Life of Henry Benedict Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York : with a notice of Rome in his time

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LIFE OF HENRY BENEDICT STUART,

CABDINAL DUKE OF YOBK

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Pompeo Batoni pinxit.
HENRY BENEDICT STUART, CARDINAL DUKE OF YORK.

LIFE

OF

HENRY BENEDICT STUART,

[

CARDINAL DUKE OF YORK.

Witb a -notice of 1Rome in bis ttime. LG|<

BY

BERNARD W. KELLY.

R & T. WASHBOUKNE,

18 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.

BENZIGBR BROS. : NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, AND CHICAGO.

1899.

72^07

jlihU (Dbatat :

J. OSWALD TURNER, C.J.,
CENSOR DEPUTATUS.

Jinpritruttur :

HERBERTUS CARDINALIS VAUGHAN,

ARCHIEPISCOPUS WESTMONASTEBIENSIS.

go

FATHEK CUTHBEBT, O.8.B.,

IN 8/ECCLO,

HERBERT CONSTABLE,

THIS LITTLE WORK WAS DEDICATED ;

BUT ERE ITS PAGES WERE COMPLETED

HIS SOUL HAD PASSED AWAY TO THAT 'FAR, FAR GREATER REST,'

ON THE FEAST OF THE DEDICATION

OF THE BASILICA OF SS. PETER AND PAUL,

NOVEMBER THE EIGHTEENTH, 1898.

PREFACE.

JN the following little work will be found the
leading events connected with the life of
Henry Benedict, the Cardinal Duke of York,
and last direct descendant of the unfortunate House
of Stuart.

While narrating matters of purely personal interest,
the writer has deemed it advisable to add a brief
outline of such contemporary events as bear more or
less directly on the subject of this memoir.

The writer tenders his best thanks to those who
have encouraged and assisted him in drawing up this
account, especially to the Rev. R. McCoy, S.J., of
Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, who has supplied
valuable information concerning Prince Henry's
Cardinalate, and to the Rev. Oswald Turner, C.J.,
of St. George's College, Weybridge, who has kindly
revised the manuscript. His acknowledgments are
likewise due to his old friend Mr. George Williams,
of Erdington, for kindly criticisms and suggestions.

In conclusion it may be remarked that the frontis-
piece is from a photograph by Messrs. Walker and
Boutall, permission to reproduce which has been
kindly granted by Lionel Cust, Esq., Director of the
National Portrait Gallery.

January, 1899.

CONTENTS.

PART I.

1725-1747.

PAGE

Birth and early years —Education of Charles Edward and
Henry Benedict Stuart — The crown of Poland — Descrip-
tion of Prince Henry — Death of Queen Maria Clementina
— Charles leaves Rome for Paris — The rebellion of 1745
— Charles arrives in France — Henry enters the Church,
and is created Cardinal by Pope Benedict XIV. - - 11

PART II.
1747-1769.

Displeasure of Prince Charles at Henry's Cardinalate —
His benefices — Society for the conversion of England —
Created Camerlengo — Archbishop of Corinth translated
to Frascati — Rebuilds and reorganizes the seminary —
Death of the old Chevalier (James III.) — His funeral —
Refusal of the Pope to recognise Charles as King —
Charles's intemperate habits — His visit to the Pope —
Affair of the Jesuits — Death of Clement XIII. — The Con-
clave— Visit of Joseph II. — Election of Clement XIV. - 86

PART III.

1769-1807.

Previous history of Clement XIV. — Troubles of the Church
— Constitution against the Jesuits — Action of Cardinal
York — Marriage of Charles Edward — Present of Cardinal

x Contents

PAGE

York to the bride — Visit of the Duke of Gloucester to
Borne — Cardinal York and the crofters of South Uist —
Suppression of the Jesuits — Death of Clement XIV. —
Election of Pius VI.— Cardinal York and the Passionist
Congregation— Cardinal York and the Jubilee — Charles
Edward's life at Florence — Separation from his wife —
Cardinal York's intervention — Visit of Pius VI. to
Vienna — The adventurer and Cardinal York — Visit of
the King of Sweden — Last days of Prince Charles — His
death and funeral — Cardinal York assumes the title of
Henry IX. — Cardinal York and Consalvi — His will —
Correspondence with the Earl of Traquair — Revolu-
tionary designs on Borne — Flight of Cardinal York to
Venice — His destitution — Pensioned by George III. —
Correspondence on the subject — Election of Pius VII. —
Return to Borne — Private life of Cardinal York — His
second will — Translation to Ostia — Death - 65

APPENDIX.

Cardinal York's villa and property — Portraits of Cardinal
York — Sources of information - - 125

INDEX ..... . 132

LIFE

OF

HENRY BENEDICT STUAKT,

CAEDINAL DUKE OF YORK

PART I.
1725-1747.

i GLUMES have been written on the life of
Prince Charles Edward, the Young Pretender.
His daring and chivalrous attempt in 1745
to recover the crown of his ancestors, with all the
circumstances of that memorable campaign — the
victory at Preston Pans, the brilliant march to Derby,
and the final rout at Culloden, where Stuart hopes
and Highland clanship fell for ever — are cameos of
history on which generations of readers and students
have gazed with wonder, admiration and delight. Of
his brother, Prince Henry Benedict Stuart, few know
any more than that he was a Cardinal and Bishop of
Frascati, that he led a simple and unostentatious life,
and finally died, unknown to fame, at an advanced
age. In the following pages it has been our endeavour
to add to this meagre stock of information by the

12 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

publication of further details regarding this by no
means unimportant or uninteresting personage.

Henry Benedict Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York, the
last representative in the direct male line of the Royal
House of Stuart, was born at Rome, in the Palazzo
Muti Savorelli, situated in the Via Santi Apostoli,
and still known by the name of the Palazzo del
Pretendente, on March 6, 1725, four years after the
birth of his elder brother, Charles Edward, the Young
Pretender, and thirty-seven years after his grandfather,
James II., had been driven from the British throne.
The palace in which the Cardinal Duke was born,
which is represented in a contemporary picture by
Van Lint as a large square mansion of stone standing
in its own extensive pleasure-grounds, was given to
the Stuarts by Pope Clement XI. in 1717. The father
of Prince Henry was James Francis Edward Stuart,
generally known as the Old Pretender, but known to
the Jacobites as James III. James Francis Edward
Stuart, the son of James II., by Mary, daughter of
the Duke of Modena, was born in St. James's Palace,
London, on June 10, 1688, a few months before the
outbreak of the Revolution that banished the Stuart
family from these realms for ever. On the death of
his father at St. Germains in 1701, James Francis
Edward was at once recognised as King by a large
body of adherents in the British Isles, and also by
Louis XIV. of France, who in 1708 fitted out an un-
successful expedition to Scotland in his behalf. Seven
years later, when Prince George, Elector of Hanover,
ascended the throne of England, the exiled James
Francis Edward landed in Scotland, and at his presence
the abortive rebellion of 1715 broke out. The Cheva-

Cardinal Duke of York 18

lier de St. George, as James is sometimes called, was
not qualified to act as leader in such an enterprise,
and he soon found it expedient to re-embark for
France, leaving his party in a state of thorough dis-
organization, and the scaffold wet with the blood of
Derwentwater and Kenmure and a number of less
distinguished followers. In 1717 he settled in Rome,
a city ever afterwards associated with the events
that marked the closing scenes in the great Stuart
drama. His wife, Maria Clementina, was the daughter
of Prince James Sobieski, son of the renowned John
Sobieski, King of Poland, who, by the wisdom of
his counsels and the prowess of his arms, delivered
Austria, and perhaps all central Europe, from the
threatened domination of the Turks. The romantic
and impressionable character of the Princess frequently
led her, when a child, to predict her future elevation
to the throne of England, a prophecy which seemed
to be in a fair way towards realization when, at the
age of seventeen, she was betrothed to the titular
James III. As the English Government was known
to be much opposed to this union, the greatest care
was necessary to prevent the intended marriage from
being frustrated by political intrigues. To Mr. Charles
Wogan, an Irish officer in the French service, and a
man of great courage and diplomatic skill, was
entrusted the task of conducting the lovely Princess
to Bologna, where the Chevalier had for the time
fixed his court Wogan, with his assistants, Majors
Gaydon and O'Toole, carried the perilous undertaking
to a successful issue. A medal, bearing the motto
* Deceptis Custodibus,' and as device a chariot in full
speed, was struck to commemorate the royal elope-

14 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

ment, the fame of which was soon spread over Europe.
But, although the Princess arrived in Bologna in the
month of May, the marriage, owing to the Chevalier's
absence in Madrid, did not take place till Sep-
tember.

On the evening of December 31, 1720, the stillness
of the Eternal City was broken by the artillery of the
Castle of St. Angelo, announcing the birth of the
titular Prince of Wales. The event was celebrated
with bonfires and illuminations, and the Cardinal
Protectors of the various European Powers paid State
visits to the child, who, five hours after his birth, was
baptized under the name of Charles Edward Louis
Casimir by his Lordship the Bishop of Montifiascone,
in the Church of the Santi Apostoli. A great con-
course of noble and distinguished personages, including
seven Cardinals and fourteen British Peers, were
present at this ceremony, which was depicted in a
large painting now in the possession of the Earl of
Northesk.

The subject of this sketch, the second son of the
Old Chevalier, was born on March 6, 1725. The
happy event was immediately communicated to the
reigning Pontiff, Benedict XIII., who, at the time of
the announcement, was engaged in private devotion
in his oratory. The Holy Father, having graciously
intimated that he would himself baptize the child, at
once proceeded to the palace of the Stuarts, where he
was received by the Chevalier in person, and ushered
into the apartment where the Princess lay. James
took the infant into his arms, and presented it to the
Pope, saying as he did so : ' I present to your Holiness
the Duke of York, that you may make him a Christian.'

Cardinal Duke of York 15

The Pontiff thereupon performed the rite of holy
baptism, giving the little Duke the names of Henry
Benedict Clement Mary Edward, with other names
up to the number of twelve. The visit of the Sover-
eign Pontiff was quickly followed by that of the whole
College of Cardinals, who came in all their stately
splendour to congratulate the ' King and Queen of
England ' on the birth of their second son.

At the time of Prince Henry's birth his father and
mother were unhappily estranged from each other by
a combination of circumstances brought about in
great measure by the suspicious character and way-
ward conduct of Clementina. During the years that
intervened between the birth of his first son, Charles
Edward, and that of the Duke of York, James had
been planning another rising in Scotland, and had
been in frequent correspondence with some of the
leading Jacobites on the Continent, of whom Atter-
bury, the exiled Bishop of Rochester, and Lord Oxford
were the most noted. To facilitate his negotiations,
the Chevalier had taken into his personal service a
certain Colonel John Hay, on whom he conferred the
title of Earl of Inverness. Lady Hay was appointed
to the household of the Queen, and her brother,
James Murray, was created governor to the Prince
of Wales. In the discharge of his duties as royal
courier, Lord Inverness had reason to suspect that
the Earl of Mar, James's general in the Rebellion,
was betraying the secrets of the Stuart Court to the
British Government, and he laid his fears before the
titular King, who mentioned them to his Queen.
Clementina, who had absolute faith in the abilities
and fidelity of Mar, flew into a violent passion, charged

16 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

Lord Inverness with seeking to bring about Mar's
ruin, and insisted that Inverness and all the members
of his family should be dismissed from the Stuart
Court. In vain did the Chevalier protest against the
unfounded charges of the Queen, and her still more
unreasonable demands. Clementina was deaf to all
argument ; on James's steadily refusing to banish his
faithful Hay, she declared her intention of retiring to
a convent, a threat which she put into execution on
November 15, 1725, when, accompanied by Lady
Southesk, she withdrew to the Ursuline Convent of
St. Cecilia in Trastevere.

It does not come within the scope of this little work
to follow this miserable dispute through its many
details, or to narrate how the representations of
Clementina made her for the time appear in the
eyes of the world as the victim of conjugal tyranny.
Harmony was restored in 1727, when Lord Inverness,
by a rare display of generosity and zeal for the
interests of his Sovereign, prevailed on James to
dispense with his services, in order that the quarrel,
which had now reached the proportions of a scandal,
might be speedily brought to an end. Owing to the
absence in France of the Chevalier, who was preparing
for another insurrection in the Highlands, the recon-
ciliation, if such it may be termed, did not take place
till February, 1728, when Clementina left the convent
and rejoined her consort at Bologna.

It is pleasant to turn from this unfortunate quarrel
to the subject which occupied so much of the
Chevalier's solicitude — the education of his sons.
As long as her health permitted, Clementina herself
undertook this important duty, a task for which she

Cardinal Duke of York 17

was fitted by the extent of her information and the
vigour of her mind. It had been the original intention
of James III. to place his sons under the tuition of
Sir Andrew Ramsay, better known as the Chevalier
Ramsay, the great Scotch scholar and educationalist,
who had been converted to the Catholic Church by
the immortal Fra^ois de Salignac F6nelon, Arch-
bishop of Cambray. But the dissensions reigning
in the Stuart household, in consequence of the
unhappy incident narrated above, had made the
residence of Ramsay at the Palazzo dei Santi Apostoli
impossible. His place was supplied, so far as the loss
of such an instructor, whose fame as a scholar was
familiar all over Europe, could be supplied, by Sir
Thomas Sheridan and the Abbe Legouz, of the
University of Paris. Under these preceptors the
two princes went through a complete course of what
was then termed the belles-lettres, though their
English education seems, in the case of Prince
Charles at least, to have been somewhat neglected.
They both spoke, however, the French and Italian
languages with grace and fluency. When the Abbe*
Legouz resigned his charge, they continued their
studies under Drs. Berkeley and Cooper, two non-
juring Anglican clergymen who acted as chaplains to
the Protestant members of the Chevalier's Court.

Of the childhood of the future Cardinal few
particulars are forthcoming. At one time it was
the intention of James to have him brought up
at Madrid, in order that the sympathy and influence
of the Escuriel might be enlisted on behalf of his
family in any future attempt to regain the British
throne. This scheme was never carried out, owing
-vt 2

18 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

to the strong opposition of Clementina, whose maternal
affection and dread of dangerous surroundings made
her determined never to consent to separation from
her children.

James Field-Marshal Keith, the ' noble exile ' whose
death at Hochkirchen, in the Seven Years' War, has
been described by Lord Macaulay in a well-known
passage, gives us, in a letter to his brother, George
Lord Marischal, dated November 21, 1731, a glimpse
of Prince Henry when in his seventh year. It runs
thus :

' The little Duke is much on his good behaviour.
He has ordered a journal of his actions to be kept
and given me, that you may see how well he behaves.
I never saw any child comparable to him. His
brother has already got the better of his governors,
which makes him a little unruly ; but I fancy he
will be bold and no dissembler — two great and good
qualities.'

In another letter, of October 30, 1732, the Marshal
says :

' The Duke of York believes I send you a journal
of his actions ; he stands in great awe of it, lest his
faults should be published in Europe and Asia, and is
very fond to do any good thing to be put in the
journal.' This letter was written from Rome.

Lord Inverness (Colonel Hay), in a letter to Thomas
Gordon, Admiral of the Russian Fleet and Governor of
Cronstadt, bears witness to the good impression made
by Charles and Henry on their friends, and further
says that ' They are the most lively boys this day on
earth ; pray God preserve them long,' etc. The
natural cheerfulness of Prince Henry, v/hich never

Cardinal Duke of York 19

forsook him through life, led the poet Gray, some
eight years later, when the future Cardinal was in
his sixteenth year, to describe him as having ' more
spirit ' than his elder brother.

In 1733 events in Poland inspired some of the
Continental Jacobites with the hope that the influence
of the Court of France and the family alliance of the
Stuarts with the Sobieskis might have the effect of
securing the crown of that unhappy country for the
young Duke of York. In February of that year died
Augustus, Elector of Saxony, who had been summoned
to the throne of the Jagellons by the voice of the
Polish Diet in 1697, on the death of the great John
Sobieski.

In March the Chevalier wrote to Prince James
Sobieski, expressing his pleasure at the favourable
disposition of certain influential persons in Warsaw
towards his family, but also reminding him of the
practical impossibility of securing the election of a
child of eight to the throne of a country proverbial
for the turbulence of its factions. In the event the
crown went to Augustus, son of the previous monarch,
who, soldier though he was, could not take possession
of his kingdom till his adversaries had been awed
hi to submission by the presence of 60,000 Russian
bayonets.

The year 1735 opened with a great blow for the
Chevalier and his family, in the loss of Queen
Clementina, who expired, after a long and painful
illness, on Tuesday, January 18. After the recon-
ciliation already recorded, James III. and his consort
had continued to reside together at Rome, though the
deep mutual love which had characterized their early

2—2

20 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

wedded life had never been quite restored. The
Chevalier, absorbed in schemes for another invasion
of Britain, was too preoccupied to attend much to
matters of domestic interest, while Clementina, on
her part, made no earnest attempts to regain that
place in her husband's affections which she had in a
great measure lost by her own foolish and unreason-
able conduct. She spent her last years chiefly in
works of piety and charity, assisting poor girls who
were in danger from evil surroundings, relieving
destitute families, and establishing needlework guilds
among the Roman ladies for supplying needy churches
with vestments and altar linen. She was encouraged
in these admirable undertakings by her confessor, the
celebrated Franciscan preacher who did so much to
revive religious fervour in Italy, Father Leonard, of
Port Maurice, who was beatified by Pope Pius VI. in
1796, and canonized by Pope Pius IX. in 1867. Pope
Clement XII., to show his esteem for the deceased,
and the goodwill he entertained towards the Stuart
family, ordered a most sumptuous funeral for the
Princess, some account of which may not be con-
sidered out of place here.

The body of the Princess was taken on the day of
her death to the Church of the Santi Apostoli, the
hearse being accompanied by the ladies and gentle-
men of the household and a number of servants and
attendants, bearing funeral torches and wax candles.
As the deceased, shortly before her death, had become
a Tertiary of the Order of St. Dominic, a number of
the Dominican Fathers met the corpse at the entrance
of the church, and conducted it in procession to a bed
of state, surrounded by twenty-four wax candles, where

Cardinal Duke of York 21

it lay while the Office for the Dead was chanted by the
choir. This was followed by the ceremony of em-
balmment, which took place in an inner apartment,
probably the sacristy, under the direction of Signer
Antonio Leprotti, private physician to the Pope, in
the presence of the Duchess Strozzi, her Excellency
Donna Isabella Aquaviva d'Aragona, and, by special
dispensation, the pontifical majordomo, Monsignor
Gamberacci, Archbishop of Amasia. At the con-
clusion of this Office, the ladies attired the body
in the habit of the Dominican nuns, after which
it was conducted to the chapel of the Father Minister-
General, where a captain and company of the Swiss
Guard kept watch round the catafalque.

