son, Henry Fitz James, the Duke
of Berwick's brother, whom he had created Duke of
Albemarle, was thrown from his horse while out hunting,
and picked up unconscious. It had been said of him when
he was in Ireland that he was generally too drunk to sit
a horse. The King and Queen left Fontainebleau on
October i st. Dangeau declares them to have been " plus
contents que jamais de la bonne reception qu'on leur
a faite ici et de tous les honneurs qu'on leur a rendus.
On a ete fort contents d'eux aussi, rien n'est egal a
la vertu, a la politesse et a 1'honne'tete de la reine,"
which Maria expresses in other words to "La Deposee"
at Chaillot : " We are here treated by the King and by
all the Court as we have been in other years, and that
is to say all, for it could not be improved upon. You
know how I have always spoken of it to you."
In November James was taken ill : he had been
troubled by gout earlier in the autumn. Maria
hurried back from a visit she was paying to Chaillot
to nurse him. " He was surprised and very glad
to see me arrive," she wrote to her friends there.
" He has had very bad nights, and has suffered
JAMES'S FORLORN HOPES 407
much for three or four days, but thank God, since
yesterday, that is much better." She is sleeping in a
little bed in his room, she says " and you may believe,
my dear Mother, that I have suffered not a little in
seeing the King suffer so much." After thanking her
sisters for their prayers, she continues : " My own health
is good. God does not send all sorts of afflictions
at the same time. He knows my weakness and He
deals gently with it. ... I recommend my son to
your prayers, who will make his first communion at
Christmas, if it please God."
CHAPTER XX
JAMES'S LAST DAYS AND DEATH
THE year 1700, the last that James and Maria were
destined to spend together, did not dawn auspiciously
for them. The kindness of the French King could
not conceal from them the alteration in their position.
"On vit encore poliment avec la famille royale," writes
Madame, alluding to Saint-Germain, " mais on fait tout
ce que veut le roi Guillaume." Manchester speaks of
the Court there being in high spirits, and having large
sums of money ; but in so far as the Queen's letters
to Chaillot reflect their condition, they reveal failing
health and financial anxiety. A letter written in
August by the Queen leaves no doubt of the straits
in which the Stuarts were at this time for money. It
appears from a very guarded passage that Maria had
made some application to De Maintenon for pecuniary
help ; it is difficult to see to whom else she can be
alluding by "la personne a qui j'ouvris mon cceur."
Her representations were disregarded, and she describes
herself as " astonished and humiliated," and continues :
" However, I do not believe I am sufficiently humble
to speak to her of it a second time whatever in-
convenience I suffer. No more is there any order
408
JAMES'S LAST DAYS AND DEATH 409
from Rome with regard to our poor. On the contrary,
the Pope is very ill, and I think he will die before
giving way, so that yesterday we formed the resolution
of selling some jewellery to pay the pension due in
the month of September, and subsequently it will be
necessary to do the same thing every month, unless
help comes from elsewhere, of which I see no
prospect."
The discontent in Scotland, the rumours of William
III.'s failing health, the possibility that Charles of
Spain's death without a direct heir would plunge
Europe into a War of Succession all these chances
indeed might suggest vague hopes to Jacobite exiles ;
but this sentence of Madame's, " We still live civilly
with the royal family," shows how illusory such hopes
were in reality.
In the midst of an approaching crisis which might
at any moment convulse Europe, the event of most
moment to Maria was the first communion of her son,
the Prince of Wales, " who, thank God, has appeared to
make his first communion in a very good spirit," she
writes to Chaillot. " I was unable to contain my tears
at seeing him communicate, and it seems to me that I
have given him to God with my whole heart, entreating
Him to let him live only that he may serve, honour,
and love Him. The child appears to me to be well
resolved to do so, and he has assured me that he would
rather die than offend God mortally." Poor little boy
of twelve years old brought up in this nun-like
atmosphere, how could he ever hope to bear his part in
the world like a man ? The Queen writes again a
little later of the Prince's serious illness, which has
evidently caused her acute anxiety : " For myself
4 io THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
I have been more frightened than ill, and my illness
has never been anything more than a severe cold with
half a day's fever. I still have a little cold, but
nothing that matters. What frightened me was the
serious illness of my son, for during thirteen or
fourteen days the fever never left him, and he was
hardly a little recovered when the King fell ill with it.
I own to you that I thought this would overwhelm me
with distress, but, thank God, he only had one attack,
and a very severe cold from which he is not yet free.
This attack alone has very much reduced and weakened
him, and he still can go no further than the little
Chapel of the Children. This is why I was unwilling
to leave him alone here to go to Chaillot ; but for the
last two days his cold has been better, and he is
recovering his strength so well that I hope to see him
quite recovered before the end of this week. My son
is also much pulled down and is very weak, but he is
also recovering these last two days, and went to mass
for the first time the day before yesterday. My poor
daughter also had a violent feverish attack for two
days, but she has been going out for some days, and is
entirely recovered, so much so, that, thank God, we are
now all out of hospital, and this morning the King and
1 communicated together in the little chapel."
A little later, in March, the Queen writes again to
" La Deposee " about her own health in the intimate
way in which people of those days delighted in medical
details concerning which a modern correspondent would
prefer to be reticent. The poor Queen had sufficient
cause for anxiety, but two hundred years ago physical
ills of a serious nature were only to be met by resigna-
tion, though people sometimes called in some obscure
JAMES'S LAST DAYS AND DEATH 411
monk with a reputation for skill in simples, much as
the adventurous to-day call in a bone-setter after the
legitimate practitioner has failed. Maria had at least
had many opportunities of practising resignation. " I
know not how God will deal with me," she writes,
" in this or in aught else. I try to resign myself un-
reservedly into His hands, so that He may do with and
through me all that He pleases. . . . The King is
wonderfully well, thank God, in soul and body. My
son has a very bad cold. My daughter often has
toothache."
During the ensuing spring and summer, things
went on as usual. There were two marriages in the
English royal family. The Duke of Berwick, a
widower of two years, married a daughter of Colonel
Bulkeley, on April i8th ; and in July Henry Fitz James
married a Mademoiselle de Lussan. She was the
daughter of a maid of honour to Madame la Princesse,
and the marriage had been arranged with Maria
through the intervention of the Duchesse de Maine,
who was fond of Mademoiselle de Lussan. His bride
brought Fitzjames a dowry. He had, says Dangeau, 1
only 9000 livres, an allowance from James, and 6000
francs as " chef d'escadre." Manchester gives a slightly
different version of this occurrence. " Mr Fitz-
james," he says, " who is lately married, is to be made
Duke of France. 1 suppose she is not willing to trust
to his dukedom in England (Albemarle). The King
gives him a pension of 20,000 livres, and he is to have
an apartment and a table from the Duke of Maine,
both at Versailles and at Paris. All this is done by
Madame de Maintenon, who is very fond of the
1 Vol. Hi., July 8, 1700.
4 i2 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
young lady." 1 Maria was ill in July, but at the end
of September the usual Fontainebleau visit took place.
Dangeau mentions the fact that each journey they made
there cost Louis 20,000 ecus. The visit, which lasted a
fortnight, was without incident, except that the )uchess
of Albemarle, Fitzjames's wife, having taken a tabouret
in the presence of the Duchesse de Bourgogne, was
requested to pay the usual fee of 100 pistoles due on
such an occasion from duchesses. The lady, who
seems to have had plenty of pretension, declined to pay
it on the ground that she had a right to a tabouret as a
daughter-in-law of a king, and not as a duchess.
Louis upheld this wholly illegitimate claim, out of
consideration for James and Maria, and instructed the
Duchesse de Lude to forbid the valets de chambre to
demand the fee in future.
A letter of Madame to her aunt, the Electress
Sophia, gives a vivid glimpse of James at this time
becoming rather senile, and foolishly good-natured :
" The King and Queen of England talked of nothing
but you. The good King had tears in his eyes, he is
so fond of you. He said, raising his two hands, * Ooo
pou pour cela, ell ell ell me ma toujours aimee ' ;
for he stammers more than ever." 2 The Queen de-
scribes the visit, after her return to Saint-Germain, in a
letter to Chaillot : " Thank God, I have never had such
good health at Fontainebleau as this year. The King
my husband, too, has been perfectly well. He hunted
nearly every day and has grown fat. We had the
finest weather in the world ; and the King of France,
as usual, has overwhelmed us with a thousand marks of
1 C. Cole.
2 October 6, 1700. Correspondance de Madame.
JAMES'S LAST DAYS AND DEATH 413
his kindness, and of a cordial friendship, which gives
us the greatest pleasure. All the royal family has
followed his example, and all the Court."
To Caryll she wrote more unreservedly. Speaking
of Louis's kindness, she says : " This King has been
but once in privat with us, and i find that he thinks the
P. of Orange is not well, he is as civil and kynd to us,
as he uses to be, and wee as modest and as silent, as
to any thing of businesse." In another letter she tells
him that " Lord Manchester [the Earl of Manchester,
English ambassador] at last is to be hear next friday to
give notice of the death of the young prince of Den-
mark ; i wish after staying so long that he had stayd
three days longer, and we should have been gon, for
tho we have not yet named the day for our going
away, wee intend it the 1 1 or 12 of this month ; i
beleive i shall have no mor to say to you betwixt this,
and that time, without you furnish me with som new
matter, i shall have a real estime, and sincere friendship
for you, as indeed i owe you upon a thousand accounts.
M. R., October 3."
Manchester, who thought Saint-Germain was giving
itself too great airs, took the opportunity of paying a
visit to Fontainebleau while James and Maria were
there, in order to humiliate them. Writing to Lord
Jersey, who was then Lord Chamberlain, on October
nth, he says: 1 "I have reason to think that my
going to Fontainebleau, whilst the Court of Saint
Germains was still there, may have a good effect ; for of
late, all about them are grown to so great a heighth as
is not to be imagined, and I fear they have gained upon
too many of the English that are here. They heard of
1 Christian Cole.
4 i4 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
my coming for some time, and yet would not believe
it. I find it has humbled them mightily. I did not
avoid anything that was necessary to my character (as
ambassador). My coach came to the great stairs, which is
under the apartment of the late King (James). I saw
several faces I knew in England, but I hope never to see
them there again."
The intelligence from Saint-Germain that Manchester
was able to glean for his English despatches does not
amount to very much, yet such little scraps of news make
up the mosaic of history. Several Scottish gentlemen
had come over in July to see what James was disposed
to do and to raise funds ; but " those of Saint Germains
seem not disposed to part with money " for the best
of reasons. Manchester describes them a little later as
being in " extraordinary joy " owing to the very dis-
quieting reports of the King of England's state of
health, and says " how pleased they are, and confident
of being soon in England." When news came of the
death of the little Duke of Gloucester, Anne's child,
the Court went into mourning, and a hunting party
that had been arranged for the Prince of Wales was put
off out of respect for his nephew. The ambassador
also conveys sinister rumours of a design for William's
assassination by one William Davison, in which he was
associated with William Grimes. There was apparently
a family of this name at Saint-Germain. A Peter Grimes
and his cousin, Colonel William Grimes, had been
among Dundee's officers. He had been in receipt
of a pension from James in Edinburgh, according to
Manchester. But every kind of obscure adventurer
seems to have had the entree to Saint - Germain
latterly. "They see every day new faces, who come
JAMES'S LAST DAYS AND DEATH 415
to make their court there," but "there are few of
note that go." 1
In November took place the death of Charles II. of
Spain, an event that had long been anxiously anticipated
by every European State. The question was one of
the preservation of the balance of power in Europe.