On Sunday, the 23rd, about noon, the ladies-in-
waiting removed the religious habit from the deceased,
putting on in its place royal robes of purple velvet,
gold, and ermine. It was then conducted, with much
solemnity, to the Church of the Apostles, which was
suitably adorned with funeral emblems and insignia.
Thirty-two Cardinals, in their violet mourning robes,
attended, and assisted at the Office for the Dead,
which was chanted by the Mendicant Friars. The
remains were then taken in procession to St. Peter's,
attended by members of numerous Religious Orders
and Congregations, bearing lighted candles, and
followed by the entire Stuart household in Court
dress. With the hearse also went the students of
the English, Scotch, and Irish colleges, and a detach-
ment of the Swiss Guard. Then followed in order
the officials of the Pope's household, Prelates of the
Palace, Masters of Ceremonies, Protonotaries, and
Chaplains in their carriages, attended by halberdiers

22 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

and mace-bearers with silver maces. Last of all came
ten coaches, containing the Chevalier de St. George,
the Princes Charles Edward and Henry, and their
respective suites. At seven in the evening the pro-
cession entered St. Peter's, where the body was
conducted to the choir, which, by order of his
Eminence Cardinal St. Clement, Archpriest of the
Fabric, had been adorned with hangings of black
velvet and gold tassels and shields, bearing the arms
and monogram of the deceased Princess. The choir
was illuminated by great wax candles, set in massive
silver candlesticks. After the De Profundis had
been recited by Monsignor Cervini, Patriarch of
Jerusalem and Canon of St. Peter's, the body was
again stripped of its royal robes, clothed in the
Dominican habit, and enclosed with the regalia in
an inner and an outer coffin. Next morning a
solemn Mass of Requiem was sung by the Cardinal
Archpriest, in the presence of the Chevalier and his
family, several Cardinals, the Archbishop of Hiero-
polis, the Bishops of Gyrene, Constance and Marciana.
After the Absolution had been given, the clergy and
court, preceded by the cross, attended the coffin to
the vaults, where it was placed in the crypt near the
Chapel of the Presentation. The heart of the deceased
was enclosed in a silver urn, and deposited in the
Church of the Apostles, where a handsome monument,
erected by the Bishop of the Fabric of St. Peter's,
marks the spot where it is laid.

We now pass from the purely domestic concerns of
the exiled family to a consideration of the events
connected with the last Jacobite rebellion in Scotland.
Though these occurrences are not immediately con-

Cardinal Duke of York 28

nected with the subject of the present memoir, some
reference must be made to them to enable the reader
to understand and appreciate the circumstances of
the times in which Prince Henry lived.

In 1741 the unjust aggression of the sovereign of
a then unimportant German State involved half of
Europe in a bloody struggle. The death of the
Emperor Charles VI., in the October of the preceding
year, had presented to Frederick of Prussia a favour-
able opportunity for marching a powerful army into
the Austrian dominions, and annexing the province
of Silesia to his territories. The ' Moriamur pro rege
nostra Maria Theresa ' of the indignant Hungarian
nobles as they raised their flashing sabres in defence
of the insulted daughter of the Caesars and the rights
of her infant son, their sovereign, sounded the note
of war which was to devastate the greater part of
Europe for seven years. Alone of all the Powers that
had sworn to safeguard the claims of the Empress,
England remained faithful to its word, and in 1743
the broken faith of France and Bavaria, who, regard-
less of treaties, had supported the aggression of
Frederick, received condign punishment in a crushing
defeat from the British forces at Dettingen. It was
at this juncture that Cardinal Tencin, Prime Minister
of France, resolved to divert the attention of England
by a Stuart rising at home. He invited Prince Charles
to Paris, assuring him that an army of 15,000 men
and a fleet of transports would be put at his disposal.
The young Prince, to whom the prospect of regaining
the throne of his fathers had become the one object
of life, was not slow to avail himself of the promise
thus made. He hastened to Paris to place himself at

24 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

the head of the armament, but, alas ! the elements,
ever the foes of the House of Stuart, once more
declared against them. A violent tempest covered
the northern coasts of France with the wreckage of
the invading flotilla, and the young Chevalier was
constrained to await a more favourable opportunity.

It is from the pen of Father Julius Cordara, of the
Society of Jesus, an intimate friend of Cardinal York,
that we know of the full details of Charles Edward's
secret departure from Rome. While living at Albano
with his father, many years afterwards, Cardinal York
made Cordara's acquaintance. The Jesuit met the
Duke of York as his Eminence was taking a walk one
evening on the beautiful road between Castel Gandolfo
and Albano. The Cardinal entered into conversation
with him, took a fancy to him, and became his close
friend. After his consecration as Bishop of Frascati,
the Cardinal Duke often had Cordara with him on
prolonged visits, and though the Cardinal consulted
him on many matters of importance, the Jesuit never
forgot his patron's double rank as ecclesiastical and
temporal Prince, and treated him always with becoming
reverence.

At the time the young Chevalier left Rome, the
war of the Austrian succession was at its height.
The Mediterranean literally swarmed with English
men-of-war, and a multitude of spies were to be found
everywhere, ready to chronicle the Chevalier's move-
ments, so that it was necessary for him to exercise
the utmost caution in making his way to the French
capital. On January 9, 1744, he left Rome for
Cisterna, about thirty miles distant on the Via Appia,
where he had a shooting-box. The day before his

Cardinal Duke of York 25

departure from Rome, the Prince gave an entertain-
ment to the leading nobility, and during the whole
course of the evening did not betray, by the slightest
look or word, the fact that he was on the eve of
commencing a war against one of the most powerful
monarchs of Europe.

He ordered a carriage to be ready to start shortly
after midnight, explaining that he wished to have
some sport early on the following day. The whole
scheme was kept so profound a secret that not even
the Duke of York, who usually shared his brother's
counsels, was aware of the true nature of the project.

At the appointed hour the young Chevalier drove
out of Rome, accompanied by Sir Thomas Sheridan,
and when some distance out in the country was met
by a Mr. Stafford, one of his gen tlemen-in- waiting,
with two horses saddled and bridled. Charles now
expressed his intention of riding to Cisterna by the
Albano road. He and Sheridan therefore mounted
the horses, and, bidding the coachman drive back to
the city, galloped off for some distance, and, after
allowing time for the carriage to get well on its way,
retraced their path, and made for the Tuscan road by
another route. At Capraola, where Cardinal Acquaviva
had a palace, they found relays of horses, and after
five days' travelling reached Genoa, whence the Prince
and his companion sailed to the adjacent shore of
France in a rowing-boat, to avoid arousing the sus-
picions of the numerous British cruisers sailing about
the coast.

In the meantime the Duke of York had received
intelligence of the scheme, but, for the sake of pre-
serving his brother's secret more effectually, pretended

26 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

to be greatly alarmed on not finding Charles at
Cisterna. While he was giving orders for inquiries to
be made as to the delay, Mr. Stafford, who was in the
plot, came in with the news that Prince Charles had
met with an accident, caused by the slipping of his
horse, and had been taken to the palace of the King,
their father, at Albano. Lest news of the mishap
should reach his father's ears, the Duke gave strict
orders that nothing should be said about the matter ;
but, notwithstanding the prohibition, the story spread,
and was believed by everyone. After a few days,
Prince Henry made preparations as though to visit
his brother, when a letter arrived from Stafford,
stating that His Royal Highness wished the hunt to
be transferred to Lake Fogliano, ten miles off, and
that the Prince would be there to take part in it.
When the Duke and his party arrived at Fogliano,
they found another letter from Stafford, in which it
was stated that the wound in the Prince's foot had
not quite healed, and that the doctor had ordered him
a few days' rest. Thus, several days more elapsed
before the truth became known, and by that time
Charles Edward was safe in France.

As the story of the rebellion of '45 belongs ex-
clusively to the history of the young Chevalier, any
detailed account of that romantic episode would be
entirely out of place in a narrative dealing with the
Cardinal Duke of York Still, we cannot let the last
heroic effort of the Stuart dynasty to recover its long-
lost throne pass entirely unnoticed.

Though the fleet destined for his service had been
destroyed, hope still remained, and on July 21, 1745,
Charles Edward and the Seven Men of Moidart stood

Cardinal Duke of York 27

alone on the shores of Loch-na-Nuagh. Following
the generous example of Cameron of Lochiel, the
Highland clans rallied to the standard thus boldly
unfurled, and once more unsheathed the sword on
behalf of Scotland's ancient line. Then quickly
followed the capture of Edinburgh, the festivities of
Holyrood, where the young Chevalier won all hearts,
and the glorious victory of Preston Pans, where the
irresistible fury of the Highlanders swept Sir John
Cope's army in rout and confusion from the field.
Then came the march into England, the capture of
Carlisle and Manchester, and the entrance into Derby
on December 2. Nor was the retreat which the
unsympathetic attitude of the great English houses,
and the large forces that were advancing against him,
made necessary less glorious to the Prince. At Clifton
Moor, in Cumberland, the retreating Highlanders turned
fiercely on their pursuers, and in the moonlight of a
clear winter's night forced the Duke of Cumberland's
dragoons to fall back with considerable loss. In
Scotland one last triumph awaited them, to shed a
departing ray of glory over the Stuart cause. On the
evening of January 23, 1746, amidst a storm of wind
and rain, a large army under General Hawley was
signally defeated at Falkirk.

The Duke of Cumberland, George II.'s son, now
arrived on the scene, at the head of powerful forces,
and at the advance of their terrible assailant, the
' plaid-men ' slowly continued their retreat northward.
The councils of the Chevalier were distracted by
dissensions, and his little army, worn out by famine
and innumerable hardships, daily diminished in
numbers. In this forlorn condition it was attacked

28 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

by the whole English army at Culloden Moor, near
Inverness, on April 16. Resorting to the simple
tactics that had made them victorious on so many
fields, the whole body of the clans (with the exception
of one of the tribes of Macdonalds on the left), drawing
their broadswords and covering themselves with their
targets, precipitated themselves on the foe. A heavy
and incessant fire of grapeshot and musketry rolled
from the English lines on the advancing columns of
the Highlanders, and the few shattered bands that
burst through the first division of the Duke's army
were immediately surrounded and cut to pieces.

The Young Adventurer fled from the field of his
ruined hopes to the bleak valleys and snow-clad
hills, where, for the space of five months, the
descendant of Robert Bruce wandered, a proscribed
fugitive, with a price of £30,000 on his head. That
none of the poor peasantry among whom he lived
offered to betray him, is as splendid an example
of chivalrous honour and heroic loyalty as any
recorded in history.

As soon as the suppression of the rebellion became
known in Rome, the greatest anxiety prevailed in
James's Court as to the safety of Prince Charles.
As may easily be expected, the most contradictory
and conflicting rumours reached, from time to time,
the young Prince's father and friends. Now he was
reported dead; at another time his safe arrival in
France was announced ; at another time he was said
to be captured. By the express wish of James, public
prayers were daily recited in the Church of the Santi
Apostoli and elsewhere in Rome for the safe deliver-
ance of his son from the perils that surrounded him.

Cardinal Duke of York 29

The friends and followers of Prince Charles on the
Continent were meanwhile exerting themselves to
provide him with effective means for escape.

Shortly after the news of his brother's victory at
Preston Pans, the Duke of York had arrived in Paris
from Rome, with the intention of proceeding to
England with a Franco-Jacobite army that was
being organized. His presence in the French capital
was now of service in encouraging the members of the
Jacobite party resident there to make strenuous efforts
to rescue Prince Charles from his dangerous position.
By the exertions of the future Cardinal and his
friends, a privateer was fitted out and despatched,
and, after narrowly escaping capture from the English
fleet, this vessel arrived safely in the waters of Loch-
na-Nuagh, near the very spot where Charles, a year
before, had sprung ashore, full of hope and courage,
' to carve a passage to the British throne.' The
arrival of the friendly craft was communicated to
the young Chevalier, who, several days later, came
on board, 'his visage wan, and his constitution
greatly impaired by famine and fatigue.' He
generously delayed starting for two days longer,
to give an opportunity to a number of his followers
to come on board. About 150 persons availed them-
selves of this chance of escape, and on September 20
the vessel set sail. A thick fog, fortunately, enabled
her to elude the vigilance of a squadron under
Admiral Lestock, and the same good fortune pre-
served the exiles from capture by two other British
men-of-war, and on the ninth day after weighing
anchor the privateer and its precious freight reached
the shores of France.

30 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

Journeying from the little seaport of Roscoff, where
he had landed, Charles arrived at Morlaix, where he
spent a few days in resting after the fatigues of the
voyage. From this place he addressed a letter to his
brother Henry, acquainting him of his safe return,
and requesting him to inform the French King
officially of the same. King Louis, on hearing the
good news, ordered the Chateau of St. Antoine to be
fitted up for the Prince's reception, while the Duke
of York, accompanied by a retinue of French and
Scottish noblemen and gentlemen, hastened to meet
the brother who had so often been given up as lost.
Shortly after their meeting, Prince Henry wrote the
following account of it to his father. It is dated
from his residence at Clichy, and runs thus :

4 October 17, 1746.

' This very morning, after I writ you my last, I
had the happiness of meeting with my dearest brother.
He did not know me at first sight ; but I am sure I
knew him very well, for he is not in the least altered
since I saw him, except grown somewhat broader and
fatter, which is incomprehensible after all the fatigues
he has endured. Your Majesty may conceive better
than I can express in writing the tenderness of our
first meeting. Those that were present said they
never saw the like in their lives, and, indeed, I defy
the whole world to show another brother so kind and
loving as he is to me. . . . The Prince sees and will
scarcely see anybody but myself for a few days, that
he may have a little time for rest before he is plagued
by all the world, as to be sure he will when once he

Cardinal Duke of York 81

sees company. I go every day to dine with him.
Yesterday I brought him privately to see my house,
and I perceive he has as much godt for the chase as
ever he had. Most humbly asking your Majesty's
blessing,

' I remain,

' Your most dutiful son,

'HENRY.'

Charles remained at the Castle of St. Antoine, near
Clichy, for a few days, to recruit himself and make
preparations for his interview with the French King.
He spent almost the whole of his time in the company
of Prince Henry, narrating to him the thrilling story
of the rebellion, and of his wanderings in the Western
Highlands. On the Sunday after his arrival at Clichy
he drove to Versailles for his state visit to the King.
The only distinguishing feature about his dress on
this occasion was a white cockade of satin ribbons
and diamonds which he wore in his hat. The entire
Court was enthusiastic in its reception of the young
hero, with whose renown all Europe was filled. Louis
saluted him with the words, ' Mon tres cher Prince,'
embraced him warmly, and in a high-flown speech
expressed his ardent wish that so much merit as
that possessed by Charles might quickly meet its
reward. The Chevalier, however, was unable to
persuade his Majesty to assist him to recommence
the struggle before the disarming ordered by the
Government had taken full effect in the Highlands.

The failure of the late enterprise, while it seemed
not to affect the sanguine disposition of Charles,
made a deep impression on the mind of the Duke of

82 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

York. He was, perhaps, the first of his party to fully
recognise in the Battle of Culloden, if not the total
extinction of the Stuart hopes, at least the postpone-
ment for an indefinite length of time of any fresh
attempt to seat his family on the throne. His own
inclinations had always been towards a life of study
and retirement, although the events of the past few
months had forced him into the publicity of political
life.

It is not then surprising that the Duke of York
should now decide upon quitting the secular life, with
all its difficulties and dangers, and taking Holy Orders.
This resolution he at once proceeded to put into effect.
Leaving Paris secretly, he reached Rome on May 25,
1747. A few days after his arrival, it began to be
noised abroad that the younger son of the King of
England not only meditated embracing the ecclesi-
astical state, but was about to be elevated to the
dignity of the Gardinalate. This rumour was not
long in receiving substantial confirmation. On
June 30, 1747, the Duke of York received the tonsure,
or initiation into the clerical state, from the hands of
the Sovereign Pontiff himself, in the Sistine Chapel,
in the presence of his father and the Stuart Court.
Four days later it was known that His Royal
Highness had been created Cardinal Deacon. On the
day his elevation was announced, the Duke, conform-
ably to custom, held a reception at the Stuart Palace,
where he received the congratulations of the Sacred
College, and of the members of the diplomatic body.
On the afternoon of the same day he proceeded in
state to the Vatican, and received from the Holy
Father the red skull-cap and biretta. He held another

Cardinal Duke, of York 33

reception on July 2, to receive further felicitations
from the Roman nobility, and the generals of the
various Religious Orders. The following morning
the Cardinal Duke, wearing the gorgeous robes of his
high dignity, went with great pomp to the Sistine
chapel, where he took the customary oaths of fidelity
to the Apostolic See. Then, kneeling with his face
to the altar, he received from the Pontiff the red hat,
symbolical of that martyrdom for which the princes
of the Church must ever stand prepared. When the
last strains of the Te Deum, which marked the
termination of this solemn ceremony, had died away,
His Royal Highness delivered a set oration, in which
he expressed his profound gratitude to the Holy
Father for the immense honour he had just received,
and the deep sense he felt of his own unworthiness of
so great a distinction. Pope Benedict, in his reply,
which on this occasion partook of the nature of an
allocution to the entire body of cardinals present,
thanked the Duke for his gracious words, and, after
referring to his birth and illustrious descent, took
occasion to remind their Eminences that there was
nothing unusual in the elevation of a youth of twenty-
two to the Sacred College, seeing that the glorious St.
Charles Borromeo had been invested with the purple
when of the same age as the Duke of York, while
the famous Cardinal Peter de Luxembourg received
the red hat from Clement VI. when only eighteen.

It may be interesting to recall the fact that the
Duke of York was the third Prince of the English
blood-royal to be honoured with the sacred purple,
the first being Henry Cardinal Beaufort, son of John
of Gaunt, and the second the famous Cardinal Pole,

3

34 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

grand-nephew of Edward IV., who reconciled our
country to the Apostolic See, after its defection under
Henry VIII. and Edward VI.

The Cardinalate of itself confers on the recipient
the rank and honours of a prince. The Duke of
York, however, in consideration of his birth and the
claims of his family, was conceded privileges gener-
ally allowed only to those Cardinals who belong
to dynasties actually reigning. He wore the royal
ermine on his mozetta or short scarlet cloak, above
the rochet, took precedence immediately after Cardinal
Ruffo, Bishop of Ostia, Dean of the Sacred College,
and received, without returning, the visits of the
princes of the Church and the lay nobility. This
piece of etiquette was not at first understood by the
nobles, and gave them much annoyance. After his
elevation to the Cardinalate, His Royal Highness was
accustomed to give receptions every Thursday
evening. These receptions were so numerously
attended that it sometimes happened that late
comers, much to their chagrin, were unable to gain
admittance.

The Roman Senate visited the Duke of York in
state to offer their congratulations. The felicitations
of the Senators were expressed in Latin, in which
language the Cardinal suitably replied. Six days
later he underwent the ceremony of having his mouth
opened and shut in one and the same consistory, a
rite symbolical of the fidelity with which the members
of the Sacred College ought to keep the secrets of the
Church, and received from the hands of the Pope
the Cardinalitial sapphire ring, a gem emblematical
of the foundations of the Church foreshadowed by

Cardinal Duke of York 35

Isaias.* The Prince, on his side, made the usual
offering of several hundred crowns for the promotion
of the foreign missions. Benedict conferred upon the
newly-created Cardinal the Church of Santa Maria in
Campitelli, famous for its curious cross of transparent
alabaster, and the tomb of the Blessed Father Leonardi,
founder of the Congregation of the Mother of God,
as his titular church. It may not be superfluous to
mention here that the awarding to each Cardinal, on
his elevation, of a titular church is a custom that has
come down from the first ages, when the cardinals
were the parish priests of Rome, charged with the
cure of souls.

* ' 0 poor little one, tossed with terqpest, without all comfort,
behold I will lay thy stones in order, and will lay thy founda-
tions with sapphires ' (Isaias liv. 11).

3—2

86 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

PART II.
1747-1769.