France and the Empire both had claims to the Spanish
dominions, which comprised Spain, the Netherlands, the
Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, the Duchy of Milan,
besides the New World colonies, such as Mexico, Peru,
Chili, and Cuba. Charles II. having no direct heir, his
dominions passed to his aunt Maria, or to one or other of
his sisters, Louis XI V.'s wife, Maria Theresa, or Leopold's
wife, Margaret. In this very general statement of
the position, the merits of their respective claims, which
had now passed to their descendants, need not be dis-
cussed ; but Louis XIV. claimed the throne of Spain
for his grandson, the Duke of Anjou. The Emperor
claimed it for his son, the Archduke Charles of Austria.
Philip III., King of Spain
Philip IV. Maria = Emperor Ferd. III.
Charles II. Maria Theresa = Louis XIV. Margaret = Leopold I. = Princess of
j | Neuburg
Dauphin Electress of Bavaria
I I
Philip D. of Anjou. Joseph, Electoral Archduke
Prince of Bavaria, Charles of
died 1699. Austria.
The matter, it was believed, had been arranged by a
compromise. By the Second Partition Treaty of 1700,
it was provided that Spain, the Netherlands, and the
colonies were to go to Austria. When, however,
1 The Earl of Manchester (Christian Cole).
4 i 6 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Charles II. died, it was found that he had made a will
leaving the whole of his dominions to the Duke of
Anjou. The will was immediately accepted by Louis
XIV. on behalf of his grandson.
This enormous accession to the power of France at
once raised the hopes of Saint-Germain. " I do assure
you," writes Manchester, " there is great joy at Saint-
Germain. The late King goes this day to wait on the
Duke of Anjou. I was last night at Monsieur's, who is
at Paris, where I found Lord Melfort, who gives him-
self other airs than he used to." The ambassador adds
later, that James believes he (Manchester) will be for-
bidden to come to Versailles. By the same letter he
sends warning that a Captain Robert Maxwell has just
left Saint-Germain with letters for Scotland ; that he
knows the whole secret affairs of that country; and
may be identified as "he wants two teeth before."
Early in 1701 he reports that Middleton has had
an interview with the French ministers to ask for
troops for Scotland. " The only hopes they have
now left at Saint-Germain are, that they are to be
restored by a French power in a short time, and the
intrigues carried on in Scotland are too apparent to
be doubted on."
In March of this year James was taken ill. He had
two fits of apoplexy. Writing to Chaillot from his
sick-room on March I3th, Maria says : "I take this
moment, while the King is sleeping, to write you a
word by his bedside. I read him your letter, and he
has charged me to heartily thank our Mother, yourself
(" La Depose ") and all our sisters for your prayers and
for the interest that you take in his illness, which is not
painful, but I fear dangerous, for he has an extreme
JAMES'S LAST DAYS AND DEATH 417
weakness in the right hand and leg which threatens
paralysis. His brain is quite free, thank God, but he
trembles for fear that it may mount to the head."
Manchester gives a less favourable account of the
old King's health, and his projected journey to
Bourbon, to take the waters there. " He is far from
being well, and is very much broke of late, so that
none think he can last long. His stay at Bourbon will
be of three weeks. He is to be eleven days agoing,
and as long coming back. They intend to pump
[douche] his right arm, which he has lost the use of,
and he is to bathe and drink the waters. They desired
but thirty thousand livres of the French Court for this
journey, which was immediately sent them in gold. I
don't know how they may advise him after that to a
hotter climate, which may be convenient enough on
several accounts. In short his senses and his memory
are very much decayed, and I believe a few months
will carry him off."
The Bourbon journey, which the Queen undertook
with her dying husband, hoping against hope for his
recovery, can fortunately be reconstructed step by step.
For some months past, stray allusions in contemporary
letters do no more than tear little rifts, as it were, in
the mists of time, through which the life of the Court
at Saint-Germain can be seen in evanescent glimpses ;
but now a fuller record survives to illumine the stages
by which the King and Queen travelled with toil and
trouble in their slow, lumbering carriages over bad
roads. James had been taken ill while he and the
Queen were at mass in the chapel of Saint-Germain
on March 4th. Maria, kneeling beside him, her head
bent down in prayer, did not observe it, as her coif
27
4 i 8 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
concealed her husband from her ; but the officiating
priests, noticing the King's pallor, signed to some of
those present to come forward, and James was lifted
into a seat, where he remained unconscious and
apparently dead for some time, while the Queen was
beside herself with anxiety. At last, opening his eyes,
and evidently believing himself to be dying, he said
to her : " I pity you from my heart ; for myself I am
content." His wife said afterwards that there never
was a more patient, obedient, and contented invalid,
for he did all that was required of him, accepted
submissively every remedy that was given him by
his doctors, and cheerfully awaited the death that he
desired.
On the nth James had an attack of paralysis which
affected his right side. He expressed satisfaction at his
sufferings, saying : " Is it not just that I should do
penance in my own body ? for till now I have never
suffered anything physically, having always had good
health, and I have been a great offender before God."
From this attack James gradually rallied so far tha.t
Fagon, Louis XIV.'s physician, recommended a visit
to Bourbon. It was arranged that they should leave
Saint-Germain on April 4th. Louis, who had been
throughout James's illness assiduous in his attentions,
came to bid them farewell. He was allowing them
100,000 francs a month for their travelling expenses,
and had provided twenty-six carriage-horses and all the
necessaries of the journey. Indeed, Maria could not
speak feelingly enough of his goodness to them at this
time. She was deeply touched by it. " For my part,"
she said to the nuns of Chaillot, " I owe him everything
that I am," and after recounting his past kindness she
JAMES'S LAST DAYS AND DEATH 419
added : " After all that, I own that I did not know him,
and that I should never have believed him capable of
the tenderness that he has shown for us, thinking of
everything for our journey men, money, horses in
abundance ; and when he came to say good-bye to us
two days ago he said : c I come to tell you on behalf
of M. Fagon that it is time to start. He made you
put off your journey, but at present he hastens your
departure."
On the first day of their journey, James and Maria
made a short stay at Chaillot, where they arrived
towards evening. The King looked better than they
expected ; he showed the good nuns, with childish
pleasure, how he could now move his hand without
difficulty, but they noticed that he still dragged his
right leg a little. He assured them that he believed
he owed his recovery to their prayers, and begged for a
continuance of them. After seeing the King off to Paris,
where she was to join him the next day at the Due de
Lauzun's, Maria spent a long time talking with her
friends, telling them all the details of her husband's
illness, his piety, and the goodness of the French King.
On leaving she gave them a purse of a hundred louis-
d'or, saying that she hoped some day to be able to
repay her debt to them, and, taking leave early on the
morning of the 5th, joined James in Paris. The next
day the King and Queen continued their journey by
very easy stages of seven leagues a day, starting after
dinner in order not to exhaust James's feeble energies.
They went by way of Essone, Fontainebleau, Nemours,
and arrived on Saturday the 9th at Montargis. From
here the Mother Superior of the Convent of the
Visitation sent a full account of the royal visitors
420 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
to Chaillot. 1 The Queen had come to vespers and
admired the singing ; accompanied by only one or two
ladies, she went over the monastery, winning all by her
gentle and modest bearing, and holding out hopes that
the King too might visit the nuns, if he were
sufficiently recovered, on his return journey. She had
added that her greatest ambition was to become one
of the least of the daughters of the Visitation. A
Protestant follower of James was left behind here ill,
and abjured his religion on his death-bed, "a marvellous
conversion," for which a Te Deum was sung in the
parish church.
After leaving Montargis, the King and Queen slept
at Briare on April nth, arriving at Cosne on the i2th. />
Here Lady d' Almond takes up the pen. "We
must hope," she says, " that the King will be so well
from the waters for which he is making this journey
that we need not complain of the fatigues that we
undergo, which for the Queen are not light, or of the
cold that there has been since last Tuesday, and to-day
we perish of heat, of the dirt of everything except
what we brought with us." On the i3th La Charite
was reached, and there James was obliged to rest to
recover from a slight attack of gout. They arrived
at Nevers on the I9th. Here they stayed at the
episcopal palace. The nuns of the convent there were
assembled by the bishop to see their arrival at his
house, and Maria, catching sight of them, clapped her
hands and exclaimed how glad she was to see them,
and that she would come to the convent that evening
-1 The nuns of Chaillot fortunately preserved the letters and accounts
of this journey of James and Maria, and collected them into a sort
of journal.
JAMES'S LAST DAYS AND DEATH 421
a visit she was obliged to defer till next day, owing to
the long addresses of welcome from the officials of the
little town ; for Louis had given orders as to their
reception at the places visited on their route. The
Mother Superior of Nevers described the splendour of
their entertainment by the archbishop.
One little incident greatly annoyed the good
mother on the occasion of Maria's visit to the convent.
" Mme. la Marquise des Poisses, our benefactress, eighty-
four years old, ill for a month, and afflicted in mind and
body, bethought herself of paying us a surprise visit,
as is her right, came here, and with her a number of
people crowded in too. The Queen looked surprised
at seeing such a crowd in our house." The mother begs
that Madame Priolo, "La Deposee" of Chaillot, to whom
she is writing, will assure the Queen that this shall be
avoided on her return. Poor Lady d'Almond, who
speaks so feelingly of the discomforts of the journey,
was left behind ill, with a feverish cold, which took
away her voice. She rejoined the Queen later. On the
i8th the royal party arrived at Bourbon, and Lady
d'Almond wrote to Madame Priolo, to say that the
King was better, and the Queen was well. They have
everywhere been received as if it were the King of
France himself, she says. " It is indeed admirable and
astonishing to see the sincere and deep kindness of the
great monarch for our King and Queen. He has
thought of everything that could contribute to make
their journey less fatiguing and more pleasant and
convenient. He has sent here furniture for their room
and their house, forgetting nothing. I exclaimed in
public, * Oh ! what a good thing it is for your Majesty
to have such a King for a friend ! '
422 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
A medical consultation was held on the King's
arrival, and " on resolu de purger le Roy samedi, et de
comencer a luy donner des eaux en petite quantite
dimanche." A little room opening off the Queen's
was fitted up as a chapel, where the King could hear
mass when it was cold, or when he was taking the
waters. James and Maria were well lodged a good
room for the King, one for the Queen, an ante-chamber,
a good room for the baquets (tubs). Their attendants
were equally well cared for. The day after her arrival
the Queen wrote herself to Caryll :
" Tho' i have had no tre from you since my last, yet
i will give you the satisfaction to hear from myself that
wee gott safe to this place, last night at seven aclock, i
thank God the King grows better every day then
other, his goute is quitt gone, he eats well sleeps
well, and his hand and knee are much stronger, then
they were, if the waters do but never so little good, he
must go back quitt well ; wee shall know this night,
after having consulted the phicitians of this place, when
he may begin to drink, but every body agrees, he must
take som days rest after so long a iourney, it has
indeed been very troublesom, but for my part i ought
not to complaine, for i never was better in my life, and
ther is few of the whole traine that have kept so well
as myself ; it has cost poor Berkenhead l very dear, or
to say beter, he has purchased heaven very cheap, for i
hope in God's mercy he will have it ; being dead with
all the sentiments of a true Christian, and a good
Catholic, God almighty has been very good to him,
and shewd him a particular providence in his sicknesse
and death, the King and i are realy concerned for his
death, but wee can not but be overioyed at the manner
of it ; the King bids me tell you, that he would have
1 The death-bed convert.
JAMES'S LAST DAYS AND DEATH 423
you send Hirne to take what papers he might have in
his chamber, and particularly look for those that are
mentioned in the enclosed note, if they be worth it,
send them to me, if not keep them with the rest, that
you shall find worth your keeping ; i must writt to
M e de Maintenon from whom i had a very kynd long
tre last night, therefor i can not writt to L d Perth, nor
Lady Middleton, for i have writt to my daughter
and am weary already, pray tell them so, and that i will
do it the next post, by which i hope i shall hear from
yourself, for i think it long since i did ; (we had last
night the english tres)."