HE news of his brother's ecclesiastical honours
had been anything but welcome intelligence
to Prince Charles, who foresaw that these
events would greatly increase the religious prejudices
which stood between the Stuarts and the throne of
England. Shortly before the red hat was conferred
on his younger son, Prince James wrote to Charles
Edward, who was then on a visit to his friend the
Duke de Bouillon, informing him of the coming event.
The letter commences, 'My dearest Carluccio,' and,
after narrating the circumstances of the return of the
Duke to Rome, and his resolution of abandoning the
lay for the ecclesiastical state, thus concludes : ' I
am fully convinced of the sincerity and solidity of
his vocation ; I should think it a resisting of the will
of God, and acting directly against my conscience, if
I should pretend to constrain him in a matter which
so nearly concerns him.'

We can understand to some extent the resentment
felt by the young Chevalier against his father and
brother. If they had tacitly abandoned all further
attempts against the House of Hanover, he most

Cardinal Duke of York 87

certainly had not, as the history of his life abundantly
proves. Of his family, he alone thoroughly under-
stood the intense prejudice entertained by the bulk
of the English nation against the Roman Catholic
Church ; and here was his very own brother identify-
ing himself with the most exalted rank but one of the
Roman hierarchy, and becoming one of the sworn
councillors of the Pope ! During the progress of the
Rebellion much harm had been done the Stuart cause
by the publication of an impudent forgery, which, to
its lasting shame, the English Government caused to
be published as a statement of the Pretender's plans
should the rising prove successful. It purported to
be an intercepted communication from a Father
Graham, Charles's pseudo - confessor, to the Duke
of York, and was, of course, plentifully interlarded
with sentiments and phrases calculated to excite to
the highest pitch the passions of Protestant English-
men. The young Chevalier was described as ' wearing
constantly about his neck a small medal ... on one
side of which is impressed his Royal Highness leading
Britannia repentant to kiss the Pope's toe.' His father,
Prince James, was made to repeat the old calumny
that ' no faith ought to be kept with heretics,' and one
of the concluding sentences of this monstrous fabrica-
tion promised that, should the Stuarts be restored,
' our Smithfield fires shall again blaze !'*

Charles Edward was not the only person who
looked with disfavour on what had lately occurred.
A letter written by Marshal Keith to his brother

* This letter was published by Mr. Cooper, of Paternoster
Bow, at the instigation of the Government (1745). Its spurious-
ness is proved by a correspondent in Notes and Queries for
June 23, 1865.

38 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

about this time expresses the opinion of one of the
leading Jacobites on the subject. After referring to
the general state of the Stuart affairs, Keith con-
tinues: 'Mine are not a bit mended. I have never
had one word from C. Smith ' (Charles Edward) . . .
'their' (i.e., the Stuarts') ' unfortunate and obstinate
choice of favourites and confidants hitherto, particu-
larly of Murray and the Ked Cap at Rome, has
brought their affairs to such a pitch of discredit
that they are under necessity of something to soothe
folks,' etc. The Murray alluded to here is Mr. James
Murray of Broughton, who acted as secretary to the
Chevalier in the year '45, and afterwards saved his
own life by turning King's evidence. The ' Red Cap '
is, of course, the Cardinal Duke.

Yet another cause of mortification awaited Charles
Edward. He had at first hoped that the Cardinalate,
being but a princely rank and not a sacred Order,
would be no obstacle to his brother marrying at some
future time. But on this point, too, he was doomed
to disappointment. In August of the same year it
was notified to him by Cardinal Valenti that Prince
Henry, in accordance with his own wishes and those
of the Pope, had resolved on taking Holy Orders.
On the 27th of the same month the Duke of York
received the four minor Orders from the hands of the
Holy Father in the Sistine Chapel, his father being
present, with his Court, at the ceremony.

On August 18 following he received the Order of
Subdeacon, and a week later that of Deacon, the
ceremony of Ordination being performed by the Pope.

On September 1 the Duke was ordained priest, and
four days later his Royal Highness said his first Mass

Cardinal Duke of York 39

in his father's domestic chapel, and administered Holy
Communion to his father and several members of the
Court. Twelve days afterwards Benedict XIV. created
him Cardinal-Priest, but allowed him to retain in
commendam his diaconal church. On the feast of
the Holy Innocents the Cardinal Duke celebrated his
first Missa Cantata, or sung Mass, in the Sistine
Chapel, in the presence of his father and no fewer
than twenty-four Cardinals. He was likewise the
celebrant at the High Mass sung at St. Peter's on
the feast of St. Peter's Chair, January 18, 1749.
The function was rendered unusually solemn by the
attendance of twenty- two Cardinals in their cappa
magnas, or long scarlet trains.

In addition to the income allowed his son by Prince
James, the Holy Father conferred on the Cardinal
Duke the lucrative office and title of Archpriest of
the Basilica of St. Peter's. It may not be out of
place to remark that the Church of St. Peter's at
Rome, from its vast size, calls for the service of a
special body of clergy, who are attached to it much
in the same way as priests elsewhere are attached to
a diocese. As a matter of fact, the Basilica is under
the immediate jurisdiction of a bishop, who exercises
episcopal authority over all persons in the parish or
district adjoining the church.

Shortly after his appointment to this preferment,
Cardinal York presented the treasury of St. Peter's
with a massive gold chalice of exquisite workmanship,
profusely adorned with precious stones of great value.
When Rome was plundered by the armies of the
French Republic hi 1798, this valuable piece of plate
fortunately escaped the notice of the modern Vandals,

40 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

and remains to this day among the treasures of the
Vatican, as a memento of the last of the Stuarts and
a token of his munificence. As Archpriest of the
Basilica, the Cardinal had in his gift several wealthy
preferments, that of Vicar of the Basilica being the
most considerable.

During the course of the year 1751 Prince James
made over to the parochial Church of Santa Maria in
Campitelli, the church of his son's cardinalitial title,
a sum of money for the purpose of promoting a society
which met there every week to recite prayers for the
return of Great Britain to the Catholic faith. In
accordance with the terms of this gift, to this day
thirty candles are lighted on the high altar, and
the Blessed Sacrament exposed for adoration, every
Saturday one hour before noon. The service consists
of a low Mass, during which the Litany of Loretto and
the psalm ' Levavi oculos meos in montes ' are chanted,
followed by Benediction.

Cardinal York took the liveliest interest in the
sodality, and when in Rome never failed to be
present at the Saturday devotions, which were
attended by a large number of the Roman people,
both clerical and lay, and the students of the English,
Scotch, and Irish Colleges.

By one of the clauses of the treaty of Aix-la-
Chapelle, which was signed in 1748 by the ministers
plenipotentiary of England, France, Spain, Holland,
and Austria, France pledged herself to expel Charles
Edward from her dominions. The Court of St. James's
sternly refused to forego this rather petty opportunity
for gratifying its vengeance, and the French Govern-
ment was forced to comply. The difficulty in carrying

Cardinal Duke of York 41

out this stipulation was that the object of so much
diplomatic attention absolutely refused to go. In
vain King Louis implored and his father commanded ;
the young Chevalier remained obdurate, and at last it
was found necessary to employ force. As the Prince
was stepping out of his carriage one night to enter
the Opera, he was seized by six strong sergeants of
the Gardes Fra^ais, bound hand and foot with a
silken cord, and driven to the Bastille. After a short
imprisonment in that grim fortress, he was conducted
across the frontier, and there set at liberty. To com-
pensate the Stuart family in some degree for this
indignity — which, indeed, had been brought entirely
on his own head by the Prince himself — and to show
his regard for the Cardinal Duke of York, King
Louis XV. conferred on his Eminence the rich Abbey
of Auchin, in the diocese of Cambray, and four years
later that of St. Amand. The possession of these two
preferments augmented the Cardinal's already large
income by 48,000 Roman crowns or £24,000.

Before his death, which occurred on May 3, 1758,
Pope Benedict XIV. gave the Cardinal Duke two
further proofs of his appreciation and goodwill. The
first of these was the presentation to the Church of
the Santi Apostoli, vacant through the death of
Cardinal Riviera ; and the other the appointment to
the office of Camerlengo, which has been well described
as the most eminent in all the Court of Rome. The
Camerlengo is at the head of the treasury, and during
a vacancy of the Papal chair he coins money, issues
edicts, and performs other acts of sovereign authority.
He has under him a treasurer, an auditor- general,and
twelve prelates, called clerks of the Chamber, for the

42 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

transaction of minor business. It was not long before
His Royal Highness was called upon to exercise the
very considerable powers with which he was invested.
The Holy Father, as has before been said, expired in
May, 1758, leaving behind him the reputation of
having been the most learned pontiff that ever sat in
St. Peter's chair. Pope Benedict received the tiara
at a time when the infidel spirit of the eighteenth
century had already, in many countries, destroyed
every sentiment of religion in public life, and in
others had made the rulers reluctant to show the Holy
See that respect and deference which the greatest
emperors and potentates of former times had delighted
to manifest to the Vicar of Christ. This state of
things the wise and conciliatory spirit of Benedict XIV.
had in a great measure remedied, while his domestic
enactments were no less conducive to the reform of
abuses and the promotion of prosperity at home. A
foe to religious persecution, he advised the Empress
and other Catholic sovereigns to grant toleration to
their Protestant subjects. During his Pontificate
English, Swedes, and Protestants of other nations
visited Rome in large numbers, and Frederick the
Great and the Czarina Elizabeth consulted him on
many knotty points of State policy. ' He would
make us all Papists if he came to London,' said an
English lord of Benedict on one occasion — a remark
not wholly devoid of truth, since one of the chief
obstacles to the return of Protestants to the ancient
Mother Church is that tangled mass of ignorance
and prejudice concerning her which intercourse with
such men as this immortal Pope would be so eminently
calculated to dispel.

Cardinal Duke of York 48

As soon as the Holy Father had expired, Cardinal
York, as Camerlengo, wearing his mourning-robes of
violet, entered the death-chamber, and remained for
some time engaged in prayer with the rest of the
prelates present. He then removed the white veil
from the face of the Pontiff with the words, 'The
Pope is indeed dead,' and after breaking, according
to ancient custom, the ring of the Fisherman with
a golden hammer, took formal possession of the
Vatican, in the name of the Sacred College. This
ceremony was followed by the customary despatch of
troops to secure the gates of the city and the Castle
of St. Angelo, after which the Cardinal Duke returned
to his palace, accompanied by the Swiss Guards who
usually attend the person of the reigning Pontiff.

The Conclave which assembled on the death of
Benedict XIV. was of considerable duration, com-
mencing early in March, and concluding on July 6
with the election of Cardinal Charles Rezzonico, Bishop
of Padua, a prelate of great piety and considerable
learning, to the vacant throne. The new Pope, who
assumed the name of Clement XIII. , was crowned at
St. Peter's on July 16, in the presence of a concourse
remarkable for the great number of English nobility
and gentry it contained ; for the enlightened rule of
the late Pontiff had made Rome the most popular
city of resort in Europe.

The election of Clement marked a new era in the
ecclesiastical life of Cardinal York. As a prelude
to appointing him to one of the metropolitan Sees
of Rome, the Pontiff, at a private consistory held
on October 2, 1758, nominated him Archbishop of
Corinth in partibus infidelium. The ceremony of

44 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

consecration took place in the Cardinal's titular Church
of the Santi Apostoli on Sunday, November 19, the
Pope himself officiating, assisted by Cardinal Guadagni,
Bishop of Porto, and Cardinal Borghese, Bishop of
Albano. At the conclusion of the consecration, his
Holiness entertained the newly-created Bishop at a
grand banquet in the Palazzo Apostolico. On
February 12, 1759, Cardinal York renounced his
' title ' of Santa Maria in Cumpitelli, taking in its
place that of Santa Maria in Trastevere, retaining,
however, in commendam the Church of the Santi
Apostoli. At the same time, he resigned into the
hands of the Sovereign Pontiff the purse of the
Camerlengo which he had received from Benedict XIV.,
whereupon Clement restored it to him with a fresh
confirmation of his jurisdiction and powers. Shortly
before his consecration as Archbishop of Corinth, a
temporary estrangement took place between the
Cardinal and his father, the precise cause of which
has never been fully explained. It seems, however,
that Prince James entertained a strong dislike for a
certain Abbe John Lercari, a member of the ' Pious
Schools,' and afterwards Archbishop of Genoa, whom
the Cardinal, his son, had taken into his household
hi quality of Maestro di Camera, or Chamberlain.
The ' King ' requested the Cardinal to dismiss Lercari,
but the Cardinal, though always most dutiful and
affectionate towards his father, felt compelled on this
occasion to refuse compliance. To give his father's
displeasure time to blow over, his Eminence went for
a short visit to Bologna, but fearing that what was in
itself only a trifling affair should appear to strangers
more serious than it was, he thought it best to return

Cardinal Duke of York 45

to Rome and dismiss the obnoxious Chamberlain.
By the Cardinal's influence, Lercari was promoted to
the titular See of Adrianople, and finally, in 1767,
translated to the Archdiocese of Genoa, which he
ruled till his death in 1802.

In 1761 Cardinal Camillus Paolucci, who since
1758 had filled the See of Frascati, was created
Subdean of the Sacred College, an honour which, by
long-established custom, necessitated his translation
to the See of Porto and Santa Ruffina. On July 13
the Sovereign Pontiff nominated the Cardinal Duke
of York as successor to Cardinal Paolucci. In the
Consistory held a few days later, His Royal Highness
formally renounced the title of Archbishop of Corinth,
and took the oath of canonical obedience to the
Apostolic See for the Bishopric of Frascati. He like-
wise renounced his commendam of the Church of
the Apostoli, but retained that of Santa Maria in
Trastevere.

On Wednesday, July 15, the ' Litterse Confinna-
tionis/ or Bulls of enthronement, of the new Bishop,
were read in the Cathedral Church of Frascati by the
provost of the Chapter, and on the Saturday following
the Cardinal took up his residence in the episcopal
palace. The town of Frascati, which for upwards of
forty years was to be associated with the last of the
Stuarts, is a comparatively modern superstructure
erected on an ancient site, having sprung up during
the middle ages among the ruins of the old Roman
city of Tusculum. The name is said to be derived
from Frascata, which, as far back as the eighth
century, was given to the locality on account of its
woody appearance. Its environs now, as in ancient

46 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

times, are renowned for the number and beauty of
the villas which dot the country ; but the town itself
has few buildings of interest beyond a fountain
constructed in 1480 by Cardinal d'Estouteville, and
the cathedral, with its curious imitation dome above
the sanctuary.

At the time of his translation to Frascati, the
Cardinal Duke acquired the Villa Muti Savorelli, beauti-
fully situated at the foot of the hill, and at a short
distance from the fountain of Vermicino. Mr. George
Stillman Hillard, the American traveller, who visited
it in 1853, describes it as an unpretentious though
well-arranged building, containing ' a large number of
immense rooms generally opening into each other. . . .
Many of the floors are paved with tiles or brick, like
the hearth of a country farmhouse.' Up to this time
the Cardinal had occupied a portion of his father's
palace, but upon his appointment to the Bishopric
of Frascati, he caused his household and effects to be
removed to Frascati. Here he formed the splendid
collection of historic and art treasures which, till the
time of their dispersion* at the Revolution, made the
Cardinal's episcopal residence one of the show-places
of Italy.

On Sunday, July 19, the day after his arrival,
Cardinal York took possession solemnly and publicly
of his See, and pontificated at the High Mass which
followed this function. The Cathedral was crowded
with the elite of Rome, several of the British and
foreign nobility being also present, as well as Prince
James, who, as ' King of England,' occupied a throne
on the right of the sanctuary. To testify their joy at
the accession of the Prince-Bishop, the inhabitants of

Cardinal Duke of York 47

the town and vicinity celebrated the event by bonfires
and illuminations. His Royal Highness, on his part,
entertained the Cathedral Chapter and principal
personages of the place at a grand banquet, while
among the poor of the neighbourhood clothes, money,
and other necessaries were distributed in large
quantities. He likewise presented the Cathedral with
two rich Planetas or folded chasubles for use during
Lent and Advent. On Thursday, July 23, his Eminence
gave Confirmation to more than eighty boys and girls
in the Cathedral, and on the evening of the same day
returned to Rome.

The Cardinal had not long been translated to the
See of Frascati when he manifested his zeal by two
much-needed undertakings. One was the complete
reorganization of the diocesan seminary ; the other
the promulgation of a number of salutary laws for the
better government of the clergy of the diocese. Early
in 1763 orders were issued for the convocation of a
Synod, which met at Frascati on May 8, and terminated
on May 11 of the same year. The synodal decrees
were subsequently published in two bulky quartos
under the direction of the Vicar-General, Father
Stefanucci, S.J. The title-pages of this work, which
was printed in Latin and Italian, bear his Eminence's
armorial device, the royal arms of England, surmounted
by the Cardinal's hat, and supported on either side
by angelic heralds. The work commences with a
Latin address to the Cardinal Bishops of the six
metropolitan Sees of Rome.

The statutes dealing with the discipline of the
clergy may be passed over without notice, as they
contain merely a repetition of what had been repeatedly

48 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

enforced in all dioceses since the time of the holy
Council of Trent. It was with the reconstruction of
his seminary, to which the flock committed to his care
had to look for a supply of zealous pastors, that the
Cardinal was chiefly concerned. This institution,
which had been founded about the middle of the
sixteenth century, by Cardinal Cesi, had fallen into
a state of great decay, so that its immediate recon-
stitution was a matter of the first importance. The
Cardinal Bishop rebuilt at his own expense that fabric
itself, in a style suited to the requirements for which
the institution was intended. The site chosen for the
new building was among the vineyards of that de-
lightful locality where tradition says the martial
sybarite Lucullus had his country residence, near the
Villa Montalto, now the property of the Propaganda.

A series of stringent regulations were drawn up,
with the approbation of the Cardinal, for the govern-
ment of the new institution. The students, as far as
possible, were to be natives of the diocese, and, thanks
to the bounty of his Eminence, those who could not
afford the moderate annual fees were maintained on
a number of free bursaries, founded by himself. The
course of studies pursued at the seminary occupied
nine years, arranged in the following order : First, two
years of Greek and Latin grammar, followed by two
years of the classical authors, both prose and verse,
with modern history and literature. Then came the
Ecclesiastical studies proper, commencing with Philo-
sophy, which lasted a year. To Philosophy succeeded
four years' study of Dogmatic and Moral Theology,
Scripture and Canon Law. Cardinal York was careful
to make due provision for the instruction of the

Cardinal Duke of York 49

students in Gregorian chants and liturgical ceremonies,
in which last branch they were to be exercised twice
a week in the Cathedral by a Magister Ceremoniarum
appointed for the purpose, and paid at the rate of two
scudi a lesson.

The Cardinal gave the entire management of the
seminary to the Jesuits, as the body most fitted by
learning and experience in spiritual training for the
direction of aspirants to the sacred priesthood. The
rector was his Eminence's confessor and Vicar-
General, Father Horatius Stefianucci, of whom men-
tion has been made. This remarkable man had
entered the Society of Jesus at the age of nineteen,
and, after completing the long and arduous course of
study prescribed by the rule of St. Ignatius, and
receiving priest's Orders, was appointed Professor of
Canon Law at the German College in Rome, a post he
held for twenty-five years. Cardinal York became
acquainted with him through a mutual friend, the
famous Cardinal John Francis Albani, and so im-
pressed was his Royal Highness with Father Stef-
fanucci's learning and capacity for business, that he
made him his Vicar-General, and consulted him on
all matters pertaining to the welfare of the diocese.

Of the many ecclesiastical students who afterwards
rose to eminence, either as Churchmen or scholars,
thanks in great measure to the patronage of Cardinal
York, two deserve an especial mention. The first of
these was the immortal Cardinal Consalvi, whose
diplomatic ability, as manifested in the conflict be-
tween the Holy See and the French Empire, won for
him from Napoleon the title of the ' Siren of Rome.'
The young Consalvi, shortly after the death of the

50 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

Marquis, his father, in 1763, was sent with his brother
to the seminary of Frascati, by his guardian, Cardinal
Andrew Negroni, who for several years filled the high
judicial post of Auditor-General under Cardinal York.
After completing his studies at the seminary, and
taking his degree in Canon Law at the University
with great applause, the young Consalvi entered upon
that diplomatic career which was to win for him the
honours of the Roman purple, and engage him in one
of the most terrible struggles in the field of politics
that the world has ever seen.

Another protege of the Cardinal Duke's who after-
wards obtained considerable reputation in public life
was Thomas Erskine, subsequently Cardinal and
envoy of Pope Pius VI. to the Court of George III.
His father was Colin, son of Sir Alexander Erskine,
Bart., who lived and died in Rome, an exile for the
Stuart cause. Young Erskine, being early left an
orphan, was placed by his Eminence in the Scots'
College, in Rome, an institution which was ever re-
garded with peculiar veneration and affection by
Cardinal York. After a long and distinguished
career, spent hi the service of the Holy See, Mon-
signor Erskine was, in January 1803, proclaimed
Cardinal Deacon of the Church of Santa Maria in
Campitelli, an honour which contained a special
reference to his friend and patron the Cardinal Duke
of York, who had formerly held the ' title.' His
death occurred at Paris on March 20, 1811, caused, it
is said, by grief at the deplorable persecution which
the Sovereign Pontiff, whom he had accompanied to
France, was then enduring at the hands of the French
Emperor.

Cardinal Duke of York 51

In the summer of 1765 it became apparent to all
who knew him that Prince James, the Cardinal's
father, had not long to live. The Prince had,
indeed, been in declining health for several years, and
in consideration of his age and infirmities had, like
Charles V., been dispensed by the Pope from fasting
before receiving Holy Communion. As the autumn
wore on to winter the old Chevalier kept himself very
much to his palace, saw few visitors, and beyond an
occasional visit of state to the Vatican, seldom went
out. His domestic and other affairs were attended
to by Cardinal York and a Mr. Graham, on whom
James had conferred the title of Lord Alford. By
December James was confined to his bed, and in
anticipation of his approaching end, asked that an
altar might be erected in his apartment, so that Mass
might be said daily in his presence, either by one of
his chaplains, or by the Cardinal, who was constantly
at his father's bedside. On Christmas-day the Holy
Viaticum was administered to the dying Prince, who
rapidly grew worse, till on the afternoon of January 1,
1766, his death was momentarily expected. The
entire household was summoned to the sick-room,
where the prayers for the dying were recited by the
Cardinal, while prayers for the same intention were
offered up by the students of the English, Scotch, and
Irish Colleges, and at most of the churches in Rome.
Shortly before midnight James ceased to breathe, and,
upon examination, the physicians pronounced life to
be extinct. The obsequies accorded the deceased
Prince were the same as those for a monarch that had
actually reigned. After the embalmment the body
was attired in royal robes, and lay in state for five

52 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

days in the apartment where the death had occurred.
This apartment, in accordance with the prevailing
custom, was transformed into a chapelle ardente,
adorned with rich hangings and armorial bearings,
and lighted with large candles of yellow wax set in
great candlesticks of massive silver. On January 6
the corpse was taken to the Church of the Santi
Apostoli, accompanied by the chief officials of the
Papal household, the Roman nobility, and representa-
tives of all the religious Orders and confraternities in
Rome. A thousand wax candles and funereal torches
blazed round the catafalque, and twenty violet-robed
Ctrdinals supported the pall. On its arrival at the
church the body was removed to a bed of state
surrounded by purple hangin gs and gold lace. The
canopy was surmounted by figures of angels sup-
porting the crown and sceptre of England, while
beneath ran the inscription ' Jacobus Magnse Britan-
niae Rex, Anno MDCCLXVI.,' surrounded by medallions
emblazoned with devices of the English orders of
chivalry. In accordance with the ghastly fashion of
the time, the sepulchral appearance of the church
was intensified by the use of a number of bronze
effigies of Death holding candelabra. Mass was
celebrated by his Eminence Cardinal Alberoni,
nephew of the famous minister, while the musical
portions of the requiem were chanted by the choir of
the Apostolic College. Masses for the repose of the
King's soul were also offered up by Cardinal York at
the churches of the Apostoli and Santa Maria in
Trastevere, as well as by the dean of the cathedral at
Frascati, and the chaplains of the British Colleges in
Rome. Three days after the conclusion of the

Cardinal Duke of York 53

obsequies, the remains of the deceased Prince were
removed to St. Peter's and deposited in the vault
prepared for their interment.

Of the private fortune left by the Chevalier the
great bulk naturally went to Prince Charles, the
Cardinal being already amply provided for by his rich
benefices in Italy and France. In money alone the
fortune of the deceased amounted to over £200,000,
while it also included the Crown jewels of England
which King James II. had taken with him on his
flight in 1688, and the magnificent collection of plate
and jewels, estimated at nearly a million of money,
which had formed part of the dowry of the Princess
Maria Clementina. These latter included a large
shield of pure gold that had been given by the
Emperor to John Sobieski, after one of the latter's
signal victories over the Turks, and some immense
rubies taken by the same illustrious conqueror from
his Moslem foe.

After the death of James the Holy See declined to
recognise the right of the Stuarts to the title of King.
Prudence, as well as political expediency, demanded
that Charles, James's heir, should be regarded as of
princely, but not sovereign, rank ; for by identifying
itself with the cause of the exiled family, the Pontifical
Government was giving to the Court of St. James's a
very strong pretext for continuing the penal laws
against its Catholic subjects, on the ground that they
obeyed a power that lent its authority and prestige
for the purpose of advancing the claims of a pretender.
Cardinal York, as was only to be expected, warmly
espoused the cause of his brother, who was absent
from Home at the time the above decision was arrived

54 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

at, and, in an interview with the Pontiff, implored
him to reconsider the resolution he had taken. The
French Ambassador, M. d'Aubeterre, joined his
solicitations to those of the Cardinal, but all that
these representations could elicit from Clement was a
promise to consult the Sacred College before proceed-
ing further in the matter. The result of this consulta-
tion was that the Senate of the Church, with almost
unanimous voice, approved of the policy of rejecting
the claim of Charles Edward to be recognised as
Charles III. The repudiation of these pretensions to
the British throne involved the deprivation of the
right to nominate to vacant bishoprics in Ireland,
which ever since the Revolution had been enjoyed by
the Stuarts, and was now transferred to the Congre-
gation of Propaganda.

When Charles arrived in Rome, no notice was
taken of his presence by the authorities, nor did any
of the Cardinals visit him. To console his brother
for this cold reception, Cardinal York took special
care to show him all the honour in his power. He
several times visited the Chevalier in state, addressed
him in public as ' your majesty,' and in driving out
with him in Rome, placed him on his right hand — an
honour shown by Cardinals only to reigning sove-
reigns. The immediate friends of the Cardinal soon
followed suit. Cardinal Orsini, Neapolitan Minister
in Rome, attended all Charles's receptions, and gave
him homage as a King, as also did the priors of the
Orders of Malta, Altieri, and Fiano, and the rectors of
the English, Scotch, and Irish Colleges. This public
defiance of the law drew from the Government a
circular of stern reprimand, while the rectors of the

Cardinal Duke of York 55

British Colleges, as born subjects of King George, and
therefore more likely to attract the displeasure of
their Government by an act which at home would be
reckoned high treason, were banished for some time
from Rome.

Prince Charles was already beginning to succumb
to those confirmed habits of intemperance which have
cast so deep a gloom over his memory. To distract
his attention from the mortifications he had lately
suffered, Cardinal York, in the autumn of 1766,
invited his brother to Frascati for the shooting
season. The Prince, who was still as keen a sports-
man and as good a shot as when he brought down
partridges in the Isle of Skye, remained in the
country till the end of the season, residing alternately
at Frascati with the Cardinal and at his own hunting
lodge near Albano.

In a drinking bout one evening at this latter place he
drew his sword on one of the company, and, but for the
intervention of those present, history might have had
to lay homicide to the charge of the young Chevalier.
Writing to a friend concerning this unhappy incident,
the Cardinal remarked :

' I have very little to say except to deplore the
continuance of the bottle ; that, I own to you, makes
me despair of everything, and I am of opinion that it
is impossible for my brother to live if he continues in
this strain. You say he ought to be sensible of all I
have endeavoured to do for his good ; whether he is
or not is more than I can tell, for he has never said
anything of that kind to me. What is certain is, that
he has a singular tenderness and regard for me and
all that regards myself, and as singular an inflexibility

56 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

and disregard for everything that regards his own
good I am seriously afflicted on his account, when
I reflect on the dismal situation he puts himself
under, which is a thousand times worse than the
situation his enemies have endeavoured to place him
in ; but there is no remedy except a miracle, which
may be kept at last for his eternal salvation, but
surely nothing else.'

The miserable effects of intemperance, as exempli-
fied in his own brother, induced the Cardinal to draw
up his well-known paper on the ' Sins of the Drunkard '
for distribution among the clergy and faithful of his
diocese. It is a complete summary of the Catholic
doctrine on the subject, and has been since translated
into several languages. In England at the present
day it forms the substance of the temperance resolu-
tions directed to be read in every church and chapel
of the Catholic diocese of Liverpool on the first
Sunday of February and July.

When once the Pope had clearly manifested his
resolution of refusing sovereign honours to the Stuarts,
no one more readily submitted to the will of the Pontiff
than Cardinal York himself. In conjunction with
some of his friends, he now urged his brother to
lay aside the empty title of Charles III. for that
of Count of Albany, which would be granted to him
readily by everyone. This title was intimately con-
nected with the Royal House of Stuart, having been
first bestowed hi 1398 on Eobert Stuart, second son
of Robert II., King of Scotland. The dukedom
afterwards passed to the famous John Stuart, who
was Regent during the minority of James V., son
of the king who fell at Flodden Field. It finally

Cardinal Duke of York 57

descended to Henry Darnley, the ill-starred husband
of Mary Queen of Scots. Moreover, James II.,
Charles's grandfather, before ascending the throne,
had borne the title of Duke of York and Albany.

The advice of the Cardinal was assuredly well-
timed, if we are to judge of Charles's relations with
society at this time, as given in the following letter
from Sir William Hamilton, our ambassador at Naples,
to Lord Shelburne, dated May, 1767. This communi-
cation is interesting also from the insight it gives into
Cardinal York's acts of benevolence. It proceeds thus :

' The Pretender is hardly thought of even at Rome.
The life he leads is now very regular and sober ; his
chief occupation is shooting in the environs of Rome,
and the only people he can see and converse with are
his few attendants, Messrs. Lumsden, Montgomery,
etc. The pension his father had of £1,200 a year
from the Court of Rome is now granted to the
Cardinal ; but, as he was not in the least want of any
addition to his income, he gives it to the present
Pretender, and, it is said, allows him £1,800 more
out of his own income. The Cardinal's ecclesiastical
benefices in the Roman States and in France are said
to amount to £18,000 a year, with which he does
much good, being extremely generous. Besides the
£3,000 he allows the Pretender, he is supposed to
give at least £2,000 more in private donations to
support poor families at Rome. The Father left a
considerable quantity of jewels to the present Pre-
tender, which still remain untouched.'*

* The annual income of the Cardinal at this time could not
have been less than £40,000 a year, for the Court of Spain had
recently made over to him some very rich estates (or benefices)
hi Mexico.

58 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

Convinced at length of the necessity of complying,
Charles fell in with these overtures, and, as a pledge
of his sincerity in submitting to the Pope's wishes,
expressed his intention of visiting the Pontiff, in
company with Cardinal York.

When the time appointed for the interview arrived,
the Cardinal drove his brother in his state coach to
the Vatican, and, in accordance with his privilege as
a Prince of the Church, was immediately admitted
into the presence of the Pontiff. Charles, who had
remained seated in an ante-room, was, after some
little delay, summoned to the audience by one of
the chamberlains, who addressed him merely as the
brother of Cardinal York. On entering the Pope's
private apartment, the Chevalier kissed his Holiness's
hand, and remained kneeling like any other visitor
till desired to rise. During the whole visit, which
lasted a quarter of an hour, Charles stood, although
his brother, like the Pope, remained seated.

Having shown his goodwill by complying with the
wishes of the Head of the Church, the Chevalier
became a persona grata at the Vatican, and at the
same time resumed the place he had lost in society.
On the occasion of one of his visits to Clement XIII.,
the Holy Father presented him with a rosary of gold
and precious stones, of the sort usually given only to
reigning princes, and, it is said, informed him at the
same time that political considerations alone prevented
the Government from giving him the honours due to
kingly rank.

Some notice must now be taken of the political
events which at this time were giving to the Holy
See such serious grounds for alarm. The peace and

Cardinal Duke of York 59

tranquillity enjoyed by the States of the Church
during the glorious reign of Benedict XIY. terminated
with the death of that Pontiff, and the tiara had
scarcely descended to his successor when the long-
expected storm burst with incredible fury. The
cause of this tempest in the religious and political
firmament was the corporate existence of the Jesuits.

In the third quarter of the eighteenth century the
Society of Jesus, though it had lost much of its
former prestige and influence, was still by far the
most potent religious community in the Church. Its
members laboured for the conversion of the heathen
and ignorant beneath the sun of India and amidst the
snow-bound regions of the North. Its schools were
largely frequented by scholars of all classes, and its
reputation for learning in every department of know-
ledge was still well maintained. But its enemies were
numerous and powerful. France, Spain, and Portugal
were the countries in which opposition to the Society
was the strongest ; for, though outwardly Catholic,
these nations, especially France, had drunk deeply
of the waters of infidelity and moral corruption which
at this miserable epoch threatened to destroy the very
foundations of religious and social life. The opinion
of French philosophic atheism was well expressed by
Voltaire when he wrote : 'Once we have exterminated
the Jesuits, the destruction of that infamous thing
(i.e., Christianity) will be only child's play for us.'

The French Episcopate, to its everlasting credit,
did its utmost to defend the Jesuits, but in vain.
By 1764 the royal decrees against the Fathers had
been everywhere enforced, and the Society no longer
existed in France. The Jesuits had already been

60 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

expelled from Portugal, and a little later they were
expelled from Spain.

It was not to be expected that the Sovereign Pontiff
could witness these savage aggressions without raising
his voice in solemn protest. His Bulls and edicts
commanding the restoration of the Society in France
were, however, not likely to produce much effect in a
country where religion had almost entirely disappeared
beneath the most bestial immorality and blatant in-
fidelity. Clement convoked a Consistory for January 3,
1769, to consider the dangers threatening the Church ;
but ere it could assemble, the soul of the sorely-tried
Pontiff had passed away.

The remains of the deceased Pope were deposited
in St. Peter's, beneath a monument representing Death
and Religion hi an attitude of meditation, a monument
which has excited the admiration of generations of
visitors to the Eternal City. Never, perhaps, in the
whole history of the Church did a Conclave assemble
in such momentous circumstances as that which met
after the death of Clement XIII. The so-called
Catholic Powers — France, Spain and Portugal — in-
formed the Cardinals that no Pontiff would be accept-
able who was not pledged to abolish the Society of
Jesus. Such a declaration as this portended a schism
in the already distracted Church, the avoidance of
which was the problem imperatively calling for
solution.

On February 15, 1769, the Cardinals, at the con-
clusion of the Mass of the Holy Ghost, entered the
Conclave in procession, shortly after mid -day, and at
once entered upon the business of the election. From
the outset the Conclave was divided into two sections

Cardinal Duke of York 61

— the Cardinals who favoured the demands of the
Bourbon Kings, and the Cardinals who defended the
corporate existence of the Jesuits. Among the former
party were numbered the Cardinals York, Orsini,
Conti, Corsini, Cavalchini, and Carraccioli. The latter
party, however, outnumbered its opponents at the
outset by more than three-fourths. An attempt was
made by the Cardinals Rezzonico and Albani, the
leading supporters of the Jesuits, to complete the
election before the arrival of the Cardinals from the
Bourbon Courts who were on their way to Rome.
But the suggestion of hasty procedure in a matter of
such grave importance met with almost general con-
demnation. In a conference held on February 19
between the Cardinals York, Lanti, Rezzonico and
Perelli, it was clearly demonstrated that such a course,
far from restoring peace to the Spouse of Christ,
would be productive of nothing but calamities. The
election consequently assumed its normal aspect, and
so continued till an event occurred which for a time
diverted the attention of the august assembly. This
was the arrival in Rome on March 15 of Joseph II.
of Austria and his brother Leopold, Duke of Tuscany.
Two days later the imperial visitors attended a session
of the Conclave. Though the visitors maintained the
strictest incognito, the Cardinals did not fail to honour
their illustrious guests with an imposing display of
pomp and splendour.* The Cardinals Albani, Orsini

* The state robes of a Cardinal are splendid, consisting of a
scarlet silk cassock, lace rochet, short red silk cloak, or long
Cape (mozetta), and cappa magna ; an ample train of scarlet
silk, twelve yards long, fastened to the shoulders by a rich hood
of silk or ermine, according to season. The famous red hat,
with its pendant tassels, is seldom or never worn, its place being

62 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

and Spinola received the Emperor and his brother,
and presented to them the Florentine and Milanese
Cardinals as being their immediate subjects. The
visitors then withdrew to the Sistine Chapel, where
they adored the Blessed Sacrament, which was exposed
for their veneration, after which they returned to the
main hall of the Conclave, and engaged in familiar
conversation with various members of the Sacred
College. Cardinal York on this occasion became the
especial object of the Emperor's attention, for the son
of Maria Theresa was not unmindful of the deep debt
of gratitude owed by his House to his Eminence's
immortal ancestor, John Sobieski, the deliverer of
Vienna.

Although the visit of the Emperor took place in
Holy Week, none of the imposing ceremonies of the
Church proper to that solemn season could be carried
out, owing to the vacancy in the Papal throne. But
by order of Cardinal York, as Camerlengo, the great
dome of St. Peter's was illuminated with countless
lamps on the evening of Easter Monday, and the
entire week following was spent in festivals and
rejoicings. The Roman nobility vied with each other
in showing honour to the heir of the Qesars, and a
series of splendid fetes were given at the magnificent
villas of the families of Braciano, Corsini, Albani and
Doria. On April 10 the Empress Maria Theresa, the

taken by the scarlet biretta. In Lent, and on occasions of
mourning, violet robes take the place of the scarlet, and on the
first Sunday of Advent rose-colour, though the scarlet zuchetto
or skull-cap is worn at all times. Cardinals belonging to the
great religious Orders usually retain their monastic habit, but,
like the rest of the Sacred College, are distinguished by the
zuchetto, sapphire ring and pectoral cross.