James began to recover while he was at Bourbon.
On fine days he walked on the terrace of the Capucins,
whose church adjoined the house in which he was stay-
ing. The Queen attended mass in the little parish
church. It was the season at Bourbon, so that many
visitors were there, and went to pay their court to
the English royal family, among them members of
religious houses, whom Maria thought should have
remained in their monasteries. Meanwhile James
bathed and had douches and took the waters, and
walked in a little garden. Madame de Maintenon
wrote regularly, sending any news that could amuse and
interest her correspondents. In May Lady d' Almond
sends a bulletin to Chaillot. The doctors are agreed,
she says, that their Majesties' health is very good, and
the King is to discontinue all remedies ; the douche of
the day before had produced a haemorrhage, which was
not considered serious. James thought it came from
his head ; he had had it before at Saint-Germain, and
again at La Charite, but attached no importance to it.
Only it was necessary to avoid irritating him. On
their return journey, which was to take place shortly,
4 2 4 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
they, would make some stay at Moulins, where the
Queen wished to visit a convent of the Visitation.
Before leaving Bourbon Maria wrote again to
Caryll :
" I have putt off writing to you in hopes still every
post to receive a tre from you, but i find what i thought
impossible, that you hate writting yet mor, then i do,
since you can hold out longer without writting to me,
then i can to you, for without any manner of compli-
ment i may tell you, that it has realy been uneasy to
me, to be so long without hearing from you, and even
without writting to you ; but having engaged myself
to my children to write to them every post, and beeing
often obliged to write to Lord Perth and L y Middleton
for what concerned them, besides the Duchesse of
, and once a week constantly to M e de Maintenon
as she has don to me, i realy was comonly so weary
every post day, that i still putt it off, not doubting but
that L d Middleton and M r Innesse gave you an
account of all that was worth it hear, which is only the
King's health, which also i gave an exact account to
my children, and when ther has been any thing extra-
ordinary i have made M r Constable give an account to
Sir William to impart it to you ; you need not be
frighted at the last account, for God be thanked the
King is very well, and i dont doubt but you will find
him much altered for the better, when you see him, we
shall go from hence on munday if it please God, but
you must not expect us in a fortnight after that, you
shall have our roote, and i desire to hear from my
children upon the road as often as i have don hear, tho
i do not promise them to writt them so often, the King
would have had me som time ago have writt on purpose
to you, to putt you in mind of his memoirs, but M r
Inesse has assured us, that you are hard at worke about
them, so that now wee only owe you thanks, and wee
give them to you most heartily, begging of you to go
JAMES'S LAST DAYS AND DEATH 425
on till you perfect the worke, i hope in God the King
will perfect that of his health for all the Doctors hear
assure us, that he will find yett mor benefit by these
waters a month hence, then he does at present, tho he
finds a great deel ; i hope you have kept your health
as well as i have don mine, and that wee shall find one
another when wee meet, as well, as when we parted, and
as good friends, mor of me you can not desire, for it is
impossible to augment either the esteem, or kindnesse i
have had for you ever since i knew you well. M. R."
The visit of the King and Queen to Moulins on their
return journey must have exhausted James's feeble
energies. They arrived on Monday, May 24th. He
was tired, and rested the most of the day. On Tuesday
they went to hear mass at the Jesuits, and in the
afternoon received congratulatory addresses from all
the officials of the place. In the evening Maria went
over the convent of the Visitation, spending some
time in edifying conversation with the nuns, and kneel-
ing before the relics of the convent, the heart and eyes
of Mere Chantal of blessed memory, which were pre-
served in crystal. The next day they both heard mass
at the Visitation, and received the holy communion
from Monseigneur d'Autun. From thence they
proceeded to the parish church, where they listened to
an address from the bishop at the head of his clergy,
and afterwards high mass. After this James was allowed
a short respite ; he sat on his balcony to watch a
religious procession from Notre Dame, which was
followed by the Queen on foot. In the evening they
both went to Notre Dame for the sermon and Salut.
On the yth of June the King and Queen arrived
home again, and the next day Louis went to Saint-
Germain to visit them, as well as most other members
426 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
of the family. James was much better for his journey,
but, as Dangeau phrases it, " ce n'est pas une sante sur
laquelle on puisse conter." He was well enough to
visit Marly in August, but in September he became
rapidly worse. Madame, who went to visit him, wrote
afterwards :
"Sept. 8, 1701.
" I found King James in a piteous state. His voice,
it is true, was still as strong as usual, and he recognised
people ; but he looks very bad, and has a beard like
a Capucin. Last Sunday, after having received the
sacraments, he summoned his children and household,
gave them his blessing after which he preached a
long sermon to the Prince of Wales and the servants."
At times he rallied, but it was obvious that the end
was near, and in these last days the old King sought
to impress his little son with the vanity of earthly
honour. However dazzling a crown might appear,
there came a time, his father told the boy, when it
seemed a thing of no moment : God alone was to be
loved, and eternity to be desired. He must remember
always to show respect to his mother, and affection and
gratitude to that King from whom he had received so
great benefits.
On one of Louis's last visits James expressed a wish
to be buried without any ostentation or ceremony in
the parish church, with no monument, and for epitaph
the words, " Ci git Jacques second roi d'Angleterre."
During these last days Louis and other members of
the royal family came to visit him. Louis was so
touched by the sufferings and piety of this old friend,
kinsman, and pensioner of nearly twelve years, that,
carried away by emotion, in defiance of all his treaties,
JAMES'S LAST DAYS AND DEATH 427
in violation of all the duty he owed to his exhausted
country, he gave rein to sentiment, and, by declaring
that he would recognise the Prince of Wales as King
of England, once more plunged Europe into war.
This scene, so momentous and dramatic, took place on
Tuesday, September I3th, on the occasion of Louis's
last visit to James.
James had already taken the last sacrament, and was
fallen into a kind of lethargy. The Queen was so over-
come by grief that he had asked those present to lead
her into her room. On Louis's arrival, he first went
to the Queen and acquainted her with his resolution,
" which was some comforth to her in the deep affliction
she was in " ; he then sent for the Prince of Wales and
told him, that if it pleased God to call for the King
his father, he would be a father to him, on which
the boy replied that he should find him as dutiful and
respectful as if he were his son. The King then went
to James's sick-room, and asked him how he was, but
the sick man appeared unconscious of his presence, till
those present rousing him, and telling him that the
King of France was there, James began feebly to
thank him for all his past kindness, upon which Louis
intercepting him said : l " * Sir, that is but a small
matter. I have something to acquaint you with of
greater consequence ' ; upon which the King's servants
imagining he would be private (the room being full of
people), began to retire, which his Most Christian
Majesty perceiving, sayd out aloud, 'Let nobody
withdraw,' and then went on : c I am come, sir, to
acquaint you, that whenever it shall pleas God to call
your Majesty out of this world, I will take your family
1 Clarke's Life.
428 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
into my protection, and will treat your son the Prince
of Wales in the same manner I have treated you, and
acknowlidg him as he then will be King of England ' ;
upon which all that were present, as well French as
English, burst into tears, not being able any other way
to express that mixture of joy and grief with which
they were so surprisingly seized ; some indeed threw
themselves at his Most Christian Majesty's feet, others
by their gestures and countenances (much more ex-
pressive on such occasions than words and speeches)
declar'd their gratitude for so generous an action,
with which his Most Christian Majesty was so moved,
that he could not refrain weeping himself. The King
all this while was endeavouring to say something to
him upon it, but the confused noise being too great,
and he too weak to make himself heard, his Most
Christian Majesty took his leave and went away." 1
During the next two days James had some moments
of consciousness, in one of which he sent for his son
and urged him never to forget what he owed to Louis,
and to remember that he ought always to prefer
God and religion to all temporal interests. For the
most part he remained in a stupor, from which he could
not be roused, and so died towards three o'clock in
the afternoon of Friday, September i6th, the day of
the week on which he had often expressed a wish to
die. He had almost completed his sixty-eighth year.
1 In Clarke's Life of James II. it is affirmed that Louis called a council
in order to discuss so weighty a resolution, that his advisers were all
averse to it, but the Dauphin, and other members of the royal family,
thought it " unbecoming the dignitie of the crown of France to
abandon a Prince of their own Blood." Neither Dangeau nor Saint-
Simon mentions a council, but only that Louis announced what he had
done to his Court on his return, and that reflections were at once
exchanged, privately, on the danger and difficulties it involved.
JAMES'S LAST DAYS AND DEATH 429
The same evening Maria retired to Chaillot. The
dead King lay in state for four-and-twenty hours, while
the office of the dead was said during the night, and
masses during the day, at the altars which had been
erected in his room. His last wishes with regard to
his burial were disregarded by Louis's orders. His
reputation for sanctity had been such that his mortal
remains were distributed as precious relics. In the
evening he was embalmed, and part of his entrails were
sent to the parish church, part to the English College
of St Omer. "The braines and fleshy part of the
head " were sent to the Scotch College at Paris,
" where at the charge of the Duke of Perth was errected
a fair monument, as a due acknowlidgment of their
being honnoured with those precious Reliques."
This being done, about seven o'clock, the evening after
he died, they set out with his body to deposit it in the
Church of the English Benedictines in Paris, till such
time as his repentant subjects should seek to " repair
what wrongs Earth's journey did " by paying the last
honours after death to him whom they rejected in life.
The funeral procession was accompanied by the Duke
of Berwick, the Earl of Middleton, his Majesty's
chaplains, and others of his servants. At midnight they
reached Chaillot, where James's heart was to be deposited,
and they strove to make no sound by which Maria
should know of their coming ; but she, " having a sort
of presentiment of what was intended," was over-
whelmed with anguish and sorrow all the while.
When they were arrived in Paris, Dr Ingleton, Almoner
to the Queen, delivered his body to the Prior with an
" elegant Latin oration. 1 '
The subsequent fate of James's mortal remains was
430 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
investigated by an indefatigable student in Stuart
history, the Marquise Campana de Cavelli, whose
monumental work was unhappily never completed in
print. When she visited Paris, before 1870, she was
able to identify the spot where James's body had been
deposited. At that date, what was left of the church
and college had become a private school, and she quotes
a curious document written in 1840 by an octogenarian
Irishman, who had, like many others, been imprisoned
in the Convent of the Benedictines in Paris. He
affirmed that in one of the chapels of the church the
body of James II. remained exposed to view, and in a
perfect state of preservation. The " sans-culottes " had
broken open and taken away the leaden coffin in which
it was enclosed to make bullets. The body was after-
wards removed and all traces of it lost. The same
fate overtook the fragments of his remains with
the destruction of the places to which they had been
confided.
The parish church of Saint-Germain-en-Laye was the
only exception. During the rebuilding of the church
in 1824, workmen came upon three leaden boxes, lying
close together, on one of which was inscribed upon a
copper plate : " Ici est une portion de la chair, et des
parties nobles du corps, du tres-haut, tres-puissant, tres-
excellent prince Jacques Stuart, second du nom, Roy de
la Grande-Bretagne, ne le XXII Octobre MDCXXXIII,
decede en France a Saint-Germain-en-Laye le XVI
Septembre MDCCI." The two other boxes were
identified from the archives of the Mairie as those
containing remains of the Queen and the Princess
Louise ; and all three were placed in the treasury of
the sacristy. A tomb was afterwards constructed to re-
JAMES'S LAST DAYS AND DEATH 431
ceive them by order of George IV., but it subsequently
fell into decay, and the present unostentatious but
dignified monument on the right of the main entrance
was erected by command of the late Queen Victoria.