Cardinal Duke of York 63

mother of Joseph and joint ruler of the Empire with
him, addressed an elegantly-worded Latin letter to
the Conclave, thanking the Cardinals and the Roman
people for the reception given to her sons. The
Emperor and his brother had already quitted Rome,
but on their return to Vienna, the former despatched
an embassy headed by Count Kaunitz-Rittburg, son
of the Chancellor of the Empire, to suitably express
the profound thanks of the Austrian Court for the
honours shown to the person of the Sovereign by the
Sacred College. So splendid was the reception given
to this embassy by the Cardinals that the French
Ambassador, though accustomed to the brilliant cere-
monial of Versailles, afterwards described it in a letter
as the most magnificent scene he had ever witnessed in
the whole course of a long series of courtly pageants.
The Conclave now returned to its task of selecting
a Pontiff at once agreeable to the Courts and capable
of maintaining in its integrity the prestige of the
Apostolic See. In the midst of their deliberations,
Monsignor Azparu arrived with the Veto which the
Governments of France, Spain and Portugal had
drawn up, prohibiting the election of certain Cardinals.
The envoy informed Cardinal Orsini that the Powers
he represented required that the Pope-elect should
give a formal undertaking to suppress the Society of
Jesus. Orsini rejected this proposal with indignation,
and declared that any attempt of the Civil powers to
overstep the lawful provisions of the Veto would cause
any election that might come about through such
influence to be absolutely null and void. This reply
had the desired effect, and no further attempts were
made to unduly influence the progress of the Conclave.

64 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

It would be tedious to follow this protracted election
through all its details. We content ourselves with
stating that at the last scrutiny, or examination of
votes, taken on May 19, Cardinal Ganganelli was found
to have united all the suffrages.

The excitement aroused by an assembled Conclave
invariably causes the great square outside St. Peter's
to be filled both day and night with a dense crowd
eager to witness the pulling down of the walled-up
window that marks the coming of the Senior Cardinal
to announce the name and title of the new occupant
of the Papal throne. The great length of the Con-
clave on the present occasion had the effect of
lessening the popular interest, and it was not the
voice of a Cardinal, but the boom of the guns from
the heights of St. Angelo, that first announced to the
city that a new Pope had been elected.

Cardinal Duke of York 65

PART III.
1769—1807.

OHN VINCENT ANTHONY GANGANELLI,

who, after so long an interval, was summoned
to the headship of the Church, under the
name of Clement XIV., was already known throughout
Italy for his extensive learning, unaffected piety, and
cheerfulness of disposition. Born in 1705, at St.
Arcangelo, near Rimini, he had, on the completion
of his studies, entered the Franciscan Order, where
his uncommon ability led his superiors to appoint him
professor of philosophy and theology. His elucidation
of the works of the great luminary of his Order, Duns
Scotus, procured for him an extraordinary reputation,
and on September 24, 1759, he was proclaimed a
Cardinal by Clement XIII. His promotion wrought
no change in his conduct. His friends missed nothing
of his wonted cheerfulness, while strangers, instead of
the dignified reserve of the Roman prince, saw nothing
in him but a monk filled with humility.

The coronation of the Pope-elect passed off amidst
the customary splendour. The ceremony of Episcopal
consecration was performed by his Eminence Cardinal
Cavalchini-Guidobono, Bishop of Ostia, while the

5

66 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

coronation service was performed by the youngest
Cardinal Deacon in curia. Cardinal York, as Arch-
priest of the Basilica, addressed the Holy Father in a
Latin oration, on behalf of himself and the Chapter of
St. Peter's, during the course of which his Royal
Highness referred, with a singular happiness of
expression, to the glorious succession of Pontiffs
who, like the object of his congratulation, bore the
name that told of mildness and mercy.

Though the accession of Clement XIV. was re-
ceived with signs of apparent approval by the various
European Powers, it may be doubted if any Pontiff
ever succeeded to the Chair of St. Peter under darker
auspices. The Courts of France and Spain were
clamouring for the immediate suppression of the
Jesuits, Portugal was seriously thinking of setting
up an independent patriarch, while the Republic of
Venice, emboldened by these examples, was passing
several senatus-consulta highly prejudicial to the
interests of the Church and the Holy See. In
Asia Minor the Christian communities about Mount
Lebanon who acknowledged the primacy of the
Roman Pontiff were enduring a violent persecution
from the Turks and Russians. This formidable array
of dangers did not dismay the Pope. Assured, as
every Catholic must always be, of the ultimate
triumph of the Church whose glorious Spouse, the
Saviour of the world, abides with her for ever, he
calmly faced the situation. He appointed Cardinal
Pallavicini, a consummate diplomatist, his Secretary
of State, raised the Cardinal Duke of York to the
office of Vice-Chancellor of the Apostolic See, des-
patched Monsignor Martorelli, Archbishop of Sidon,

Cardinal Duke of York 67

as Nuncio to arrange matters with the Government of
Venice, addressed a letter to the pious Empress Maria
Theresa, requesting her to use her influence with the
Czar and Sultan on behalf of the Eastern Christians,
and finally informed the Bourbon Courts that their
demands should be submitted to the investigation of
a committee of Cardinals and Canonists.

Early in 1770 the Pope promulgated a constitution
which caused the utmost excitement in Rome. This
was nothing less than the dismissal of the Jesuits
from the seminary of Frascati, and the placing of that
institution under secular priests. Cardinal York, as
Bishop of the diocese, incurred a good deal of un-
merited odium at the time for his supposed over-
zealousness in carrying out the Pontifical ordinance,
as we learn from the following letter written by
Father Galloway, S.J., to Father Thomas Hawkins,
Chaplain at Oxburgh Hall, Lancashire :

' Bad news from Rome. Cardinal York has seized
on the college and church at Frascati, with all the
effects, movable and immovable, and the Brief
mentions no other reason than his zeal and desire
of having it. Visitations are going on, as in
Henry VIII.'s time, and the consequence is seizure.
The visit of the Roman College is postponed by
reason of Cardinals Negroni and Pisani refusing to
act in conjunction with Cardinal Marefoschi.'

The ' zeal and desire ' of Cardinal York to possess
the property of the Jesuits connected with the church
and seminary at Frascati may have arisen from a fear
of its passing into other hands, and so being lost to
the college ; or it may well be that much of the
property had originally been given to the Society

5—2

68 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

by himself, and that he was only claiming the
reversion. But whatever his motive may have been,
we may be sure that he was not prompted by avarice,
as the reader will, we doubt not, readily acknowledge
after what has been already said of the kind and
generous disposition of Cardinal York.

We may now leave this painful topic for a time,
to say something of the marriage of Prince Charles
Edward, which took place in the spring of 1772.

As it was the policy of France to perpetuate the
House of Stuart, and thus have ever at hand a ready
means of disquieting her great rival, England, the
Duke d'Aguillon, the French Minister of State,
intimated to Charles, through his cousin, the Duke
de Fitz James, in the summer of 1771, the strong
desire felt by the Court of Versailles to see him
married. The Chevalier thereupon proceeded to
Paris, and, after several interviews with the Minister,
agreed to unite himself in marriage with any eligible
bride that might be selected, on condition of receiving
a pension of £10,000 a year.

After a considerable amount of further negotiation,
an * eligible bride ' was found in the person of the
Princess Louise, daughter of Prince Gustavus of
Stolberg-Gerden, a brave cavalry officer, who fell
at the Battle of Leu then in the Seven Years' War.
Her maternal grandfather was Thomas Bruce, second
Earl of Aylesbury, and a noted Jacobite, while her
sister, the Princess Caroline, was betrothed to the
eldest son of the Duke de FitzJames, who, as most
of our readers are aware, was the direct descendant
of James II.

The preliminaries being at length concluded, the

Cardinal Duke of York 69

Chevalier and his bride were married by proxy at
Paris on March 28, 1772. The actual celebration
took place twenty- one days later in the chapel
attached to the villa of Cardinal Campagnoni-Mare-
foschi at Macerata, in the marches of Ancona.
Charles wore on this occasion a suit of crimson
silk, and as insignia the ribbon and star of the
Garter. He signed his name in the register as
'Charles III., King of Great Britain, France, and
Ireland, 1772,' while the bride added to' her name
the title of Queen.

On the Wednesday of Easter week their Royal
Highnesses set out for Rome. They were met near
the city by Cardinal York, accompanied by his state
coaches and his retinue in scarlet and gold. The
streets of Rome leading to the Stuart palace were
lined with people, eager to see Charles and his
consort ; but otherwise no notice was taken of their
arrival, although a formal intimation of the same
had been made to the Cardinal Secretary of State.

On the day following his brother's entry into Rome,
Cardinal York, who, in quality of Archpriest of the
Vatican Basilica, was residing in the palace in the
piazza behind St. Peter's, made his sister-in-law a
morning call, and presented her with a truly princely
wedding present, consisting of a beautifully wrought
box of embossed gold, set with brilliants. When
opened, the precious casket was found to contain a
draft on his Eminence's bankers for 20,000 Roman
crowns, or about £10,000.

Another royal visitor arrived in Rome at this time
in the person of William, Duke of Gloucester, brother
of King George III. The Duke received a magnificent

70 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

reception from the Papal Government, and had several
private interviews with the Pope, who was glad of this
opportunity for speaking to his Royal Highness on the
deplorable condition of the Catholics in the British
Isles. The Duke, whose goodness of heart and
liberality of sentiment were well known, needed no
reminder to make him aware of the cruelty and
injustice of the penal laws which weighed so heavily
on so large a number of his fellow-subjects, and on his
return to England exerted himself in such a manner
with the Government as to pave the way for the first
Catholic Relief Act, which became law some years later.

Not long after the departure of his distant cousin,
the Duke of Gloucester, who, while in Rome, frequently
expressed his deep commiseration for the misfortunes
of the Stuart family, Cardinal York received informa-
tion from Scotland of a most cruel persecution which
was being carried on against a large number of the
Catholic crofters of South Uist by their hereditary
laird, Macdonald of Boisdale. This harsh personage
offered his wretched tenants the choice of turning
Presbyterians or being evicted "from their homes.
Cardinal York laid an account of this sad state of
things before the Pontiff. His Holiness at once com-
municated with his Eminence Cardinal Roche- Aymon,
Grand Almoner and Confessor of King Louis XV.,
requesting him to draw the attention of the British
Government to the conduct of the island despot.
It does not appear that any attempt was made to
restrain the Presbyterian zeal of Boisdale, for the
persecution went on unchecked.

At length Bishop Hay, the Vicar Apostolic of
Edinburgh, who, when a young man, had fought

Cardinal Duke of York 71

for Prince Charles in 1745, collected a sufficient sum
from the Catholic nobility and gentry of Great Britain
to enable the evicted families to emigrate to America,
where they founded a large and flourishing colony.
The emigrants were accompanied in their exile by
Mr. Macdonald of Glenaladale, the cousin of their
persecutor, and a Catholic, who nobly disposed of
his famity estate that he might have the means
of assisting his poor co-religionists who were flying
from the tyranny of his heartless kinsman. There is
reason to believe that the emigration fund so nobly
started by Bishop Hay received substantial contribu-
tions from Cardinal York and his brother, both of
whom were on terms of intimacy with the eminent
author of the ' Sincere Christian.'

The death of Clement XIV. took place in the
middle part of the year 1774, about a year after the
promulgation of the famous Brief ' Dominus ac Re-
demptor Noster,' which declared the Society of Jesus
at an end. The suppression of the Jesuits was a
political expedient intended to avert the threatened
schism between the Bourbon countries and the Holy
See. The existence of any religious Order is quite
accidental and contingent, whereas it is absolutely
necessary that the whole Church should be joined in
spiritual communion with the successor of St. Peter.
Clement declared the Society dissolved on the ground
that the altered relations between the Church and the
modern world rendered it undesirable that the Jesuits
should continue to exist as a corporate body. His
predecessors had from time to time suppressed other
religious Orders as unsuited to the altered conditions
of the age.

72 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

Such of the Jesuit Fathers as were too old or too
infirm to undertake parish work were assigned pensions.
It was, however, unfortunately deemed necessary in
carrying out the provisions of the Brief to confine the
General of the Society, Father Lorenzo Kicci, to the
Castle of St. Angelo as a State prisoner. Here he
remained hi iHjljjjjttiL imprisonment till his death
some months later, on November 25, 1775, asserting
to the last the entire innocence of his brethren of the
offences laid by their enemies to their charge.*

The action of Clement in suppressing the Society
of Jesus, and thus appearing to give a quasi endorse-
ment to charges that were never proved, has been
much censured by some Catholic historians, who
have contrasted the conduct of this Pope with that
of Pius IX. In somewhat similar circumstances
Pius IX. found a way out of the difficulty arising
from the opposition of one of the Governments of
Europe to the Jesuits, by advising the Fathers to
retire for a time from that particular country.

In Holy Week of 1774 Clement XIV. manifested the
first symptoms of his mortal sickness, and in the
following July his physicians ordered him to retire to
his country residence of Castel Gandolfi. Here he
was visited several times by Cardinal York. On
October 20 Clement received the Holy Viaticum, and
on the following day Extreme Unction, in the presence
of Cardinals Malvezzi, Simone, and Negroni, as well
as all the Superiors-General of the religious Orders in
Rome. Next day at one o'clock in the afternoon
Clement XIV. breathed his last, in the seventieth

* The Society of Jesus was subsequently restored by Pope
Pius VII. in 1814.

Cardinal Duke of York 73

year of his age and sixth of his Pontificate. The
Conclave which met to elect his successor, though
somewhat protracted in length, presents none of the
features which marked the previous Conclave. Car-
dinal York, who was to share with the future
Pontiff the vicissitudes of fortune, acted as Vice-
Chancellor of the Apostolic See on this occasion, and
in that capacity issued the silver medals for distri-
bution among the prelates and nobility of Rome as
passports to certain parts of the Vatican palace during
the sitting of the Conclave. These medals had on the
obverse the arms of his Eminence surmounted by a
Cardinal's hat, and on the reverse the inscription:
' Henricus Cardinalis Dux. Ebor. S.R.E. Vicecan-
cellarius Sede. vacan. 1774.' [Henry, Cardinal of
the Holy Roman Church, Duke of York, and
Vice-Chancellor during the vacancy of the Holy
See, 1774]

The result of the election, which was proclaimed on
February 15, 1775, was the elevation of Cardinal John
Angelo Braschi to the Chair of St. Peter.

The prelate thus happily called to the first dignity
hi Christendom was an ecclesiastic of noble family,
whom Clement XIII. had invested with the sacred
purple in recognition of his admirable virtues and
his erudition in civil and canon law. When the
Cardinals offered the customary congratulations to
the Holy Father, the Pope prophetically replied :
' Venerable Fathers, your pleasure is my misfortune.'
The name chosen by the Pontiff was Pius VI.

The year 1775 is further remarkable for the death
of the renowned founder of the Passionist Congre-
gation, St. Paul of the Cross, whose long life of

74 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

eighty-one years was devoted to the spiritual regener-
ation of sinners by means of ' missions ' and ' retreats '
preached in various parishes. Triumphant over serious
opposition and the calumnies of enemies, the holy
founder of the Passionists lived to see his Order
established in almost every kingdom in Europe.
Two years after his death steps were taken in Rome
to procure his beatification. More than two hundred
witnesses of rank, piety, and learning bore testimony
on oath to the heroic sanctity and miracles of the
deceased. This evidence, accompanied by petitions
from Cardinals, Bishops, heads of religious Orders,
and others, was presented to the Holy See, and in
due course laid before the Congregation of Sacred
Rites. Here Cardinal York, as Cardinal ponente,
having raised a formal objection to the introduction
of the cause, a unanimous vote of approbation was
given in its favour and the case was proceeded with.
After several years of investigation and inquiry,
Pius VI. on September 22, 1784, gave Father Paul
of the Cross the title of Venerable, this being the
first step towards that of beatification. Cardinal
York showed his thorough appreciation of the
Passionist Order by building for the Fathers at his
own expense a monastery on Mount Cavo, the highest
point of the Alban Hills. In carrying out this laud-
able work, the Cardinal unfortunately authorized an
act of vandalism which brought on the last of the
Stuarts the bitter resentment of all lovers of antiquity.
To supply the necessary building materials for the
work, the picturesque ruins of the ancient Roman
temple of Jupiter Latialis were demolished, and so
effectually that all that now remains of this once

Cardinal Duke of York 75

interesting monument of paganism is a massive wall,
composed of rectangular blocks of hard stone, on the
south and east sides of the monastery garden. It is
a subject for wonder and regret that so art-loving a
Pontiff as Pius VI. did not interpose his authority to
save so ancient a monument from destruction ; but
the rapidly increasing troubles of the Church, caused
by the persecutions of the infatuated Joseph II. of
Austria, left little leisure to the Pope for attending
to home affairs, much less to the preservation of
antiquities.

Before the close of the year 1775 the Jubilee, a
period of special religious exercises and indulgences,
was proclaimed in Rome. During the progress of a
Jubilee, sovereigns who wish to take part in the
various services and processions which mark this
solemn period, have special places of honour assigned
them near those allotted the Cardinals. Among the
royal personages who came to Rome on this occasion
for the purpose of gaining the indulgence was Fer-
dinand, King of Naples. The Chevalier expressed
his intention of being present, but requested per-
mission to attend as King. Cardinal York joined in
this petition, and had an audience with the Holy
Father on the subject ; but His Holiness was not to
be moved. Charles might take part in the processions
as Count of Albany, but not as Charles III. The
Chevalier retired to Florence, and never again at-
tempted to press his regal claims on the authorities
in Rome. At the conclusion of the Jubilee of 1775
Cardinal York, as Vice-Chancellor and Camerlengo,
presided at the impressive function of walling in the
Porta Sacra, which marked the final ending of a series

76 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

of religious ceremonies of more than ordinary mag-
nificence. The silver trowel with which the mason's
work was formally commenced by his Eminence ia
now one of the historic treasures of Lord Braye.

The refusal of the Vatican to recognise him as
King rankled deeply in the breast of the Chevalier,
whose frame of mind was not improved by the cold
reception given him about this time by the Grand
Duke of Tuscany. His evil genius once more over-
came him, and all his old habits returned. During
the carnival season he exposed himself to the ridicule
of the whole city by his continued and public state of
intoxication. He went a great deal to the opera, where
he lay on a couch in his box looking languidly at the
performance, and drinking his favourite beverage, a
sweet Cyprus wine, till quite overpowered, when his
footmen carried him to his carriage and drove him
home. His treatment of his consort was in perfect
keeping with his general conduct. He was always
either beating or abusing her, and on St. Andrew's
night terrified the entire household by his attempts
to strangle her. Most of his attendants quitted his
service in disgust. Had it not been for the earnest
entreaties of Cardinal York, the unhappy Prince
would have lost his dearest friend and adviser, Mr.
Caryll, of West Grinstead, Sussex, who, unable to
endure the outrageous behaviour of his master, was
on the point of retiring from his service. It is not
surprising, in view of these events, that the Countess
of Albany resolved on quitting her unfeeling husband
and retiring into a convent, a project which she
put into execution in November, 1780, when she
temporarily entered the house of the Bianchetti, or

Cardinal Duke of York 77

Dominican nuns, at Florence. From this retreat she
wrote a long letter to her brother-in-law, the Cardinal,
explaining the motives for the step she had taken,
and asking his assistance. His Eminence replied in a
very long letter, commencing as follows : ' My very
dear sister, I cannot express what I have suffered in
reading your letter of the ninth of this month. I
have long foreseen what has happened, and the step
you have taken with the sanction of the Grand Duke
and Duchess guarantees the uprightness of your
motives.' The Cardinal went on to say that he had
consulted with the Holy Father on the subject, and
had by the advice of the Pope selected a convent in
Rome, to which she might retire till some arrangement
could be made for her future.

The convent selected by the Cardinal was that of
the Ursuline nuns, in the Via Vittoria, to which his
own mother had retired during her estrangement
from Prince James. Hither the Princess repaired,
but, in March, 1781, she quitted this retreat for the
palace of Cardinal York, at the Cancellaria, his
Eminence meanwhile residing at Frascati. The
Countess of Albany, who was of a strong literary turn,
wished to have her library sent down from Florence,
and asked the Cardinal to request the Chevalier, her
husband, to forward the books. Charles, in a letter
full of animosity against Louisa, replied that the
books were being got ready for transmission, and
enclosed a list of them 'maide by Abbs' Sipolita,
Language Master, and of Mathemastiques (sic) to ye
Queen, being a very honest man, Chamellen (sic) to
ye grande Duke.'

During the greater part of the year 1781 Cardinal

78 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

York had something far more important to attend to
than the miserable domestic quarrels which were
embittering his brother's last years. As Vice-
Chancellor of the Apostolic See, and Camerlengo,
there devolved upon him much of the government of
Home during the absence of the Pope, who had gone
to Vienna to remonstrate in person with the Emperor
Joseph II. for his attacks on the rights of the Church.

The Emperor, who had been left sole ruler of tha
Austrian dominions by the death of his mother, the
pious Maria Theresa, was unhappily smitten with that
love of innovation which so deeply characterized the
age, and, imbued with the anti-Christian principles
of the French ' philosophes,' he resolved on that
oppression of the Church which has attached such
an unenviable notoriety to his name.

The religious Orders, as generally happens when
' reform ' is made the cloak for plunder, were the first
to suffer. By imperial decree, all monastic and
conventual establishments, save those engaged in
teaching and works of charity, were suppressed, and
their property confiscated. Other edicts, striking at
the unity of the Church, followed in quick succession.
No Bishop was hi future to apply to Rome for conse-
cration ; no Bull, Brief, or Rescript of the Holy See
was to be introduced without leave of the Govern-
ment ; and diocesan seminaries were replaced by two
colleges, where doctrines condemned by the Church
were freely taught. Finally, marriage was reduced
to a civil contract, and members of the hierarchy
were forbidden to accept the rank of Cardinal.

With the exception of a few courtly Bishops, the
whole body of the Austrian episcopate raised its voice

Cardinal Duke of York 79

in protest against this shameful attempt to place the
Church under the heel of the State. The Pontiff
remonstrated against these proceedings through
Cardinal Migazi, the legate a latere at Vienna. But
the arts of diplomacy and entreaty were exhausted in
vain ; and at length Pius announced his intention of
going to confer in person with the Emperor, in spite
of the disapprobation of a majority of the Cardinals,
who considered such a proceeding derogatory to the
Papal dignity.

The result of that resolution is well known. The
Pope quitted Rome on February 27, 1782, and arrived
at Vienna towards the end of March. His journey
was a veritable triumph, Protestants and Catholics
everywhere vying with each other to show honour to
the head of the Church. So great was the influx of
persons into the Austrian capital to do homage to the
august Pontiff, that it was feared that a famine would
ensue. The visit of Pius extended over six weeks,
and on leaving he was, as on his arrival, escorted a
considerable part of the way by the nobility, headed
by the Emperor himself. Joseph promised to do
nothing prejudicial to the unity of the Church, and
as an earnest of his sincerity presented the Holy
Father with a gold cross set with brilliants, valued
at £20,000.

The journey of the Pontiff to Vienna was far from
being the fruitless undertaking that some modern
historians would have us believe. The extraordinary
tokens of love and loyalty manifested towards the
Holy Father by millions of his spiritual children was
an emphatic proof of how little a hold the infidel
sophistries and corrupt example of the times had on

80 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

the great mass of Catholics ; while his short stay in
Vienna was a distinct gain for the Church. Among
the multitude of persons whom the advent of the
first of Bishops attracted to the capital of the northern
Csesars was a large number of noble and wealthy
Lutherans, of whom three thousand, either at the
time or shortly afterwards, embraced the Catholic
faith.

The Emperor Joseph lived to bitterly repent his
ecclesiastical innovations, and when on his death- bed
wrote to Pius with his dying hand, seeking his for-
giveness and asking him to exert his authority to
calm the turbulence of the Belgians, whom the
Emperor's officious meddling with the venerable
institutions of Church and State had driven into
revolt. The Pontiff, it need scarcely be said, freely
forgave his repentant son, and used his influence to
compose the troubles that were threatening the
remote States of the Empire.

Early in 1782 an adventurer, bearing the appro-
priate name of Venture, called upon Mr. Caryll, Prince
Charles's steward, who happened to be in Paris, and
claimed the support of Cardinal York on the ground
that he was the natural son of his Eminence's father,
the Old Chevalier. Mr. Caryll at once wrote to the
Cardinal, informing him of the circumstances, and
the latter, with that love of justice which was one of
his most marked characteristics, requested Mr. Caryll
to inquire into the truth of the man's story, and
report to him in writing. The result of the investi-
gation proved the utter falsehood of Venture's story.
The impostor, amongst other wild statements, had
asserted that he had fought in Prince Charles's army

Cardinal Duke of York 81

during the rebellion, although facts made it clear
that he could not have been more than a child when
the rising took place. To set the mind of the
Cardinal completely at rest on the subject, Caryll
wrote his Eminence a letter early in the spring, con-
taining further proofs of the imposture, and con-
cluding with these words : ' As the falsehood of his
pretensions is so clearly demonstrated, I am hopeful
that the fable of his origin will not give your Royal
Highness a moment more of uneasiness, as it certainly
will never gain credit with any who are the least
informed of the character of the King.'

The visit of Gustavus III., King of Sweden, and
his brother, Prince Charles, to Rome in 1783 is an
event of some importance in the history of the last
Stuarts. The royal visitors, who were received with
every mark of distinction by the Pontifical Govern-
ment, devoted much attention to the valuable
museums of natural and artificial curiosities which
the fine taste of Pius VI. and his immediate prede-
cessors had constructed. But it is with the good
offices of Gustavus towards Prince Charles Edward that
we are mainly concerned. Shortly after his arrival
in Rome the Cardinal seized on the presence of the
Swedish Monarch in Rome as an excellent opportunity
for making some final settlement with regard to his
brother's affairs. Gustavus readily acquiesced, and
sought to restore concord to the family of his host's
brother. Gustavus had already met Charles Edward
at Florence, and his noble and generous nature had
been deeply moved by the melancholy condition of one
in whose veins ran the blood of so many generations of
kings. In conjunction with the Cardinal, he laboured

6

82 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

to bring about a reconciliation between the Chevalier
and his consort. His efforts, however, were not
attended with success, and all the kind - hearted
monarch could do was to smooth the way for a, legal
settlement by a separation a mensa et thoro, which was
duly agreed upon by Charles and his Countess, and
ratified by the Pope on April 7, 1784. By this arrange-
ment the Countess gave up her allowance of 15,000
crowns per annum, formerly settled on her by her
husband, as well as the 4,000 allowed her by Cardinal
York, who now made over this sum to his brother.
The loss of these sums was compensated by a pension
of £2,500 a year which her brother-in-law, the Duke
de Berwick (FitzJames) procured for her from Marie
Antoinette, Queen of France. On this allowance the
Countess lived till the French Revolution deprived
her of it. When the Revolution occurred, however,
she was the wife of Vittorio Alfieri, the wealthy
Florentine poet, whom she married after Prince
Charles's death. She and her husband subsequently
travelled in England, and were received in audience
by George III. and his Queen. On their return to
Florence she received a pension of £2,000 a year from
the British Government, which was continued down
to her death in 1824. After the death of Alfieri, in
1804, she is said to have married the French painter,
Xavier Fabre, who survived her, and who, on his
death, in 1837, bequeathed the fine library of the
Countess, and many valuable relics of the Stuarts and
Alfieri, to the museum of Montpellier, his native town.
So much for the subsequent history of Louisa
Countess of Albany.

In February, 1783, Charles Edward was seized with

Cardinal Duke of York 88

an illness from which it was thought that he could
not recover. The malady was a complication of
inflammation and dropsy, and it was deemed ex-
pedient to summon his brother from Rome. Cardinal
York left instantly for Florence, travelling via Sienna,
where he stopped one night, and reaching his brother
on the following day. He lodged in a monastery,
near the house of the Chevalier, to whom he adminis-
tered the last Sacraments of the Church. He pro-
longed his stay in Florence till his brother's recovery
several weeks later, and then returned to Rome. In
January Charles Edward had another attack of his
malady, aggravated by apoplexy, and was indeed in
so critical a condition that for two days he lay at the
point of death. The Cardinal hastened to his bed-
side, but the end was not yet.

At about this time the province of Calabria, in the
kingdom of Naples, was devastated by one of the
most terrible series of earthquakes ever recorded.
The towns of Messina, Tropea, and Reggio were
reduced to ruins, the cultivation and industries of
entire districts destroyed, and large portions of land
near the coast violently projected into the sea. It is
estimated that upwards of forty thousand persons lost
their lives in this fearful calamity, while a vast number
of others were plunged into the greatest suffering.
To relieve their necessities extraordinary efforts were
made throughout Italy. The Pope forwarded large
sums of money to assist the work of relief, and by
special Brief allowed the revenues of the Neapolitan
monasteries to be applied for the same purpose.
Cardinal York, with his accustomed generosity, set
aside a considerable portion of his income for the

6—2

84 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

same end, and encouraged the people of his diocese
to contribute liberally towards the relief fund.

At the beginning of 1786 the Chevalier, who was
now somewhat better in health, removed to Home.
He seldom appeared in public. Most of his evenings
were spent in the society of the great musician,
Domenico Corri, who has left us a sad picture of the
last days of the unfortunate Prince. The Chevalier
would sit for hours in an apartment hung with old
red damask, and dimly lighted by two candles in
silver sconces, while the maestro, his companion,
played on the violoncello or pianoforte snatches of the
music that had cheered the ' children of the mist '
long long ago in the battle, the bivouac, and the
march. There was not unfrequently on the table a
pair of silver-mounted pistols, which the Chevalier
would often take up and examine, for since the
attempt on his life in 1751, by Grossart, the Whig
fanatic, he had never remained unarmed. After
satisfying himself that the pistols were properly
primed and loaded, the Prince would replace them on
the table, and then sink back again, and meditate in
silence on the memories which the strains of mourn-
ful music recalled.

In the spring of 1786 he had another attack of his
complaint, and recovered with difficulty. When con-
valescent he retired to his brother's villa at Albano,
where numbers of the peasantry came to him to be
touched for the King's evil. He rarely received
visitors, though distinguished strangers, like Mr.
Greathead, the friend of Charles James Fox, were
sometimes admitted to see him. This gentleman
was desirous of hearing the narrative of the Scotch

Cardinal Duke of York 86

rebellion from the lips of its chief actor, and on the
occasion of his visit to the Chevalier studiously led the
conversation up to this topic. Charles entered with
zest into the subject, but the strain was too great, a
fit overcame him, and he fell swooning to the floor.

Early in January, 1788, the Prince was stricken
with a severe stroke of paralysis, and by the middle
of the month was confined to his bed. Cardinal
York, assured that his brother's life was now
about to terminate, was assiduous in his attendance
upon him. As the Irish Franciscan Fathers had
ministered to Prince James in his last illness, the
Cardinal requested the same worthy friars to attend
his dying brother, and administer to him the last
Sacraments of the Church. In accordance with his
Eminence's wishes, Fathers James and Francis Mac-
Cormick, O.S.F., took up their temporary residence
at the palazzo of Charles Edward, and carefully pre-
pared him for his rapidly approaching end.

Though the death of the Prince was now early
expected, it took place, as a matter of fact, with an
unexpected suddenness, and in consequence the
Cardinal was not present at the closing scene of his
brother's eventful career.

On January 31, 1788, the day following the anni-
versary of the execution of his great-grandfather,
Charles I., the Chevalier had a final attack of his
malady, and at half-past nine at night he expired.
He had received the last Sacraments of the Chur ch
and made an exemplary end.*

The Cardinal requested the Pope to allow the

* 'Tales of the Century,' by Chas. Edward and John Sohieski
Stuart. London, 1846. The date of the Prince's death is given
as the thirtieth, but this is a mistake. — Author.

86 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

deceased Prince the honours of a royal funeral. The
Holy Father, while condoling with his Eminence on
his sad loss, refused to grant his request, on the
ground that Charles had never been acknowledged
as King during his life. But the Cardinal was still
free to inter his brother as a Prince of blood royal,
and preparations for a magnificent funeral were com-
menced without delay. The body, after its embalm-
ment, lay in state in the Stuart palace in Home,
pending its removal to Frascati. Six altars were
erected in the ante-chamber of the chapelle ardente,
and during the thirty hours following the decease
upwards of thirty Masses of requiem were offered.
The Office for the Dead was chanted every evening in
the presence of the body by the Irish Franciscans.
When the arrangements for the obsequies were com-
pleted, the corpse was removed to the Cathedral of
Frascati, where a catafalque, surmounted by a canopy
and armorial bearings, had been prepared for its
reception. A large concourse of persons, including
many of the Italian and British nobility, filled the
church, and it was observed that everyone wore deep
mourning. So great a number of persons sought
admission to the Cathedral that it was found neces-
sary to place troops in the square outside to prevent
the danger of overcrowding. The Cardinal, though
weighed down by grief, was the celebrant at the
requiem, assisted by several bishops and prelates.
When the absolution had been pronounced, the coffin
was borne to the crypt accompanied by the clergy,
choir, and most of the congregation, chanting the
final anthem, ' In paradisum deducant te Angeli.'
By the directions of the Cardinal, the site of the tomb

Cardinal Duke of York 87

was marked by a marble slab with a Latin inscription,
of which the following is the translation : ' Here lies
Charles Edward, the eldest son, heir and successor of
the royal dignity and paternal right of James III.,
King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, who,
having taken up his abode in Rome, was styled the
Count of Albany. He lived sixty-seven years and one
month, and departed in peace the day before the
Kalends of February in the year 1788.' The heart of
the Chevalier, after being enclosed in a silver urn,
was deposited in a niche in the vault, where the body
of the Prince reposed till its transference shortly after-
wards to St. Peter's at Rome.

As a formal assertion of his claims to the British
throne, Cardinal York took two proceedings which in
method and effect were in strong contrast to the war-
like measures undertaken by his father and brother.
The first of these was to cause himself to be silently
proclaimed to the world as Henry IX. of Great
Britain, France, and Ireland, by the issue of accession
medals; the second to declare Prince Emanuel of
Sardinia his successor to these claims. With respect
to the first, he ordered a number of medals in gold
and silver to be struck by his jeweller, Signer
Hamerani, after the style of those issued by himself
in 1774, when acting as Vice-Chancellor of the Holy
See on the death of Clement XIV. Specimens of
the new issue were presented to the Sovereign Pontiff,
the Cardinals, and the leading personages of rank
and talent in Rome. When the Duke of Sussex,
George III.'s son, visited Rome some years later, his
Eminence, who entertained a great esteem for him,
gave him one of the impressions in gold, which the

88 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

Duke at his death in 1844 bequeathed, with his other
property, to his niece, her present Majesty the Queen.
These famous medals are about two inches broad,
and have on the obverse the bust of Prince Henry
in Cardinal's robes, while around runs the legend:
' Hen. IX. Mag. Brit. Fr. et Hib. Rex Fid. Def. Card.
Ep. Frasc.' (' Henry IX., King of Great Britain, France,
and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Cardinal Bishop
of Frascati'). On the reverse is represented an alle-
gorical figure of Religion holding a Bible and cross ;
at her feet is the British lion, and in the distance a
view of Rome and St. Peter's. The inscription com-
pletes that of the obverse : ' Non desideriis Hominum
sed voluntate Dei ' (' By the will of God, but not by
the desire of men ').

With the assumption of the title of King, his
Eminence did not relinquish that of Cardinal, although
it had previously been the custom for members of the
Sacred College to omit the title of Cardinal on suc-
ceeding to the honours of a throne. Thus, after the
death of Henry III. of France in 1589, the Cardinal
de Bourbon was exclusively styled Charles X., till he
terminated his nominal reign of a few days' duration
by voluntarily abdicating in favour of his nephew,
the renowned Henri Quatre. Cardinal York, though
retaining his ecclesiastical style and rank, insisted
upon receiving regal honours in his household, and
a sure way for a visitor, especially an Englishman,
to find ready favour with his Eminence was to
address him as ' Your Majesty.'

The other proceeding taken by the Cardinal with
regard to his claims to the British throne was to
publish a manifesto, which had been drawn up as

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Cardinal Duke of York 89

far back as 1764 by Signer Cataldi, the Cardinal's
attorney. This document had been composed at a
time when there was a likelihood that Prince Charles
would die unmarried. The deed declared that in
default of the Chevalier's heirs, the right to the
Crown should pass, on the death of both the brothers,
to Prince Emanuel, afterwards King Emanuel IV. of
Sardinia, the representative of Charles I. of England,
being the direct descendant of his youngest daughter,
Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans. This claim is now
represented by the Princess Maria Theresa, wife of
the eldest son of Prince Ludwig of Bavaria. In the
course of the year 1791, forty years after the bequest
of the Old Chevalier to the Society of Santa Maria
in Campitelli for the return of England to the
Catholic faith, news arrived in Rome of the abolition
of the penal laws in England after an existence of two
centuries and a half. From this date the heavy cloud
that had cast so deep a gloom on so many generations
of adherents of the ancient faith rapidly rolled away,
to make way for an epoch of ever-increasing religious
liberty. These glad tidings were announced to the
Holy Father by Cardinal York, to whom also fell
the happy task of congratulating the students of the
English College, the successors of those heroic students
who, when departing for the land of persecution, had
been hailed as the flowers of the martyrs by St.
Philip Neri.

In the 'Life of Cardinal Consalvi,' published at
Paris in 1864, there is given a full account of a
nomination to the Vicariate of St. Peter's, which
occasioned something like a contest between the Pope
and Cardinal York. Early in 1792 Monsignor Zondari,

90 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

who held the office of Vicar of the Basilica, was
promoted to the Archbishopric of Sienna ; whereupon
the vacant vicariate reverted to Cardinal York, as the
Archpriest. His Eminence, desirous of giving pre-
ferment to his friend and former protege, Monsignor
Consalvi, nominated him to the post. But before the
new incumbent could take possession,. it was intimated
to the Cardinal that the Holy Father wished the
appointment to be given to Monsignor Brancadoro,
the Nuncio at Brussels, who had just then been
recalled to Eome as Secretary to the Propaganda.
It was also objected by the Archivist of the Chapter
of St. Peter's that Consalvi, as Auditor of the Rota,
was ineligible for the office, and this objection was
forwarded in writing to Cardinal York. His Eminence,
who discovered on investigation that the report of
the Archivist was not correct, at once wrote a sub-
missive letter to the Pontiff, pointing out this fact,
and citing many cases where Vicars of the Basilica
had also been Auditors of the Rota. The Pope, how-
ever, was not to be put off, and, summoning Consalvi
to his presence, informed him that the vicariate must
be filled up without delay, and requested him to write
to this effect to Cardinal York. The Holy Father
added significantly that he did not intend to insist
on the election of any special candidate, as he was
sure the goodwill of his Eminence would prompt him
to select a candidate likely to give satisfaction to the
Holy See. Consalvi wrote as desired, and the Cardinal,
seeing that the wish of Pius could not be in politeness
opposed any longer, replied that, using the liberty the
Holy Father had granted him, he had resolved upon
presenting the vacant vicariate to Monsignor Branca-

Cardinal Duke of York 91

doro. Next morning Consalvi announced this decision
to the Pontiff, who remarked : ' The Cardinal Duke
has made a good choice, and we derive much satisfac-
tion from it ; he will find that it answers the purpose
well ; tell him that from me.'