Thus, after all, James II.'s last wishes were fulfilled ;
and it is in the parish church of Saint-Germain-en-
Laye that his mortal remains rest, beneath a monument
so modest that the visitor may easily overlook it. It
bears the following inscription :
REGIO CINERI, PIETAS REGIA
Ferale quisquis hoc monumentum suspicis,
Rerum humanarum vices meditare.
Magnus in prosperis, in adversis major,
JACOBUS II. ANGLORUM REX
Insignes aerumnas dolendaque fata
Pio placidoque obitu exsolvit
In hac urbe,
Die xvi Septembris Anno MDCCI.
Et nobiliores quaedam corporis ejus partes
Hie reconditae asservantur.
To THE ASHES OF A KING, THE AFFECTION OF A QUEEN
You who look upon this monument of the dead
Ponder the mutability of human life.
Great in prosperity, in adversity greater still,
JAMES II. KING OF ENGLAND
Was set free from signal calamities and grievous fortunes
By a religious and tranquil death
In this city,
On the 1 6th day of September 1701.
Of his body the nobler parts
Are here out of sight preserved.
432 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
The following description of the King, while he
lived, may be from the pen of Caryll :
" He was something above the middle stature, well-
shaped, very nervous and strong ; his face was* rather
long, his complexion fair and his countenance engaging ;
his outward carriage was a little stiff and constrained,
which made it not so gracious, as it was courteous and
obliging. He was affable and easy of access, for he
affected not formalitie ; . . . and having something of a
hesitation in his speech his discourse was not so gracious
as it was judicious and solid. . . . He was a great
lover of exercise, especially walking and hunting. . . .
He was a kind husband, notwithstanding his infirmi-
ties during his youth, but especially in his later days,
when he repair'd his former infidelities by a most tender
affection, mixed with a respect and defference to the
incomparable merit and virtue of the Queen."
To conclude in the stately periods of Sir John
Dalrymple : " Whoever perceives not in the events of
the period to which these memoirs relate the hand of
an Almighty Providence, which, upon the ruins of an
illustrious but misguided family, raised up a mighty
nation to show mankind the sublime heights to which
liberty may conduct them, must be blind indeed ! May
that Providence which conferred liberty upon our
ancestors at the Revolution, grant that their posterity
may never either lose the love of it upon the one hand,
or abuse the enjoyment of it upon the other."
INDEX
Abercorn, Duke of, 270.
Adda, Papal Nuncio, 6, no, 146.
Ailesbury, Earl of, 251.
Albeville, Marquis d', 7, 267.
Alexander VIII., Pope, 132, 198, 227, 247,
384-
Almond, Comtesse d' (Vittoria Da via), 21,
S7> 77> 9 2 , I0 8, 115, 248, 267, 355, 420.
Angelique Claire, La Mere, 119.
Anjou, Due d', 79, 128, 415.
Anne, Princess, 36, 304, 363, 375, 388, 414.
Arundell, Lord, 270, 291.
Ashton, John, 254.
Assassination Plot, 317, 352, 356, 358, 362,
392.
Atkins, Mr, 268.
Attainder, Act of, 217.
Aughrira, battle at, 300.
Augsburg, League of, 105, 383.
Aumont, Due d', 46, 52, 62.
Austria, Anne of, 60.
Charles, Archduke of, 415.
Leopold, Emperor of, 104, 371, 373.
Autun, Monseigneur d', 425.
Avaux, Comte d', 7, 148, 168, 180, 188, 196,
2O3, 212.
Bagnel, 269.
Baltazar, Mr, 267.
Barbesieux, 304, 317.
Barclay, Sir George, 273, 358, 362.
Miss, 108.
Barillon, 7, 148.
Barkenhead, Mr, 269.
Barry, Mr, 269.
Bassompierre, Marechal de, 115.
Bavaria, Elector of, 105.
Beachy Head, French victory of, 243, 253.
Beaufort, Duke of, 231, 291.
Beaulieu, Mr, 268.
Beaumelle, La, 102, 124.
Beauvilliers, Due de, 380.
Beedle, 269.
Bellayse, 270.
Bellefonds, Marshal, 309, 343.
Bellew, Lady Mary, 177.
Benefield, Mr, 267.
Beringhen, M., 52.
Berkeley, 404.
Berry, Due de, 79, 128.
Berwick, Duchess of, 355.
Duke of, 15, 42, 62, 152, 168, 173, 190, 210,
221, 236, 267, 273, 302, 326, 350, 359,
391, 411, 429.
Biddulpb, Mr, 42, 267.
Bishops, Seven, trial of, 5.
Blois, Mademoiselle de, 73, 94, 247, 259.
Boisseleau, 145, 206, 247.
Bonrepaux, 7.
Bossuet, 322.
Boufflers, General, 353, 375, 390, 397.
433
Boyne, Battle of the, 174, 179, 234.
Boynton, Miss, 161.
Braganza, Catharine of, 313.
" Brass money," issue of, 198.
Brest, French victory at, 330.
Brinon, Marie de, 374.
Brown, Mr, 267.
Brun, Le, 118.
Bruyere, La, 16, 53. in.
Buckingham, Mr, 268.
Bulkeley, Anne, 280.
Captain Henry, 289.
Bulkley, Lady Sophia, 267.
Burgundy, Duchess of, 379, 397, 412.
Duke of, 79, 128, 371, 379.
Burkes, the, 183.
Burnet, 109.
Bussy-Rabutin, Comte de, 103, in, 144.
Butler, Lady Mary, 208.
Cadrington, Mr, 268.
Canterbury, Archbishop of, 256.
Carlinford, Earl of, 106.
Carney, Mr, 269.
Carrol, Mr, 268.
Carter, Rear-Admiral, 257, 308.
Gary, 320.
Caryll, 14, 19, 246, 267, 272, 328, 348, 361,
3^3) 3 6 9> 3 8 7. 399. 45, 4'3, 4"> 43 2 -
Mary, 369.
Castlemaine, 130.
Cavendish, Lord, 393.
Caylus, Madame de, 102.
Chaise, Pere de la, 89, 101.
Chapman, widow, 200.
Chappell, Mrs, 267.
Charlton, 176.
Charost, Due de, 44, 48.
Chartres, Due de, 63, 73, 247, 258.
Duchesse de, 131, 347.
Chateau-Renaud, Comte de, 303.
Chaulnes, Due de, 147.
Chester, Bishop, 152.
Choisy, Abbe de, 102.
Churchill, Arabella, 38, 136, 152, 350.
Lord, 62, 289, 303, 307, 323, 327, 330, 363.
Clancarty. Earl of, 152, 165.
Clanricarde, Lord, 222.
Clare, Lord, 81.
Clarendon, Lord, 162, 182, 192, 251, 256.
Claverhouse, 213.
Clement X., Pope, n.
Cleveland, Duchess of, 81.
Colbert, 253, 284.
Conde, Prince de, 300.
Condon, Lady, 202.
Conquest, Mr, 267, 269.
Conspiracies, Jacobite, 253, 320, 327, 356.
Conti, Princesse de, 94, 119, 258.
Cork, Earl of, 192.
Cork, fall of, 101.
28
434 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Coronation of William and Mary, 126.
Crane, Mr, 268.
Craven, Lord, 36.
Croissy, Madame de, 246.
Monsieur de, 320.
Croix, Mr La, 268.
Crom, siege of Castle of, 175.
Cromwell, Henry, 192.
Cults, Lord, 274.
Dalmont, Lady, 269.
Dalrymple, 184, 197, 212, 432.
Dangeau, 53, 68, 74, 94. 108, 131, 319, 393.
Mademoiselle, 258.
Darien Scheme, 401.
Dartmouth, Lord, 15, 84, 130, 251, 256.
Dauphin, the (Monseigneur), 56, 59, 63, 69,
82, 87, 94, 109, 119, 246, 258, 293, 347,
3?i, 379. 394-
Dauphme, the, 53, 67, 74, 78, 83, 95, 126,
?37-
Davjes, Sir John, 219.
Davison, William, 414.
Declaration, formal, of States General, 9.
Declaration of James II., 306.
Delamere, Lord, 37.
Denmark, Prince Royal of, 319, 413.
Derwentwater, Lord, 256.
Dillon, Lady, 201.
Dillons, the, 183.
Dixie, Captain, 176, 350.
Dover, Lady, 195.
Lord, 129, 152, 173, 216, Z22, 229, 270.
Drummond, Lord, 404.
Dublin, surrender of, 239.
Dumbarton, Lord, 267, 270, 343.
Dundee, 225, 400.
Dungan, Lord, 182, 210, 221.
Elliot, 255.
Ellis, Sir William, 269.
Ely, Turner, Bishop of, 256.
Enniskillen, siege of, 179, 181, 209, 225.
Epinay, Madame d', 103.
Errol, Lady, 272, 276, 328.
Este, Cardinal Rinaldo d', 95, in, 120, 349.
L'Estrade, 145.
Fagon, 418.
Fenwick, Sir John, 352.
Feversham, Lewis Duras, Earl of, 24, 34,
41, 252.
Fitzgerald, Captain Robert, 219.
Fitzjames, Henry, 54, 152, 190, 210, 221,
46, 4-
Flanders campaign, 352.
Floyd, David, 269.
Fuller, 253.
Furstenburg, Cardinal, 246.
Comtesse de, 246.
Fytton, Sir Alexander, 221.
Gace, M. de ; 206.
Galloway, Bishop of, 152.
Gaily, Father, 267.
Galmoy, Lord, 175, 222, 350.
Galway, 166.
Galways, the, 183.
Gaydon, 178.
Gervaise, Sir Humphrey, 219.
Ginkell, De, 302.
Glencoe, Massacre of, 401.
Gloucester, Duke of, 414.
Gobert, 1 1 8.
Godolphin, Lord, 289, 327, 363.
Gordon, John, 152, 208.
Gordon, Duke of, 188.
Gothard, Mr, 268.
Grafton, Duke of, 90.
Graham. Fergus, 267, 270.
Gramont, Comte de, 6, 157, 160.
Comtesse de, 280, 292.
Granard, Lord, 190.
Grand, Monsieur Le, 33.
Grandval, 317.
Griffen, Lord, 269.
Grimes, William, 414.
Hales, Sir Edward, 25, 267.
Halifax, Lord, 37, 290.
Hall, Father, 208.
Hamilton, Anthony, 152, 157, 180, 193, 222,
264, 280.
Lord Claude, 179.
George, 161.
Colonel James, 179.
John, 152.
Miss, 1 60.
Richard, 164, 173, 179, 214, 221, 236, 269,
299.
Harcpurt, Prtncesse d', 108.
Harrison, Mr, 268
Hatcher, 269.
Henrietta Maria, 116.
Herbert, Admiral, 90.
Lady Lucy, 267.
Hide, Mr, 267.
Howard, Cardinal, 385.
Lord Thomas, 222.
Hyde, Anne, 157.
Inese, Mr, 267, 345, 424.
Ingleton, Dr, 429.
Innes, Father, 267, 328, 337.
Innocent XL, Pope, 94, 104, 112, 120, 132,
189, 383.
XII., Pope, 384, 409.
Invasion, Jacobite, 304.
Invitation to Prince of Orange, 6.
Ireland, defeat of James in, 139.
departure of James to, 119, 144.
flight of James from, 238.
renewal of campaign in, 302.
" Irish Night," the, 32.
Irish Priests, banishment of, 396.
Parliament, 216.
Privy Council, 221.
Iveaghs, the, 183.
James II., flight of, 23.
arrest of, 28, 51.
burial of, 429.
death of, 428.
illness of, 416.