This deference to the Pontifical wishes involved a
great sacrifice to the good Cardinal, who had long
desired to bestow some substantial mark of favour on
Consalvi, in whom he had from the first discerned
evidence of that genius which was to shine forth with
such surpassing splendour a few years later. Shortly
after this occurrence, Cardinal York, in view of his
advancing years, and the natural desire he felt of
leaving his domestic and other affairs in perfect order,
resolved on drawing up his last will and testament.
In this document he appointed as executors Mon-
signors Consalvi and Cesarini, the latter being a Canon
of the Cathedral at Frascati, rector of the Seminary,
and subsequently Bishop of Milesi, in partibus in-
fidelium. The will was duly drawn up by a notary,
with the exception of those clauses which related to
the aforesaid two prelates, and these the Cardinal
wrote with his own hand. To Cesarini he left the
interest on a sum of six hundred Roman scudi, or
three thousand francs, and to Consalvi six thousand
francs, payable on demand. Consalvi, whilst thanking
his Eminence for this handsome legacy, declined to
accept it, saying that he considered the fact of being
executor to his Eminence a quite sufficient token of
his esteem. The Cardinal, who was not very well
pleased with this refusal, replied that his mind was
fully made up, and Consalvi was constrained to
submit. Nine years later, when Minister of State to

92 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

Pius VII., and involved in the engrossing negotiation
of the Concordat with Napoleon, Consalvi begged His
Royal Highness to release him from the obligations of
executorship, as these duties might interfere with the
sole and undivided attention which affairs of State
demanded. Cardinal York at once agreed, and drew
up another will, by which he gave the executorship to
Monsignor Cesarini alone. His Eminence, however,
did not forget his old pupil in the disposal of his
property. After the Cardinal's death, Consalvi dis-
covered that he had been left the original sum of six
thousand francs, together with His Royal Highness's
sapphire ring, a jewel of great value. He accepted
the ring as a precious souvenir of his old friend and
patron, but made over the money to certain old
servants of Cardinal York's.

Meanwhile, the French Revolution was rushing on
with fearful and startling rapidity. What the fall of
the Bastille and the creation of a Constituent Assembly
had commenced, the close of the year 1792 saw
accomplished; and a republic rose on the ruins of
the ancient and splendid monarchy of France. On
January 21, 1793, the descendant of Henri Quatre
and the Grand Monarque mounted the scaffold, and
Europe was plunged into mourning for Louis XVI.
At Rome a solemn requiem was sung for the French
King at St. Peter's, and an allocution pronounced by
Pius VI. on the truly Christian virtues and edifying
life of the royal victim to democratic fury. Cardinal
York, in whose veins ran the royal blood of France,
by the union of his great-grandfather, Charles I, with
Henrietta Maria, daughter of King Henry IV., caused
requiems to be sung in the Cathedral at Frascati, at

Cardinal Duke of York 93

which all the honours customary at the obsequies of
kings were duly rendered.

During 1794, and part of 1795, the Cardinal was
engaged in correspondence with the Most Honourable
Charles Stuart, seventh Earl of Traquair, on the
subject of certain mines in Spain to which his lordship
considered he had a right. The Traquair family,
though it had not openly espoused the Jacobite cause,
was by sentiment and tradition entirely in sympathy
with it; and one of its near relatives was William
Maxwell, Earl of Nithsdale, who escaped the block,
after the rising of 1715, by leaving the Tower in a
disguise supplied him by his heroic wife, who remained
behind in his place. The Earl of Traquair now wrote
to the Cardinal to obtain his good offices as mediator
in an application he had made to the Spanish Govern-
ment for a concession of the exclusive right of working
certain coal-mines in the peninsula. ' The Earl,' so
runs the account of this negotiation, ' seems to have
entertained the idea of having conferred upon him a
grandeeship, and a suitable establishment in Spain,
because a cadet of his family had formerly gone to
that country and allied himself to one of its noble
houses.' To the communication of his lordship the
Cardinal replied as follows :

' In answer to your obliging letter of January 10,
you may be assured that I have full cognizance of the
merits and prerogatives of your family, but I cannot
but remark that it is the first time in all my lifetime
I have ever seen your signature or that of anyone
belonging to you. That, however, has not hindered
me from writing a very strong letter to the Duke of

94 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

Alcudia in your favour, and I have also taken other
means to facilitate the good success of your peti-
tion. I heartily wish my endeavours may have their
effect in regard of you and your son, and mean-
while be assured of my sincere esteem and kind friend-
ship. A thousand compliments to your lady and
family.

' HENRY B., Cardinal'

• Frascati, Feb. 24, 1795.'

The Duke of Alcadia, to whom the Cardinal wrote
on behalf of the Earl, was the famous Manuel de
Godoy, who has obtained an unenviable notoriety in
history by his intrigues with the great Napoleon, to
whom he betrayed his country.

On November 7 of the same year the Cardinal again
wrote as follows :

' I received with all possible satisfaction your kind
letter of the 23rd Sepbre> and am glad to find you are
so much satisfied with the attentions you and your
family receive from the First Minister, which persuade
me your affairs will have a successful termination.
For what regards the medals I got struck some years
ago, I send you one of each sort ; but am now seven
years older, though, God be praised, in better health
than I could well expect. My most kind remem-
brance to Lady Traquair and your children, and, for
what regards myself, you may be certain of my sin-
cere esteem and constant kind friendship.

' HENRY R., Cardinal.

' Frascati, November 7, 1795.'

Cardinal Duke of York 95

With regard to this negotiation, nothing, so far as
we have been able to ascertain, ever came of it beyond
the formation of a closer acquaintance between the
venerable Cardinal and his remote kinsman.

The time has now arrived for narrating the story of
the misfortunes which, in pursuance of the strange
fatality that overhung every generation of the House
of Stuart, now befell its last representative, just as he
was preparing to end his days in peace.

It was not long before the revolutionists, who had
already attempted to uproot the Catholic religion in
France, sought a pretext for attacking the Holy See
itself. One was soon found in an incident which
occurred at Home in January, 1793. A young
Republican officer named Hugo Basseville, while on
his way to the embassy of his country at Naples,
made a short stay in Rome, and attempted to dis-
seminate Republican ideas among the inhabitants of
the Eternal City by distributing revolutionary tracts.
A riot ensued, and before the police could interfere
Basseville was killed. Several of the rioters were
arrested, and condignly punished. But the French
Directory refused to be satisfied, and declared that
it held the Roman Government responsible for the
officer's murder.

Pius VI., understanding that nothing short of the
seizure of the patrimony of St. Peter was meditated
by the French Republic, allied himself with the
coalesced Powers of England, Austria, and Prussia.

In 1794 a detachment of British troops was
stationed at Civita Vecchia, in the Roman States,
to aid the Papal Government in checking the growth
of revolution.

96 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

And here we may well pause to consider the wonder-
ful manifestation of Providence, as shown in these
events. The Roman Pontiff is no sooner abandoned
by the Catholic Powers than an alliance mainly com-
posed of Protestant States rushes to his aid. England,
for over two centuries the most implacable enemy of
the Apostolic See, no sooner beholds the object of its
inveterate hate menaced by its foes than she sends
her armies to uphold the threatened tiara, and form a
serried phalanx round the Pontifical throne !*

In 1796 Napoleon Bonaparte, then rapidly rising to
the front rank of the many brilliant commanders who
everywhere led the armies of France to victory, invaded
Italy, and by a series of the most astonishing successes,
gained in the very districts where Hannibal had so
repeatedly routed the legions of Rome, made himself
master of the whole of the Austro-Italian territories.
General Vaubois, with a powerful army, marched
towards the Papal States, which were thrown into
the greatest confusion at his approach. The aged
Pontiff alone remained unmoved amidst the general
panic, relying for aid on that Almighty power which
has ever preserved the Holy See in the hour of danger.
To save his people from the horrors of pillage, he
consented to the enormous exactions of the French
General, and agreed to hand over the sum of
20,000,000 francs, a large quantity of horses and

* In the South Kensington Museum there is a fine painting
representing several British officers in the act of being presented
to Pius VI. Their names were : Major, afterwards General
Brown Clayton, Captain Head, and Lieutenant the Hon. Pierce
Butler. The Holy Father is depicted placing a plumed dragoon
helmet on the head of Major Brown Clayton, and at the same
time offering up a prayer for the King of England and the
welfare of the noble British nation.

Cardinal Duke of York 97

provisions, and a number of the finest paintings and
statues the galleries of Rome possessed. Before these
conditions could be fulfilled, the French were forced
to retire before a relieving army of Austrians ; but
the check was only momentary. After the victories
of the Republican armies at Senico and Ancona, the
Pope found himself required to pay an additional sum
of 30,000,000 francs as a penalty for the encourage-
ment he was supposed to have given the Austrians.
The resources of the Pontifical treasury were strained
to the utmost to meet these monstrous demands, and
the nobility and wealthy classes of Rome disposed of
their private jewels that they might contribute to the
amount demanded. Cardinal York, as his share in
the good work, parted with a magnificent ruby, the
size of a pigeon's egg, valued at £60,000, once the
property of John Sobieski. These concessions delayed,
but could not avert, the fatal day. On December 28,
1797, a handful of revolutionists, headed by General
Duphot, sought to revive the insane attempt of Basse-
ville, and plant ' the banner of freedom on the Capitol.'
A collision with the troops ensued, and Duphot and
several of his associates were shot. The Directory,
glad of this opportunity for finally annexing the
States of the Church, gave orders to General Berthier
to march on Rome with an army of 18,000 men.

No resistance was made to the advancing host,
and on February 10, 1798, the French troops poured
into the Eternal City. The cannon of the invaders
thundered along the deserted streets, the tree of
liberty was planted on the Campo Vecino, and the
' Roman Republic, the sister and ally of France,'
was proclaimed from the Capitol, amidst the roar

7

98 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

of artillery, the strains of the Marseillaise, and the
invocation of the names of Brutus and Cato. Mean-
while the halls of the Vatican resounded with the
shouts of an exultant soldiery eager in the work of
pillage. The apartments were stripped to the bare
walls, and the Vicar of Christ stood alone amidst
flashing sabres and bristling bayonets. The very
ring was torn from his finger, while, in tones of
angry menace, the renunciation of temporal power
was demanded from him. For response, the old man
fearlessly replied that, though they hewed him in
pieces, never would he surrender one jot or tittle of
the Church's patrimony, of which he was not the
master, but the guardian. He was led away to die
in captivity at Valence ; the tricolour waved over the
Castle of St. Angelo, and an exulting world triumph-
antly declared that the Papacy was no more.

At the time the French troops pillaged Rome, the
Cardinal was living quietly at his villa near Frascati,
his life being spent in the discharge of his episcopal
duties, and in the exercise of charity. The entrance
of the invaders was the signal for a number of
disaffected persons to rise in revolt, in the hope of
the plunder. The villas of the Cardinals, nobility,
and wealthy classes, which studded the fair expanse
of the Campagna were marked out as the objects of
immediate attention, and among these, of course, that
of Cardinal York. His Eminence, who apprehended
an attack from the revolutionary banditti, took steps
to save at least some portion of his property from
seizure by hiding as much of it as he could so dispose
of among the cottages of the neighbouring peasantry,
whose affection for the good Cardinal was unbounded.

Cardinal Duke of York 99

On February 9 news was hastily brought that a
large mob of revolutionists was in the neighbourhood.
The aged Cardinal was compelled to forsake the Villa
Muti at once, and leave his beautiful house, with its
wealth of historic and artistic treasures, to the mercy
of the pillagers. Fortunately for him, and all those
who were flying from the revolutionists, General
Mack, the Austrian commander, held the district
between Albano and Naples, to which city the
Cardinal now directed his journey. There he might
have rested — at least, for a tune — had not the dis-
graceful behaviour of Mack's soldiers at Terni opened
the road to Naples to the French, with the result that
the Court of Naples was forced to betake itself to
flight. On the night of December 21 the King and
Queen, with the royal family and ministers, embarked
on board the British fleet for Sicily. Cardinal York,
at the special invitation of their Majesties, accom-
panied them, and in due course the fugitives arrived
at Messina.

It was now the intention of his Eminence to make
for Corfu, a locality sufficiently remote from the
revolutionary troubles, and thence to proceed to
Venice. He was, however, prevented from starting
immediately by contrary winds, but after consider-
able delay was enabled to set sail in a Greek merchant-
vessel. On his arrival at Corfu he delayed starting
for Venice till he should receive further intelligence
concerning the progress of the Republican cause in
Italy. On being informed that no change for the
better had taken place in the political outlook, he
sailed for Venice, which he reached early in May.
On landing in this city, the Cardinal took up his
",

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7—2

100 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

residence in a humble lodging near the Rialto, where
he maintained himself for a time by the sale of some
silver plate which he had brought with him. His
scanty means were soon exhausted, and at length this
aged Prince, the last of a race of Kings, Vice-Chan-
cellor of the Holy See, and Cardinal of the Holy
Roman Church, was forced to seek the assistance of a
neighbouring monastery to prevent himself from
perishing from sheer want !

The Times newspaper, in a leading article, in its
issue for February 28, 1800, two years later, thus
commented on the series of events that had reduced
this representative of British royalty to such distress :

'The Cardinal of York, the brother of Charles
Edward, early dedicated himself to a life congenial
with the habits of his mind. Placid, humane, and
temperate, he sought consolation for the misfortunes
of his ancestors in a scrupulous observance of the
duties of his religion, apparently secured in his re-
tirement from the storms and vicissitudes but too
often attendant upon political life. The malign
influence of the star which had so strongly marked
the fate of so many of his illustrious ancestors was
not exhausted ; and it was peculiarly reserved for the
Cardinal of York to be exposed to the shafts of
adversity at a period of life when least able to struggle
with misfortune. At the advanced age of seventy-
five he is driven from his episcopal residence, his
house is sacked, his property confiscated, and con-
strained to seek his personal safety in flight upon the
seas under every aggravated circumstance that could
affect his health or fortune.'

What, indeed, would have been the ultimate fate

Cardinal Duke of York 101

of the last male descendant of Robert Bruce, had
not an intercessor been happily found to represent
his case in the most effective manner to the British
Government, we cannot say. This timely spokesman
was the famous Cardinal Stephen Borgia, who, like
Cardinal York, was living in exile at Venice. A
member of the historic family of Borgia, his Eminence
was born at Velletri in 1731, and at the age of nineteen
had established his reputation for learning sufficiently
to be elected a member of the Etruscan Academy of
Cortona, one of the many societies devoted to the
study of antiquities and elegant literature which were
then to be found in every town and city of Italy. Of
easy fortune and abundant leisure, he had ample
opportunity for collecting a fine museum of antique
bronzes, cameos, coins, and medals, which soon
acquired a European reputation. In 1770 Pope
Clement XIV. made him Secretary to the Propaganda,
a post which enabled him to acquire a valuable stock
of Oriental idols, curiosities, and manuscripts. His
splendid talents as an antiquarian scholar were at
length fitly rewarded in 1789, when Pius VI. bestowed
upon him the red hat as Cardinal Priest. When the
Revolution drove him from Rome he betook himself,
with the majority of the other fugitives, to Venice,
where he discovered his old friend Cardinal York in
the forlorn condition we have described.

Among the numerous Englishmen who claimed the
happy privilege of friendship with Cardinal Borgia
was Sir John Coxe-Hippisley, M.P., who played an
important part in the politics of the day, as an
advocate of Catholic emancipation. To Sir John,
therefore, Cardinal Borgia now addressed himself in

102 Life q/ Henry Benedict Stuart

the following letter, which gives a full account of the
many losses and calamities undergone by Cardinal
York.

' It is greatly affecting to me to see so great a
personage, the last descendant of his royal house,
reduced to such distressed circumstances, having
been barbarously stripped by the French of all his
property ; and if they deprived him not of his life
also, it was through the mercy of the Almighty, who
protected him in his flight both by sea and land ; the
miseries of which, nevertheless, greatly injured his
health at the advanced age of seventy-five, and pro-
duced a very grievous sore in one of his legs. Those
who are well informed of this most worthy Cardinal's
domestic affairs have assured me that since his flight,
having left behind him his rich and magnificent
movables, which were all sacked and plundered both
at Rome and Frascati, he has been supported by the
silver plate he had taken with him, and which he
began to dispose of at Messina, and I understand that
in order to supply his wants a few months ago in
Venice he has sold all that remained. Of the jewels
he possessed very few remain, as the most valuable
had been sacrificed in the well-known contributions
to the French, our destructive plunderers ; and with
respect to his income, after having suffered the loss of
48,000 Roman crowns annually, by the French Revolu-
tion, the remainder was lost also by the fall of Rome,
namely, the yearly sum of 10,000 crowns assigned him
by the Apostolic Chamber, and also his particular funds
in the Roman banks. The only income he has left
is that of his benefices in Spain, which amounts to

Cardinal Duke of York 103

14,000 crowns, but which, as it is only payable at
present in paper, is greatly reduced by the disadvan-
tage of exchange, and even that has remained unpaid
for more than a year, owing, perhaps, to the inter-
rupted communication with that kingdom. But here
it is necessary that I should add that the Cardinal is
heavily burdened with the annual sum of 4,000
crowns for the dowry of the Countess of Albany, his
sister-in-law; 3,000 to the mother of his deceased
niece ; and 15,000 for divers annuities of his father
and brother. Nor has he credit to supply the means
of acquitting these obligations. This picture, never-
theless, which I present to your friendship may well
excite the compassion of everyone who will reflect on
the high birth, the elevated dignity, and the advanced
age, of the personage whose situation I now sketch in
the plain language of truth, without resorting to the
aid of eloquence ! I will only entreat you to com-
municate it to those distinguished persons who have
influence in your Government, persuaded as I am
that the English magnanimity will not suffer an illus-
trious personage of the same nation to perish in
misery ! But here I pause, not wishing to offend
your national delicacy, which delights to act from its
own generous dispositions rather than from the im-
pulse and urgency of others.'

On the receipt of Cardinal Borgia's letter, Sir John
conveyed it to his friend, Mr. Andrew Stewart, a near
relative of Mr. Archibald Stewart, and weh1 known in
his day for his letters on the famous Douglas peerage
case, which took up the attention of the law lords
from 1771 to 1790. Mr. Stewart, who entered warmly

104 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

into the affair, drew up a memorial on the subject,
which Mr. Dundas, afterwards Lord Melville, presented
to the King. His Majesty George III, whose friendly
dispositions towards his unfortunate relatives the
Stuarts had long been so well and widely known, was
deeply affected at the melancholy account of the
destitution into which the venerable Cardinal of
York had fallen, and at once expressed his intention
of making a suitable allowance to his Eminence as
long as he should be pleased to avail himself of it.
This assistance, it may be added, was at first only
intended to be paid until the straitened circumstances
of the Cardinal should improve, though in the sequel
the royal pension was continued to the time of His
Royal Highness's death.