Jennings, Fanny. See Tyrconnel, Lady.
Jersey, Lord, 413.
Johnston, Prior of Benedictines, 341, 429.
Kaunits, Count of, 107.
Keating, Chief Justice, 222.
Killiecrankie, battle of, 225.
King, Archbishop, 163, 169, 193, 201, 205,
208, 219.
Kinsale, arrival at, 152.
fall of, 301.
La Hogue, battle off, 309, 320, 384.
Labadie, 54, 268, 269.
Lafayette, Madame de, 65, 71, 100, 124, 144.
Landen, battle of, 175, 325.
Largilliere, 280.
Lauter, Mrs de, 267.
INDEX
435
Lauzun, Comte de, 16, 44, 61, 73, 81, 102,
130, 145, 221, 229, 232, 238, 248, 267, 294,
301, 312, 354, 394, 419.
Lavery, Mr, 267.
Lery-Giradin, 145.
Leyburn, 55, 267.
Limerick, Earl of, 182.
Limerick, siege of, 175, 177, 247, 281, 300.
Lloyd, Captain, 290, 304, 308, 320, 329.
London, Mr, 267.
Londonderry, siege of, 129, 171, 179, 209,
214, 225.
Lorges, Mademoiselle de, 354.
Lorraine, Duke of, 398.
Louis XIV., 7, 9, 55, 60, 61, 63, 65, 70, 90,
98, 118.
Louise-Marie, Princess, 117, 315, 371, 430.
Louvois, 44, 50, 81, 89, 148, 153, 170, 233,
T 293> T 3 f
Lucan, Lady, 357.
Lude, Duchesse de, 380, 412.
Lussan, Mademoiselle de, 411.
Luttrell, Colonel Henry, 181.
Colonel Simon, 181, 222.
Luxembourg, Marshal, 317, 326, 352.
Lynchs, the, 183.
Lytcott, Sir John, 384.
MacCarthy, Father, 209.
Macdonnel, Captain, 268.
Magimis, Captain, 269.
Maguire, 176.
Maine, Due de, 18, 59, 73, 87, 299, 352.
Duchesse de, 259.
Maintenon, Madame de, 53, 72, 83, 86, 99,
122, 248, 293, 296, 299, 326, 352, 371, 397,
408, 424.
Manchester, Earl of, 403, 408, 413, 416.
Maria d'Este, flight of, 19.
retirement to Chaillot, 115.
Marlborough, Duchess of, 161, 193.
Martinash, Mr, 268.
Mary, Queen, death of, 351.
Maumont, 145, 171, 214.
Maxwell, Captain Robert, 416.
Meereroon, Madame, 315.
Melani, Abbe, 13, 54, 80, 109.
Melfort, Lord, 97, 130, 152, 190, 210, 213,
222, 226, 250, 267, 277, 307, 320, 347,
405.
Lady, 152, 194, 280.
Middleton, Earl of, 31, 40, 84, 268, 279, 319,
322, 348, 416, 424, 429.
Lady 279.
Mignard, 118, 280, 349.
Misset, 178.
Modena, Duke of, 50, 77, 92, 108, 349.
Mohun, Lord, 291.
Molza, Count, 267.
Mons, siege of, 292.
Montespan, Madame de, 18, 61, 86, 98, 247,
299.
Montpensier, Mademoiselle de, 47, 81, 319.
Moor, Dr Michael, 208.
Moore, Colonel Roger, 201.
Mountcashel, Lord, 152, 165, 173, 181, 222,
225, 233.
Lady Arabella, 195.
Mountjoy, Lord, 164, 299, 317.
Mulgrave, Earl of, 36.
Nagle, Sir Richard, 268, 302, 400.
Nairn*, Secretary, 334.
Namur, siege of, 315, 352.
Nantes, Edict of, 105.
Neagle, Sir Robert, 271.
Nevil, Mr, 268.
Newcastle, Duke of, 231.
Newton, 165.
Newton Butler, battle of, 225, 351.
Noailles, Duchesse de, 258.
Noble, Mr, 268.
Northumberland, George Fitzroy, Duke of,
25.
Nottingham, Daniel Finch, Earl of, 30.
Nugent, Lord Chief Justice, 222.
Gates, Titus, 161.
O'Brien, Miss, 81.
O'Donnell, Balldearg, 186.
O'Donnells, the, 183.
O'Donovans, the, 183.
O'Kelly, Captain Denis, 176, 182.
O'Neills, the, 183.
Orange, Mary of, 115, 127, 251, 255.
William of, 2, 6, 31, 84, 94, 104, 115, 138,
J 43, i79> 198, 207, 213, 230, 234, 250, 257,
282, 303, 306, 317, 323, 363, 370, 375, 385,
409.
Orleans, Due d' (Monsieur), 56, 63, 68, 119,
247, 258.
Duchesse d" (Madame), 72, 94, 195, 247,
258, 282, 368, 371, 408, 412, 426.
Ormonde, James Butler, Duke of, 159, 203.
O'Toole, 178.
Palmer, Anne, 81.
Paris, Archbishop of, 146.
Parker, 236.
Parliament, Act of, 394.
Parry, 269, 363.
Paulet, Lord, 291.
Pendergrass, 362.
Penn, William, 251, 257.
Perth, Duchess of, 281.
Earl of, 132, 269, 274, 367, 385, 404, 424.
Peterborough, Earl of, 10, 329.
Petre, Father, 83, 384.
Petty, Sir William, 158.
Ployden, Mr, 269, 364.
Pointis, 214.
Ponton, M., 45.
Pope, 274.
" Popish Plot," the, 161.
Porter, James, 96, 129, 220, 231, 268.
Portland, Earl of, 266, 268, 304, 362, 370,
375, 388.
Portsmouth, Louise de Querouaille, Duchess
of, 66, 75, 135, 283.
Powell, Mr, 357.
Powis, Lady, 16, 21, 57, 79, 108, 152, 195,
267.
Herbert, Lord, 16, 67, 152, 190, 222. 263,
268, 307, 309.
Preston, Viscount, 31, 253.
Priolo, La Mere, 122, 135, 260, 296, 313, 318,
344, 355, 360, 367, 378, 46, 410, 416, 419.
Prior, Matthew, 266, 268.
Puis, Mr du, 267.
Pusignan, 145, 171, 214.
Racine, 100.
Ranee, Abbe de, 333, 339, 378.
Rangoni, Marchese, 78.
Renaudaux, Abbe, 361.
Rheims, Archbishop of, 80.
Rice, Baron, 299, 302.
Sir Stephen, 222.
Richmond, Duke of, 66, 135.
Rigaud, 118, 280.
Riva, Francesco, 20, 51, 268.
Rizzini, Abbe, 14, 78, 90, 108.
436 THE ENGLISH COURT IN EXILE
Rochefoucauld, De la, 393.
Roge, Mrs, 267.
Rohan, Due de, 381.
Ronchi, Messrs, 268.
Rongere, M. de la, 282.
Rosen, General, 145, 172, 206, 226, 231.
Ruga, Father, 267.
Russell, Admiral, 166, 307, 327, 363.
Ryswick, Treaty of, 375.
Sabrian, Father, 267.
Sackvilje, Colonel, 289.
Saint-Simon, 17, 56, 68, no, 131, 149, 151,
294, 326, 354. 381, 389-
Saint-Victor, 22.
Sarsfield, Captain Patrick, 174, 222, 238,
280, 302, 309, 326.
Saunders, Father, 271.
Savoy, Duke of, 371.
Princess of, 371, 379.
Saxony, Elector of, 105, 366.
Scarron, 86.
Schomberg, 135, 153, 209, 225.
Seaforth, Lady, 195.
Lord, 152.
Sedley, Catharine, 331.
Settlement, Repeal of Act of, 217.
SeVigne, Madame de, 49, 66, 72, 80, 95, 144,
377-
Sheldon, Ralph, 25, 84.
Shrewsbury, Lord, 37, 330.
Sidney, Henry, 260.
Sims, Mrs, 268.
Skelton, Colonel Bevil, 7, 15,31, 113.
Charles, 81, 267.
Slingsbee, 269.
Smith, Alderman, 220.
Smyrna fleet, loss of, 325.
Sobieski, Clementina, Princess, 178.
John, 366.
oln
Solmes, Count de, 36.
Sophia, Electress, 412.
Spain, King of, 371, 374, 386, 404, 409.
death of, 415.
Sparrow, Sir Joseph, 967.
St George, Chevalier de, 19.
St Ruth, General, 302, 351.
Stafford, Dr Alexius, 208.
Francis, 268.
John, 267.
Mrs, 329, 365.
Steinkirk, battle of, 317.
Stevens, Captain John, 168.
Strafford, Lord, 195.
Strickland, Vice-Admiral, 52.
Vice-Chamberlain, 267.
Lady, 21, 267.
Sir Roger, 268.
Strickland, Mr Robert, 267.
Sunderland, Earl of, 6, 62, 149.
Sussex, Countess of, 81, 103.
Swift, Dean, 178.
Talbot, Dick, 155.
Peter, 155.
Sir William, 155, 222.
Talmash, General, 330.
Temple, Sir William, 260.
Terriesi, 18, 62.
Tessi, de, 302.
Torrington, Lord, 243.
Tourville, Count de, 243, 309, 317.
Travanion, Captain, 268.
Treaty, Second Partition, 415.
Tree, de la, 84.
Trelawney, John, 291.
Tremouille, M. de, 67.
Trevanion, 269.
Captain, 42.
Turene, Mr and Mrs, 267.
Turnbull, Sir William, 274.
Turner, Bishop, 253.
Tuscany, Grand Duke of, 18, 62, 81, 93.
Tyrconnel, Lady, 193, 201, 208, 238, 267, 281,
293. 355-
Lord, in, 138, 154, 167, 173, 187, 190, 196,
213, 222, 244, 281, 301.
Ulster, Prince of, 186.
Ussen, d", 302.
Valliere, Mademoiselle de la, 61, 95, 117.
Van Citters, 8.
Vanhomrigh, Bartholomew, 207.
Vaudemont, 352.
Ventadour, Madame de, 103.
Villeroy, Due de, 352.
Vivel, 269.
Waldegrave, Lord, 136, 350.
Henrietta, 350.
Sir William, 267, 329, 364, 368, 424.
Wales, James, Prince of, 6, 13, 24, 41, 44,
64, 92, 118, 129, 178, 262, 297, 306, 309,
321. 323. 354. 364, 367. 387, 392, 43! 409.
426.
Walgrave, Lady, 267.
Walgrave, Mrs, 267.
Warner, Father, 267.
White, 194, 267.
Winchelsea, Lord, 29.
Wogan, Sir Charles, 178.
Woodstock, Lord, 389.
Worcester, Marquis of, 231, 291.
I
| Zulestein, 34.
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AUTUMN ANNOUNCEMENTS.
The English Court in Exile : James II. at
St. Germain.
By MARION and EDWIN SHARPE GREW, Authors
of " The Court of William III." With 16 Illustrations.
155. net.
The Court in Exile was the Court of James II., after
his flight from England on the arrival of William of
Nassau, Prince of Orange. "The Court of William III.,"
by the same authors, described the advent of the Prince
of Orange. In the present volume the fortunes of the
exiled King and his Italian wife are followed through
the subsequent years which he spent in France, whilst
fruitlessly endeavouring to regain his throne. James
and his consort were received in France by Louis XIV.
2 Mills & Boon's Catalogue
with magnificent hospitality. The Roi Soleil placed at
their disposal the ancient and magnificent Chateau of St.
Germain-en-Laye, which looks across the Seine to dis-
tant Paris, and fitted up their refuge with lavish and
sympathetic hospitality, even to the appointment of a
nursery for their children and the provision of a purse
of money placed on the Queen's dressing-table for
her immediate expenses. Here, during the remaining
years of his life, James II. and his family were the guests
of the French King, whose generosity and fine courtesy
to his pensioners never failed. The life of the last Stuarts
at St. Germain is described in the present volume from
the Queen's letters, the King's memoirs, and from
records left in manuscript or diary by a number of
contemporary writers and the result is a curious pic-
ture, not merely of the usages of the French Court,
but of their application in matters of etiquette to
another royal Court planted, as it were, in the French
Court's midst.
The little Court of St. Germain was a melancholy
thing, notwithstanding its share in all the splendid
gaieties of Versailles. All James's attempts to regain
his kingdom were unsuccessful. The chief of these
attempts, the journey to Ireland, the campaign there,
and the Court at Dublin, are described. A motley
crowd of adventurers, as well as loyal and devoted
adherents, flocked to St. Germain, and many of them,
the most gallant and devoted, were Irishmen. The
records and characteristics of these, drawn from con-
temporary sources, are one of the features of the book.
Sixty- Eight Years on the Stage.
By MRS. CHARLES CALVERT. With a Photogravure
and 16 Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 105. 6d. net.
Mrs. Calvert may safely be said to have a longer
experience of the stage than any actress now living.
It is nearly seventy years ago since she made her first
appearance at the age of six, and she is acting still !
As a recent writer has well put it, " She is a kind of
Autumn Announcements 3
W. G. Grace of the stage, as astonishing in vitality, and
in the long retention of rare gifts." The list of famous
people, on and off the stage, whom she has met during
her long career is a very extensive one, and of all of
them Mrs. Calvert has many intimate and interesting
things to tell. For over ten years during the 'sixties
and 'seventies her husband, Mr. Charles Calvert, was
the centre of dramatic life in Manchester, when during
his management the Prince's Theatre attained so
high a level of excellence and artistic reputation. It
was here that Mrs. Calvert came into contact with
Phelps, J. L. Toole, E. A. Sothern, Tom Taylor, Henry
Irving, and many others whose names are famous in
the history o'f the stage. Since those days she has
played many parts both in England and America, and
her fifteen years' work on the London stage is well
known, her most recent appearance being in Sir Herbert
Tree's sumptuous production of Henry VIII. at His
Majesty's Theatre.
The book is profusely illustrated with portraits, play-
bills, etc., and contains many interesting facsimile letters
from notable people.
Forty Years of Song.
By EMMA ALBANI. With a Frontispiece in Photo-
gravure and many Illustrations. Demy 8vo. los. 6d. net.
The proud title of " Queen of Song " is one to which
Madame Albani may justly lay claim. As Queen of
Song she has reigned for forty years in the hearts of
audiences in every quarter of the globe. Canada is
the land that has the honour of having given her birth,
so that the famous singer is a British subject and a
true daughter of the Empire. The story of her career
is a romantic one. It began with a childhood that was
devoted assiduously and conscientiously to study, a
devotion, it may be said, that she has maintained
through all the years of her success. Her father, Mr.
Joseph Lajeunesse, an accomplished musician, was
4 Mills & Boon's Catalogue
responsible for her early musical education ; later she
studied for a year with Duprez in Paris, but Lamperti,
" the very first master in the world," is the teacher
to whom may be ascribed the credit of having
launched the young diva on the road to fame. Her
debut was made at Messina in 1870, and her first ap-
pearance in London was at Covent Garden in 1872,
when she scored an instantaneous success. In spite of
a very strenuous life of work and study, Madame Albani
has found time to make a host of friends, amongst whom
was the late Queen Victoria, who retained a warm
personal affection for the great singer, and from whom
Madame Albani received many autographed letters,
some of which are reproduced in these pages. The
number of famous musicians with whom she has come in
contact is a very large one ; personal mementoes and
autographs of such men as Rubinstein, Sarasate, Pade-
rewski, Elgar, and others form an interesting feature
of the book, which, besides being an earnest and sincere
account of a great career, contains many amusing and
intimate anecdotes of well-known people that make it
very pleasant reading.
My Italian Year.
By RICHARD BAGOT, Author of " Casting of Nets."
" A Roman Mystery," " Donna Diana," " The Lakes of
Northern Italy," " The House of Serravalle," etc. With
24 Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 105. 6d. net.
Mr. Bagot's novels dealing with Italian life are well
known to lovers of Italy. The greater part of his life
has been spent in that country, and probably there is
no English writer who has a more profound knowledge
of the Italians or who has so identified himself with
Italian matters. In " My Italian Year " Mr. Bagot
aims at giving his readers a faithful portrait of modern
Italian life, and for this reason he does not occupy
himself with its past history or traditions except in so
far as these bear directly on the subject to which he
has confined himself. The author presents Italian life
of to-day from the Italian and not from the Anglo-
Autumn Announcements 5
Saxon point of view He takes us through the length
and breadth of the Italian kingdom, and introduces us
to all phases of its social life, from the highest to the
lowest. He gives us, too, not only a sympathetic and
unprejudiced impression of that life, but also the im-
pressions of Italians on life in England thus bringing
into interesting relief the difference between Anglo-
Saxon and Latin ideals.
Mr. Bagot's criticisms are at least based upon a long
and intimate friendship with the people about whom he
writes ; and he is very careful to explain to us that
when fidelity to his subject sometimes compels him to
say hard things, he is merely re-echoing the sentiments
of Italians themselves towards evils which they would
gladly see eradicated from their midst. Although written
in a style which is almost conversational, " My Italian
Year " contains much curious information regarding the
manners and customs of Italian life both in town and
country, and there is scarcely a feature in that life
upon which it does not touch.
Real Love-Letters.
By E. KEBLE CHATTERTON, Author of "Sailing
Ships," " The Story of the British Navy." With 12 Il-
lustrations. Demy 8vo. 105. 6d. net.
One of the most striking aspects of history consists
in the fact that in spite of all the manifold changes and
developments which take place from century to century,
there still remains one immutable factor to be reckoned
with, viz. humanity. Between the people of yesterday
and to-day there is but little difference if we omit
externals ; and this is no less true of that section of
humanity which is of royal blood.
In this volume has been gathered together a collection
of authentic historic love-letters written by some of
the most prominent personalities of the Royal Houses
of Europe, to show that there is every bit as much
romance in the epistles of royal lovers as could be
found in any letters of less exalted couples.
Mills & Boon's Catalogue
And yet these love-letters are not confined to any
particular period, but cover centuries. In order to
enable the reader to appreciate fully the matter con-
tained in the correspondence, Mr. Chatterton, besides
being responsible for the compiling and editing of this
collection, has added a number of introductions to the
various episodes, giving an outline of the essential
features of each romance.
The Wonderful Weald and the Quest of
the Crock of Gold.
By ARTHUR BECKETT, Author of " The Spirit of the
Downs," " Emancipation," etc. With 20 Illustrations in
colour and 43 Initials by ERNEST MARILLIER.
Demy 8vo. los. 6d. net.
" The Wonderful Weald " is the record of a twentieth-
century springtime pilgrimage made in the Weald of
Sussex. In the spirit of the questors of the Holy Grail
the author describes how, with his companion, he set
out on pilgrimage, intent upon the quest of the crock
of gold, which, as all good Sussex people are aware, lies
at the foot of the rainbow. The pilgrims cut themselves
adrift from the modern world, taking their packs with
them on the back of an ass, leaving the high road to
seek romance in the lanes and byways, the woods and
forests of the wonderful weald of Sussex.
The result was that they met with an astonishing
number of adventures, in which enchanted castles,
forests, and other places play a part, all of which are
as real to the adventurer of to-day (who seeks them
in the proper spirit) as they were to the pilgrims of
the Middle Ages. The author has been so long familiar
with the legends and historical facts peculiar to the
county of Sussex that he has been able to present them
as a series of romantic and truthful pictures, diversified
by both humorous and pathetic sketches of the Wealden
peasantry as they are to be found to-day. Wealden
places are made familiar to the reader by the dramatic
presentation of the principal events associated with
Autumn Announcements 7
them. The book is in fact a successful knitting together
of the romantic and realistic in the Wonderful Weald
in scenes in which personal experiences are always
prominent. In other words, the whole work is a blend-
ing of fact and fiction in which the actual events of
Sussex history, customs, and folk-lore play a part and
are given a personal value.
" The Wonderful Weald " is illustrated by Mr. Ernest
Marillier, an artist who has been engaged for many
years in painting Sussex scenes, and whose lightness
of " touch " is an admirable complement to Mr.
Beckett's narrative.
A Century of Actors, 1750-1850.
By CECIL ARMSTRONG, Author of " The Dramatic
Author's Companion," etc. With 16 Illustrations.
Demy 8vo. IDS. 6d. net.
Turkey and the Turks.
By Z. D. FERRIMAN, Author of " Home Life in Hellas."
With 16 Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 105. 6d. net.
" Turkey and the Turks " is a volume by the author
of " Home Life in Hellas," which was one of the best-
reviewed volumes of 1910.
Mr. Ferriman knows Turkey intimately, and has lived
there for considerable periods during the last ten years.
The volume will deal most thoroughly with Turkish
life at the present day, and will include chapters on
the harem, mosques, food, dress, family events, etc.
The Town of Morality : or, The Narrative of
One who Lived Here for a Time*
By C. H. R. Crown 8vo. 6s.
It is impossible to sketch the outline of this
literary phenomenon, which deals with the great pro-
blem of humanity and religion, the eternal struggle
between the spiritual and the material. " The Town of
8 Mills & Boon's Catalogue
Morality " will appeal with irresistible attraction to
the Anglican, Nonconformist, and Roman Catholic ;
to the Agnostic and the Bigot ; to the worldling
and the religous.
A Souvenir 'Chapter will be sent post free to any address.
Out of the Ivory Palaces.
By P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.S.L.,
F.R.Hist.S., Author of " The Parson's Pleasance," "The
Old-Time Parson," etc. With 12 Illustrations. Crown
8vo. 6s.
The many readers of " The Parson's Pleasance " will
be glad to welcome this new volume of lighter studies
by the same author. As a kindly reviewer stated of its
predecessor, " All lovers of the literary essay will here
find a book after their own hearts," so will its readers
say of Mr. Ditchfield's new volume. He conducts us
through many pleasant " Ivory Palaces," the palaces of
fancy and memory, and tells us of the old Manor House
and its belongings, opens the family deed chest and dis-
closes its many curious contents. Especially interesting
are the diary of an old Indian Mutiny hero, discovered in
a cottage, and an account of the earthquake at Lisbon
in 1755, written by a survivor, a battered MS. found
amongst the papers of the late Sir Francis Barry, Bart.
He revels in the palaces of books, in old book-shops and
the British Museum, finding many treasures, and then
takes us into the open air, on the breezy downs, and
discovers pre-historic palaces, the home of the flint
collector. He wanders through some episcopal palaces,
and visits palaces of refuge, the old sanctuaries and
leper-houses. There is also a section of the book devoted
to the guarding of the gates, telling how the Elizabethan
ballad-makers sang when the Armada threatened our
shores, how the sea threatens them to-day, and what
would happen if a foreign foe secured a landing. Things
" new and old " out of the ivory palaces will delight
and amuse the many readers who appreciate the works
of this writer.
Autumn Announcements 9
Nerves and the Nervous.
By EDWIN ASH, M.D. (Lond.), Assistant jPhysician
Italian Hospital, London ; sometime Clinical Assistant
West End Hospital for Nervous Diseases. Author of
" Mind and Health." Crown 8vo. 55. net.
" Nerves and the Nervous " deals in popular language
with a very prevalent ailment and its causes. Con-
sideration is given to the various faults in our daily
lives that predispose to disordered nerves, and to the
effects of work, worry, ambition, sex-problems, and so
forth in upsetting the normal harmony of the nervous
system. Want of nerve-tone, leading in many cases to
serious nervous exhaustion neurasthenia is an im-
portant factor in reducing the nation's " driving-force "
at the present time and the prevention of an increase
in the number of nervous people is a matter of vast
importance. This book will be extremely useful to all
who have to do with the nervous, as it discusses at length
the care of those afflicted with " nerves " ; moreover, a
lengthy chapter on " Self-help for the Nervous " should
make it a valuable stand-by to many. At the same time
parents will find a variety of useful hints on the up-
bringing of nervous children, a matter of great considera-
tion to those who wish to reduce the amount of nervous-
ness found in the adult population to-day.
The subject of psychic healing, which has been very
much to the front lately, will be fully discussed in its
relation to disordered " nerves " in the chapter on
" Psychotherapeutics " hypnotism, suggestion, and so-
called animal magnetism being considered as thera-
peutic agents.
On the whole this work will undoubtedly be of the
greatest practical value to a great many people who are
worried either by their own nerves or by the nerve-
troubles of their friends and relations.
The Zoo Conversation Book.
By EDMUND SELOUS, Author of " Tommy Smith's
Animals." With 12 Full-Page Illustrations by J. A.
SHEPHEARD. Crown 8vo. 55. net.
The mine of information and interest which we
*
10 Mills < Boon's Catalogue
possess in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, could
its inmates once be induced to speak for and of them-
selves, has hitherto escaped attention at any rate no
serious effort in this direction appears to have been
made, even at a time of day when the " dumb animal,"
once so much in evidence, has become almost obsolete.
It occurred to the author that if the right sort of
child for everything depends upon that were sent in
the capacity of interviewer, results might be in accord-
ance, and the volume which he has been enabled thus
to produce shows that this expectation amounting
almost to a conviction on his part has been realised.
It presents to the public the first-fruits of the communi-
cations which have been elicited in this ingenious, yet
withal simple, manner, and the interest attaching, in
varying degrees, te the information contained therein
is increased by its first-hand character and the touch of
personality which is thus imparted to it. Believers in
the animal heart and intelligence will be delighted to find
how far in both these departments, as well as in other
directions, " our talkative friends " have progressed.
Stories from Italian History Re- told for
Children.
By G. E. TROUTBECK, Author of " The Children's
Story of Westminster Abbey." With a Frontispiece in
Photogravure and 24 full-page Illustrations from Photo-
graphs. Crown 8vo. 55. net.
These stories are chosen with a view to interesting
boys and girls in some of the notable persons and
important periods in Italian history. The chapters are
not supposed to form a consecutive whole, but various
subjects likely to be attractive to young readers have
been selected, mainly from early and mediaeval times.
It is hoped that these stories, re-told in short and simple
form, may give English-speaking children the wish to
learn more about the beautiful country to which Europe
owes so much in science, in art, in literature, and in
religion. The book deals with persons rather than with
places, as being more likely to appeal to those for whom
Autumn Announcements n
it is intended and more likely to stimulate them to
further study.
Canned Classics, and Other Verses.
By HARRY GRAHAM, Author of " Deportmental
Ditties," " The Bolster Book," etc., etc. Profusely Illus-
trated by LEWIS BAUMER. Crown 4to. 35. 6d. net.
" Canned Classics," as its name implies, is an attempt
to save both time and trouble by condensing into
tabloid form some of the masterpieces of English litera-
ture with which every educated person is erroneously
deemed to be thoroughly acquainted. In this age of
hurry and over-work it is difficult for busy people to
find time to study the English classics as fully as they
might wish. In his new book Captain Graham has,
therefore, endeavoured to supply a long-felt want by
providing the reader with an opportunity of becoming
acquainted with some of those chefs d'ceuvres of famous
authors whose names are household words, but whose
works are but superficially known to the general public.
Such books as " David Copperfield," " Vanity Fair,"
" The Prisoner of Zenda," and " Three Weeks " are
compressed within the limits of short poems, a brief
perusal of which will thus enable the reader to claim
acquaintance with the works of those masters of English
fiction whom he has hitherto had neither the time nor
the inclination to study with the care that they un-
doubtedly deserve. The " Canned Classics " are pro-
fusely illustrated by Mr. Lewis Baumer, the famous
Punch artist, and are supplemented by a number of
" Other Verses," notably a series entitled " The Seven
Deadly Virtues," written in that frivolous and vivacious
style with which the readers of Captain Graham's
numerous volumes of verse are already familiar.
Deportmental Ditties.
By HARRY GRAHAM. Profusely Illustrated by LEWIS
BAUMER. Fcap. 8vo. Third Edition. 35. 6d. net.
A pocket edition, revised and enlarged, of this enor-
mously successful light verse volume.
12 Mills & Boon's Catalogue
Queery Leary Nonsense.
Being a Lear Nonsense Book, with a long Introduction
and Notes by the LORD CROMER, and edited by LADY
STRACHEY of Sutton Court. With about 50 Illus-
trations in colour and line. Crown 4to. 35. 6d. net.
" Queery Leary Nonsense " will be the Christmas
Gift Book of 1911. It is a volume full of humour and
high spirits, and can safely be given to either children
or grown-ups, who are all certain to be amused and
interested by this quaint and exceedingly droll volume.
Lord Cromer's Introduction is one of considerable
length, and contains text illustrations of Lear's humor-
ous pictures.
" Queery Leary Nonsense " will also contain Lord
Cromer's Coloured Bird Book, which all parents will
find indispensable for teaching children colour. Lear's
illustrations to the Bird portion of the book are ex-
tremely quaint and humorous.
Lady Strachey has made a fine collection of Lear's
pictures, mainly humorous, and is to be congratuated
on a decidedly interesting and original volume.
Child-Nurture : Mental and Physical.
A Book for Parents and Teachers. By HONNOR
MORTEN, Author of " The Nursery Nurse's Companion,"
" The Nurse's Dictionary." Illustrated. Crown 8vo.
35. 6d. net.
Chapters: Introduction History of Child Study
Heredity and Environment The Infant Growth of
Body (Physiology) Growth of Mind (Psychology)
Moral Training School Days The Value of Play
The Homeless Child Appendices: List of Societies,
books, technical terms, etc., etc. Index.
The Garden of Song.
Edited by HAROLD SIMPSON. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. net.
This is a representative collection of lyrics arranged
in a very attractive fashion, and contains, for the most
part, the lyrics of songs that have enjoyed a wide
popularity at one period or another. At the same time
Autumn Announcements 13
the artistic excellence of the lyric itself, apart from its
popularity in musical form, has always been taken into
account by the editor in making his selection from the
almost limitless material at his disposal. Only the
lyrics of songs that have actually been published are
included. This book will be found invaluable to singers
and to lovers of poetry.
A Little Girls' Cookery Book.
By C. H. BENTON and MARY F. HODGE. Crown 8vo.
2S. 6d. net.
" A Little Girls' Cookery Book " is a volume con-
taining excellent recipes for dishes which children will
find quite easy to make and their elders delightful to
eat. Every father, mother, uncle, and aunt should
make a point of giving their child friends a copy of
this useful and practical book.
The Householder's Companion.
By FRANCIS MINTON, M.A. Crown 8vo. zs. 6d. net.
(Mills & Boon's Companion Series.)
Every householder has manifold rights, duties, and
liabilities, and the purpose of this book is to afford
him (or her) useful advice in securing and conducting
the dwelling in which he makes his home. While it
does not presume to be a complete resume of the com-
plex legislative system in which the English house-
holder is involved, yet the legal statements contained
therein will, it is hoped, prove not less helpful than the
practical hints with which they are interspersed. It
deals with varied topics such as the selection and pur-
chase of a residence, the rules as to domestic servants,
jury service, drainage, insurance, etc., etc., and without
obtruding technicalities it aims at putting the reader
into possession of the practical experience of a man who
is at once a lawyer and a householder of long standing.
The Beekeeper's Companion.
By S. SHAPLAND ABBOTT. With 18 Illustrations.
Crown 8vo. Paper, is. net ; cloth, is. 6d. net.
(Mills & Boon's Companion Series.)
14 Mills & Boon's Catalogue
The Actor's Companion.
By "GENERAL UTILITY," Author of "The Dramatic
Author's Companion." 2s. 6d. net.
(Mills & Boon's Companion Series.)
MILLS & BOON'S
RAMBLES SERIES ' J '
Crown 8vo. 65. each.
With about 40 Illustrations in Colour and from Photographs
Rambles Around French Chateaux.
By FRANCES M. GOSTLING, Author of " The Bretons
at Home."
Rambles in the Black Forest.
By I. A. R. WYLIE, Author of " My German Year."
Rambles in Irish Ways.
By ROBERT LYND, Author of " Home Life in Ireland."
Rambles with an American in
Great Britain.
By CHRISTIAN TEARLE, Author of " Holborn Hill."
Other Volumes are in Preparation.
The Golfer's Pocket Tip Book.
By the Authors of " The Six Handicap Golfer's Com-
panion." Fully Illustrated. 55. net.
" The Golfer's Pocket Tip Book " provides for the
player who is " off " his game, a source whence he
Pocket Tip Books 15
may extract remedies for those faults of whose existence
he is only too well aware, but for which he has hitherto
been unsuccessful in finding either a prevention or a
cure. The book contains many capital photographs
illustrating the essential points of the golfing stroke,
and on the opposite page will be found a few short
sentences to explain those points to which the photo-
graphs are intended to call attention.
The various strokes depicted have each been chosen
with the definite object of demonstrating some one
faulty action, maybe of hand or foot ; and in many
cases both the correct and faulty methods have been
illustrated and explained. It is a recognised fact that
correct "timing" rather than physical strength makes
for success in golf ; therefore great stress has been
laid both on the methods of playing which conduce to
efficiency in this respect and on those which prevent
it. Thus a complete series will be found in illustration
of perfect foot-action and the particular function of
hand, wrist, and body.
Special attention has been bestowed on the art of
putting, and the series of photographs relating thereto
is more complete than any which has as yet been pre-
sented to the student of golf. The accompanying
words of wisdom emanate from Jack White, who both
in theory and practice excels all others in this depart-
ment of the game.
The Motorist's Pocket Tip Book.
By GEOFFREY OSBORN. With 13 full-page Illus-
trations. Leather Case. 55. net.
The author of this book, an engineer by profession,
has had a large and varied experience of all types of
cars in several countries. He has compressed his
knowledge into the pages of this book in such a manner
that the points required to be elucidated can instantly
be found, and if further explanation be required, the
reader has only to turn to the chapter immediately
preceding to find the reasons why and wherefore.
1 6 Mills & Boon's Catalogue
MILLS & BOON'S
AUTUMN NOVELS
A Charming Novel.
Love in a Little Town.
By J. E. BUCKROSE, Author of " Down Our Street."
Crown 8vo. 6s
" Love in a Little Town " is a comedy about that
flowery and intangible thing, the love of a real girl.
There are many characters in it, each quite clearly and
vividly distinct, and the heroine is a spoilt heiress who
is sent back to the little town to find reality among her
grandfather's people. How she bears the immense
change from wealth and position to Mr. Wallerby's
circle and surroundings whether the lover proves
faithful under the altered conditions and what Celia
really finds in the little town, are the questions upon
which the story hangs. An atmosphere of freshness
and young love and country lanes is over the whole
book, for such a little English town as this is not so
much a town as the country gathered close and intensi-
fied more absolutely rural, in a way, than the open
fields themselves.
Mills & Boon confidently recommend " Love in a
Little Town " as one of the most delightful novels of
recent years.
The " Mary-up-at-Gaffries " Successor.
Ripe Corn.
By S. C. NETHERSOLE. Crown 8vo. 6s.
A novel of country life ; a study of temperament.
Yeoman Laqueste of Strete, and Master of Strete
Harriers, takes over Apuldowne from his thriftless
nephew, Edward Laqueste, to give it back later as a
wedding gift to that nephew's son, Jim, whom he
Autumn Novels 17
adopts from boyhood. Jim Laqueste, a shy, silent
boy, shows a whole-hearted devotion to Jane Tallboys,
a fascinating little person who trips in and out of the
earlier chapters of the book, more soberly towards the
end ; she becomes a special " pal " of old Yeoman
Laqueste, and, after her mother's death, like a daughter
to the Rector of Salt and Mrs. Trankett. The course
of true love is interrupted by Missie Trankett, who
sets her heart on winning Jim Laqueste, and succeeds
as the price of her silence when she discovers his
mother's theft of jewellery. The marriage ends tragic-
ally, with Missie's death in a railway collision, when,
scared at a diphtheria epidemic in the village, she is
hurrying away with Patience, her little child. Other
carefully drawn characters are Edward Laqueste and
his wife ; the Rector of Salt and Mrs. Trankett ; their
son Theodore ; William Tallboys of Top-o'-th' Hill ;
Henry Turnpenny, the saintly carpenter ; the widow
Matchett of the carpenter's yard. The river, which
flows past Apuldowne, exercises a curious influence
over these people.
The Palace of Logs.
By ROBERT BARR, Author of " Cardillac " and " The
Sword Maker." Crown 8vo. 6s.
The Earthen Drum.
By E. S. STEVENS, Author of " The Veil," " The
Mountain of God." With 6 Illustrations in Colour.
Crown 8vo. 6s.
The Eastern story-teller, in the idle hours of the
day and any hour may be idle beneath an African
sun summons his audience by beating rhythmically
upon an earthen drum. The collection of stories here
set forth by the author of " The Veil " embraces tales
grave and gay, romances and adventures such as the
ingenious Arabian told her Lord, the Commander of
the Faithful ; histories of yesterday and tales of to-day ;
but through them all may be distinguished the story-
1 8 Mills < Boon's Catalogue
teller's drum, as his audience gathers in the shade of
the market-place ; and each is fragrant with the odours,
spicy and opiate, of the eternal East whether the
scene be laid in a desert town, or an Egyptian village,
a far oasis, a camel mart, or beneath the Syrian hills.
"Zohara of the Flutes," "The Blind Girl Zeyda,"
" Perihan the Hothouse Plant," " Zuleikha the Abys-
sinian," " Hamida the Beautiful," " Brahime in Search
of a Wife," and " Mansour the Merchant," show that
men and women's hearts beat to the same measure in
the harem as in the ballroom, beneath the mantle of
the desert and the overcoat of London or Paris.
The Oriental story-teller's art is to concentrate his
hearer's attention for a brief space upon the world of
dramatic fancies ; to awaken his emotions, to stir his
pity or awake his laughter ; and, withal, to set his little
history in a form as clear-cut and dainty as that of a
cameo. This, too, is the object of " The Earthen Drum."
Laughter and Delight.
Toddie.
By GILBERT WATSON. Crown 8vo. 6s.
Toddie is just a simple little soul only a caddie
full of faults, fond of a dog, and the great hero wor-
shipper of his golfing master. Toddie fell in love (and
didn't know it) with a golden-hearted girl, the tall,
dark-eyed, buxom Scotch lass Devina. Well, Devina
fell in love with Toddie (she, too, didn't know it), and
they met and met and met in the kitchen, by the
fireside, on the heather, by the seashore, day by day,
and yet neither guessed. It made Toddie feel so
peculiar, that he did a thing unheard of with him, he
went to church. To tell you more of their love-story
would hardly be fair to them, but you ought to know
it ended happily, and in quite a novel way.
" Toddie " as a humorous novel is the real thing ;
charming, tender, pathetic, romantic.
Mills & Boon's reader reported that he read " Toddie "
at one sitting, and then read it all over again.
Autumn Novels ig
The Ealing Miracle.
By HORACE W. C. NEWTE, Author of " Sparrows,"
" Calico Jack," etc. Crown 8vo. 65.
The tribulations and temptations of London's under-
paid and unprotected women workers was the subject
of Mr. Newte's novel, " Sparrows," which created such
a sensation both in this country and America. The
same theme occupies much of his new story, " The
Ealing Miracle," although, in other respects, the narra-
tive runs on wholly different lines.
The Love Story of a Mormon.
By WINIFRED GRAHAM, Author of " Mary." With
a Preface by the Rt. Rev. BISHOP WELLDON, Dean of
Manchester. Crown 8vo. 6s.
A Remarkable Novel,
When the Red Gods Call.
By BEATRICE GRIMSHAW. Crown 8vo. 65.
" When the Red Gods Call " is a fascinating and
absorbing story of a young Englishman who meets
with the most extraordinary adventures in New Guinea.
The publishers believe it is one of the most promising
novels of recent years, for in it all the finer literary
qualities are displayed.
Mills & Boon are confident that this very striking
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The Summer Book. (Stories.)
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20 Mills & Boon's Catalogue
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Some years ago Mrs. Baillie Reynolds (the author
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A Tropical Tangle.
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SHILLING NOVELS
NEW VOLUMES
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THE BILL TOPPERS .... ANDRE CASTAIGNE
THE QUAKER GIRL (Novel of the Play) . HAROLD SIMPSON
THE COUNT OF LUXEMBOURG (Novel of the Play)
HAROLD SIMPSON
MARY UP AT GAFFRIES ... S. C. NETHERSOLE
813 (a New Arsene Lupin Adventure) . MAURICE LEBLANC
THE WOMAN WHO FORGOT . . LADY TROUBRIDGE
THE ENEMY OF WOMAN . . . WINIFRED GRAHAM
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22 Mills & Boon's Catalogue
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27
MILLS & BOON'S
FICTION LIST
Crown 8vo. 6s. each.
Some Experiences of a Political Agent
Orpheus in Mayfair . .
Two Men and Gwenda
Cardillac .
The Sword Maker . .
The Glen .
A Golden Straw
The Pilgrimage o f a Fool .
Down Our Street
Render unto Caesar .
The Bill-Toppers
The Vanishing Smuggler .
The Prodigal Father
The Anger of Olivia.
Mr. Burnside's Responsibility
Margaret Rutland
Phillida ....
Blue Grey Magic . .
A Wardour Street Idyll .
Arrows from the Dark
The Valley of Achor
2nd Edition
5th Edition
3rd Edition
2nd Edition
2nd Edition
.4th Edition
. 4th Edition
2nd Edition
3rd Edition
Fame . . .
Rebecca Drew ......
The Education of Jacqueline 3rd Edition
Elisabeth Davenay . . 3rd Edition
Children of the Cloven Hoof . . .
The Lady Calphurnia Royal
My Lady Wentworth
The Leech -
The Enemy of Woman
Mary . *,
The Needlewoman .
The End and the Beginning.
Brummell Again
By Force of Circumstances
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Mrs. Vere Campbell
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Stephen Chalmers.
J. Storer Clouston.
Thomas Cobb.
Thomas Cobb.
Thomas Cobb.
Thomas Cobb.
Sophie Cole.
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Mrs. P. Champion de
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B. M. Croker.
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Claire de Pratz.
Claire de Pratz.
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Winifred Graham.
Winifred Graham.
Winifred Graham.
Cosmo Hamilton.
Cosmo Hamilton.
Gordon Holmes.
MILLS & BOON'S FICTION LIST continued
Margot Munro . . .
No. 19 .
Captain Sentimental . .
Arsene Lupin .
Jehanne of the Golden Lips
813
The Phantom of the Opera
Bound Together
The Last Lord Avanley
Mary up at Gaf fries .
Calico Jack . .
The Sins of the Children .
The Socialist Countess
With Poison and Sword .
Draw in Your Stool .
Harm's Way
The Kingdom of Earth
The Adventures of Captain
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The Queen's Hand . .
The Sea-Lion . .
Sport of Gods . . .
Miss Pilsbury's Fortune .
Odd Come Shorts .
Isabel
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2nd Edition
2nd Edition
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2nd Edition
2nd Edition
Jack
3rd Edition
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2nd Edition
2nd Edition
2nd Edition
2nd Edition
When Love Knocks .
The Veil .
The Mountain of God
Holborn Hill .
Written in the Rain .
The Woman who Forgot
The First Law .
The Cheat
Body and Soul .
The Fool of Faery .
The Island of Souls .
Royal Lovers . .
The Two Faces . .
First Love ...
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Edgar Jepson.
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Mary E. Mann.
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S. C. Nethersole.
Horace W. C. Newte.
Horace W. C. Newte.
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W. M. O'Kane.
Oliver Onions.
Lloyd Osbourne.
Anthony Partridge.
Max Pemberton.
Maud Stepney Rawson.
Mrs. Baillie Reynolds.
Patrick Rushden.
H. Vaughan-Sawyer.
Christine R. Shand.
Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick.
Dorothy V. Horace
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Gilbert Stanhope.
E. S. Stevens.
E. S. Stevens.
Christian Tearle.
John Trevena.
Lady Troubridge
Lady Troubridge.
Lady Troubridge.
Lady Troubridge.
M. Urquhart.
M. Urquhart.
Helene Vacaresco.
Marie van Vorst.
Marie van Vorst.
MILLS & BOON'S FICTION LIST continued
The Girl from His Town ....
Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill . 2nd Edition
The King's Highway. ....
The Captain's Daughter ....
Tess of Ithaca ......
An Averted Marriage . 2nd Edition
Memoirs of a Buccaneer ....
The Honourable Derek ....
The Rajah's People . . . 8th Edition
Dividing Waters . . . 4th Edition
A Blot on the Scutcheon . 2nd Edition
For Church and Chieftain ....
Marie van Vorst
Hugh Walpole.
H. B. Marriott Watson.
Helen H. Watson.
Grace Miller White
Percy White.
Robert Williams.
R. A. Wood-Seys.
I. A. R. Wylie.
I. A. R. Wylie.
May Wynne.
May Wynne.
MILLS & BOON'S
SHILLING NET LIBRARY
SPARROWS : The Story of an Unprotected Girl
HORACE W. C. NEWTE
THE LONELY LOVERS . . .HORACE W. C. NEWTE
CARDILLAC ROBERT BARR
THE END AND THE BEGINNING . . COSMO HAMILTON
THE VEIL E. S. STEVENS
CUMNER'S SON (Cloth) .... GILBERT PARKER
THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN JACK MAX PEMBERTON
BEWARE OF THE DOG . MRS. BAILLIE REYNOLDS
THE PRODIGAL FATHER
TALES OF KING FIDO .
MARY ...
THE GOLDFISH
FOR CHURCH AND CHIEFTAIN
WEE MACGREEGOR.
PROOFS BEFORE PULPING .
THE DIARY OF A BABY .
THOMAS HENRY
*THE DOLLAR PRINCESS
D'ARCY OF THE GUARDS
J. STORER CLOUSTON
J. STORER CLOUSTON
WINIFRED GRAHAM
LILA FIELD
. MAY WYNNE
. J. J. BELL
, BARRY PAIN
. BARRY PAIN
. W. PETT RIDGE
. HAROLD SIMPSON
L. E. SHIPMAN
*ARSENE LUPIN
'PETER PAN
. EDGAR JEPSON & MAURICE LEBLANC
, G. D. DRENNAN
* Novels of the Play. (See also page 21).
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450
The English court in exile. .04