Such, then, being the resolution of the King, His
Majesty immediately desired Lord Minto, the English
Ambassador at Vienna, to request the Cardinal in as
delicate terms as possible to accept an annual sum of
£5,000 as a proof of hio Sofe»eignte affection and
esteem. This Lord Minto was the Gilbert Elliot
familiar to all readers of Sir Walter Scott's poems,
whose services as a diplomatist were rewarded with
an earldom shortly before his death in 1814.

Upon receipt of the King's commands, Lord Minto
despatched one of his attaches, Mr. Charles Oakeley,
son of Sir Charles Oakeley, Bart., to convey the royal
will and pleasure to Cardinal York, whose sentiments
on this occasion are described in the following letter
written by him to the English Ambassador :

* With the arrival of Mr. Oakeley, who has been
this morning with me, I have received by his dis-

Cardinal Duke of York 105

courses, and much more by your letter, so many
tokens of your regard, singular considerations, and
attention for my person, as obliges me to abandon all
ceremony, and to begin abruptly to assure you, my
dear Lord, that your letters have been most acceptable
to me in all shapes and regards. I did not in the
least doubt of the noble way of thinking of your
beneficent sovereign ; but I did not expect to see in
writing so many and so obliging expressions, and well
calculated for the persons who receive them and under-
stand their force, to impress in their minds a most
lively sense of tenderness and gratitude, which I own
to you oblige me more than the generosity spontane-
ously imparted. ... I am much obliged to you to have
indicated to me the way I may write unto Coutts, the
Court bankers, and shall follow your friendly insinu-
ations. In the meantime I am very desirous that you
should be convinced of my sentiments of sincere esteem
and friendship, with which, my dear Lord, with all my
heart I embrace you.

1 HENRY, Cardinal.'

His Eminence did not neglect to send his sincerest
thanks to Sir John Coxe-Hippisley for his kind and
opportune representation of his case to the English
Court. A few weeks before the conclusion of the
Conclave which elected Pius VII. to the Papal throne,
vacated by the death of Pius VI., he addressed the
following letter to him :

• VENICE, February 26, 1800.

' Your letters fully convince me of the cordial
interest you take in all that regards my person, and

106 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

I am happy to acknowledge that principally I owe to
your friendly efforts and to those of your friends the
succour generously granted to relieve the extreme
necessities into which I have been driven by the
present dismal circumstances. I cannot sufficiently
express how sensible I am to your good heart, and
write these few lines in the first place to contest
to you these my most sincere and grateful sentiments,
and then to inform you that by means of Mr. Oakeley,
an English gentleman who arrived here last week, I
have received a letter from Lord Minto from Vienna,
advising me that he had orders from his Court to remit
to me at present the sum of £2,000, and that in the
month of July next I may again draw, if I desire it,
for another equal sum. The letter is written in so
extremely genteel and obliging a manner, and with
expressions of singular regard and consideration for
me, that I assure you excited in me most particular
and lively sentiments, not only of satisfaction for the
delicacy with which the affair has been managed, but
also of gratitude for the generosity which has pro-
vided for my necessity. I have answered Lord Minto's
letter, and gave it on Saturday last to Mr. Oakeley,
who was to send it by that evening's post to Vienna,
and have written in a manner that I hope will be to
his Lordship's satisfaction. I own to you that the
succours granted could not be more timely, for with-
out it it would have been impossible for me to subsist,
on account of the absolutely irreparable loss of all my
income ; the very funds being also destroyed, so that
I would otherwise have been reduced for the short
remainder of my life to languish in misery and
indigence. I would not lose a moment's time to

Cardinal Duke of York 107

apprize you of all this, and am very certain that your
experimented good heart will find proper means to
make known in an energetical and proper manner these
sentiments of my grateful acknowledgments. The
signal obligations I am under to Mr. Andrew Stuart
for all that he has with so much cordiality on this
occasion done to assist me, renders it for me indis-
pensable to desire that you may return him my most
sincere thanks, assuring him that his health and
welfare interest me extremely ; and that I have with
great pleasure received from General Heton [query,
Seton] the genealogical history of our family, which
he was so kind as to send me, and hope that he will
from the General have already received my thanks
for so valuable a proof of his attention to me. In the
last place, if you think proper, and occasion should
offer itself, I beg you to make known to the other
gentlemen who also have co-operated my most grate-
ful acknowledgments, with which, my dear Sir John,
with all my heart I embrace you.

' Your best of friends,

' HENRY, Cardinal.'

' To SIR J. 0. HIPPISLEY, Bart.,
' London.'

In the following May, just after the Conclave, the
Cardinal again writes :

1 VENICE, May, 1800.
' DEAR SIR JOHN,

' I have not words to explain the deep im-
pression your obliging favour of March 31 made on
me, your and Mr. Andrew Stuart's most friendly and
warm exertions hi my behalf, the humane and

108 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

benevolent conduct of your Ministers, your gracious
Sovereign's noble and spontaneous generosity, the
continuance of which, you certify me, depends on my
need of it, were all ideas which crowded together on
my mind, and filled me with the most lively senti-
ments of tenderness and heart-felt gratitude. What
return can I make for so many and so signal proofs of
disinterested benevolence ? Dear Sir John, I confess
I am at a loss how to express my feelings. I am sure,
however, and very happy that your good heart will
make you fully conceive the sentiments of mine, and
induce you to make known in an adequate and con-
venient manner, to all such as you shall think proper,
for me my most sincere acknowledgments.

' With pleasure I have presented your compliments
to the Cardinals and other personages you mention,
who all return you their sincere thanks ; the Canon,
in particular, now Monsignore, being a domestic
prelate of His Holiness, begs you to be persuaded of
his constant respect and attachment to you.

' My wishes would be completely satisfied, should I
have the pleasure, as I most earnestly desire, to see
you again at Frascati, and be able to assure you by
word of mouth of my most sincere esteem and affec-
tionate gratitude.

' Your best of friends,

' HENRY, Cardinal.'
' SIR JOHN COXB-HIPPISLBY,

' Grosvenor Street, London.'

The bestowal of the pension on the Cardinal by
King George III. caused the greatest satisfaction
among all classes, and at the annual banquet of the
Literary Fund for the year 1800 the following lines

Cardinal Duke of York 109

in praise of the royal beneficence were recited by
Mr. Fitzgerald :

' Illustrious Isle I Fair Freedom's last retreat !
The throne of honour 1 pure Beligion's seat I
Object of Europe's envy and her hate,
Still sh alt thou stand amidst the nations great ;
Still shall the persecuted stranger find
Thy happy shores the refuge of mankind,
And the last Prince of Darnley's house shall own
His debt of gratitude to Brunswick's throne 1*

It must be stated, indeed, that the Cardinal had a
very just claim for assistance on the Government of
this country. A large part of the sum voted by
Parliament for his grandmother, Queen Mary, consort
of James II., had never been paid, although several
efforts had been made by the Cardinal's family,
through the Court of France, to recover it. The
pension now granted his Eminence had, however, no
reference to this outstanding claim, but was made
purely from the liberality and goodwill of the King
of England towards an unfortunate member of his
own family.*

With regard to the Conclave to which we have
referred, a few words will suffice. On August 29,
1799, the aged Pius VI. expired at Valence, worn out
by the sufferings of mind and body he had lately
undergone. The enemies of the Papacy exulted over
the supposed annihilation of the Holy See, but the
Cardinals assembled at Venice and calmly proceeded
to elect another Pontiff.

About thirty-five members of the Sacred College
were able to comply with the invitations of the Car-
dinal Dean, John Francis Albani, to repair to the

* One account, however, says that out of delicacy to the
Cardinal the pension of King George III. was paid him as if in
discharge of this debt.

110 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

Church of San Georgio at Venice, where the Conclave
was to assemble under the protection of the allied
Powers. Cardinal York acted as Sub-Dean during the
proceedings of the election, while Cardinal Consalvi,
as Auditor of the Rota, was selected as Secretary.

At the outset of the election the voting went very
much in favour of Cardinal Bellisoni, Bishop of
Cesena, and formerly Nuncio at Lisbon, a prelate
much esteemed for his amiability and many virtues,
but towards the conclusion the votes were transferred
to Cardinal Gregorio Chiaramonti, who, after the final
scrutiny, taken on March 13, 1800, was declared elected
to the throne of St. Peter, and on the following day
was proclaimed to the astonished world as Pius VII.

The new Pope, thus unexpectedly raised up by
Providence to rule the Church amidst many tribula-
tions, was a Benedictine monk, who had been
honoured with the cardinalitial purple by Pius VI.
One of the first acts of the Holy Father, after the
Conclave, was to raise Consalvi from the rank of
Cardinal Deacon to that of Cardinal Priest, with the
title of Santa Maria ad Martyres, an event which gave
great satisfaction to that distinguished prelate's old
friend Cardinal York, whose desire to see his un-
doubted genius receive the recognition it deserved
has already been commented upon in these pages.

We must now pass on quickly to the account of
Cardinal York's return to his beloved diocese. On
July 3, 1800, the Pope re-entered Eome in triumph,
and the Holy City quickly assumed its normal aspect.
One of the first to follow Pius VII. was Cardinal York,
who made the homeward journey by easy stages, and
reached his episcopal residence a few weeks after the

Cardinal Duke of York 111

Pontifical occupation of the Vatican. The greatest
enthusiasm prevailed in and about Frascati. His
Eminence's carriage was drawn into the town by the
inhabitants, who at night illuminated the entire place
in honour of their beloved Bishop's safe return.
Most of his splendid effects had been lost beyond
recall. But such as could be recovered were quickly
back again in the Cardinal's palace, which the restora-
tion of his benefice and the King of England's pension
enabled him to once more furnish and appoint in a
style worthy of a Prince of royal and ecclesiastical rank.
Rome being restored to order and tranquillity, we
may proceed to contemplate the last of the Stuarts as
he was in the seclusion of private life, surrounded by
his household and the many friends who came to visit
him at Frascati.

Valentine, Lord Cloncurry, in his ' Life and Times,'
published in 1849, has left us some highly interesting
details of Cardinal York in these his closing days.
His lordship, who had become involved in the Irish
troubles of 1798, was advised by his friends to spend
a few years on the Continent till such time as his
indiscretion had become forgotten by the Government.
He passed a good deal of his time in Italy, and while
in Rome was a frequent guest at the table of Cardinal
York, who liked to have about him young men of
talent and originality, such as Lord Cloncurry un-
doubtedly was. It is from the accounts which he has
given of these visits that the following details are
mostly drawn.

"With regard to money matters, the Cardinal, in
spite of his heavy losses during the period of the
Revolution, was extremely well off. In addition to

112 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

the emoluments from his offices and benefices, he had
the income provided by George III., which alone in
Italy was equal to £20,000 a year at least. His
Eminence, when at Frascati, often amused himself
and his friends by little dramatic entertainments, per-
formed in his drawing-room by some of the students
of the college attached to his seminary. A favourite
piece with the Cardinal was the scene representing
Sancho Panza and his physician during the reign of
the Squire in the island of Barataria.

His Royal Highness, being now an invalid, was
placed under strict regimen by his medical advisers,
but this did not prevent him from occasionally striving
playfully with the attendants, as he sat at table, for
certain savoury dishes of which he was fond, but
which the physicians absolutely forbade him to touch.

During one of his visits to Frascati Lord Cloncurry
gave the Cardinal a telescope, to which the latter had
taken a fancy, and received in return one of the large
medals struck by his Eminence in honour of his
* unsubstantial throne.' The value of the telescope
was greatly enhanced in the eyes of the Cardinal by
the fact that it was of English manufacture, goods
made in this country being then highly prized on the
Continent for their finish and excellence. As an
instance of this appreciation of English manufactures
it is recorded that an ordinary English dressing-case
given by Lord Cloncurry's sister to the Princess
Messina was the envy and admiration of all the ladies
of Rome, to whom it was occasionally shown as a
great favour.

Mr. Forsyth, the celebrated Scotch traveller, in his
work entitled ' Italy,' says that on being presented to

Cardinal Duke of York 113

his Eminence on one occasion, during the summer of
1802, his introducer, an Irish gentleman living in
Rome, either pronounced his name badly, or else the
Cardinal did not catch it aright, for his Eminence
remarked facetiously that although he had heard of
* second sight ' in Scotland, he had never heard of
' Foresight ' in England ; whereupon the few by-
standers who knew English laughed heartily. Learn-
ing from Mr. Forsyth that his grandfather had fallen
on behalf of the Stuarts, the Cardinal at once took
great interest in him, drove him in his carriage to
Frascati, and invited him to dinner, where he placed
him on his right hand. The other guests present at
table were a Bishop, a Sardinian Duke, and several of
the lesser Roman nobility. His Eminence sat with
an interval for one person on each side — an honour
due to his dual rank. The Cardinal used the plainest
table-ware, although the rest of the company were
served on gold and silver plate. Even his coffee-cup
was of inferior material to the cups used by his guests.
He showed Mr. Forsyth a dog, adding significantly
that it was a ' King Charles.' The dog in question
attached itself to his Eminence one day as he was
leaving St. Peter's, and as it was of the breed just
named, the Cardinal often referred to it as a proof of
his royal blood, since dogs of this species are fabled
to detect instinctively members of the House of
Stuart. The costume of His Royal Highness on this
occasion is described by Mr. Forsyth as being
alternately of red and black, viz., red skull-cap, black
coat lined with red silk, black knee-breeches, and red
silk stockings. In features, says the same informant,
he was ruddy and handsome.

8

114 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

To the very last Cardinal York insisted on being
paid sovereign honours, and Lord Cloncurry never
omitted to address him as 'Your Majesty,' thus
going a step farther than the Duke of Sussex, who
always styled him ' Your Royal Highness.' Augustus
Frederick, Duke of Sussex, as most of our readers are
aware, was the sixth and most estimable of all the
sons of George III. After completing his studies at
the University of Gottingen, he resided for some years
in Rome, where he was warmly received by the
reigning Pontiff, Pius VI., who caused every honour
and attention to be shown him. It was while in
Rome that he married the Lady Augusta Murray,
daughter of the Earl of Dunmore, a marriage which
was rendered null and void by the tyrannous Royal
Marriage Act of 1772. From the first the Duke had
encountered serious obstacles to his projected union.
The Catholic Church, while tolerating marriages
between Catholics and Protestants, does not allow her
clergy to perform the ceremony between two Protes-
tants ; and although the Duke applied to all the
priests in Rome, and had several interviews with his
friend Cardinal York on the subject, he could, of
course, obtain no suspension of this important law.
After much delay he was married in the palace where
he was staying by the Rev. Mr. Gunn, an Anglican
clergyman, who happened to be in Rome on business.

The Duke of Sussex was not the only member
of the House of Hanover who sought the friendship
of the last of the race which that House had sup-
planted on the British throne. Like all the princes
of his family, Cardinal York claimed to possess the
power of touching for the King's Evil, and, on the

Cardinal Duke of York 115

death of his brother, caused a number of touch pieces
to be made for the purpose. These were small medals
of gold, having on the obverse the figure of St. Michael
trampling Satan under foot, with the legend, 'Soli
Deo Gloria.' On the reverse was stamped a ship
of war in full sail, and the inscription in Latin : * The
most Reverend Henry IX., by the Grace of God King
of Great Britain, France, Ireland, and Wales, Bishop
of Frascati.' It is said on good authority that one of
the brothers of George III. took a journey to Frascati
to receive in orthodox fashion from the hand of
Henry IX. the healing touch which had been denied
to the rulers of his own dynasty. The Master of
Ceremonies to the Cardinal did not, according to
this statement, know how to settle the question of
reception and introduction ; but finally it was arranged
so that the two princes should meet one another while
out driving. The plan succeeded admirably, for, the
carriages having met, the Cardinal was attracted by
the royal arms of England on the panels of the
stranger's coach, and on being informed that the
brother of ' the Elector of Hanover ' was within,
at once invited him to his villa, where the Prince
underwent the ceremony of receiving the royal touch,
though with what result history sayeth not.

When the Cardinal went to Frascati for the first
time after his accession to the empty title of King, a
great number of peasants brought their children or
relatives to be cured of the scrofula (the veritable
King's Evil), and it is said that the gold pieces with
which the rite was performed are treasured as precious
relics in the families of many of their descendants to
this day.

8—2

116 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

Of the popularity of Cardinal York among all
classes of persons we have already spoken. The
late Cardinal Wiseman, in his ' Recollections of the
Last Four Popes,' says that when he first went to
Frascati, which was shortly after his arrival in Rome
as a student of the English College, in 1818, the place
was full of kindly reminiscences of the last of the
Stuarts, 'all demonstrative of his singular goodness
and simplicity of character.' This is well illustrated
by the following story told of His Royal Highness by
the same informant :

' When he first came to Rome, so ignorant was he
of the value of coins that once, having been shown
some place or object of curiosity, he was asked what
should be given to the attendant. As he was puzzled,
his chamberlain suggested : " Shall I give him a
zecchino ?" — a gold piece worth about ten shillings.
Thinking that the diminutive termination must indi-
cate small coin, the Duke replied : " I think that is
too little ; give him a grosso " — a silver fivepence.'

It must be remarked that in the early part of his
life the Cardinal of York left the management of his
monetary and other temporal affairs to his Vicar-
General and Grand Chamberlain ; but even allowing
this, it is scarcely possible that he could have been so-
indifferent to mundane matters as to be ignorant of
the value of current coin, so the story may be looked
upon either as apocryphal or, at least, very much
exaggerated. What has been said of the Cardinal's
kindness, liberality, and genial disposition, certainly ill
accords with those accounts which have described his
Eminence as ' a dull, bigoted man/ or which represent
Pius VI. as declaring, after an intervi3w with the

Cardinal Duke of York 117

Cardinal, that he did not wonder the English had been
glad to get rid of so tiresome a race as the Stuarts.

The complete difference wrought in his fortune and
family affairs by the great political and social change
that had come over Europe since 1792 made it
necessary for his Eminence to make a fresh disposal
of his property, especially as his executor, Monsignor
Cesarini, was in indifferent health, and his other
executor, Cardinal Consalvi, had been released from
his obligation. Cardinal York therefore caused a
second will to be drawn up on July 15, 1802. It
commences thus :

' We, Henry Benedict Mary, son of James III., King
of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Cardinal of
the Holy Roman Church, Bishop of Frascati, con-
sidering that we are mortal, and not knowing the
time and the hour when Almighty God will be
pleased to call us to Him, have resolved, now that we
are in good health and in the full enjoyment of our
faculties, to make our last disposition, and to provide
as well as to that which relates to our funeral, as for
the salvation of our soul and our temporal affairs.'

The will, which is of considerable length, declared
Monsignor Cesarini, Bishop of Milesi, ' our universal
proprietary heir, with full liberty to enjoy and to
dispose of our inheritances, moveable and real goods,
rights as above named, without any condition or
restriction whatever.' The will concludes :

'Finally, it is our intention to renew here and
to consider as expressly inserted in it our protest
deposited in the Acts of the notary Cataldi, on the

118 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

27th of January, 1764, and published on the 30th of
January, 1788, at the death of our most serene brother,
relative to the transmission of our rights of succession
to the throne and crown of England in behalf of the
Prince, on whom they devolve by right (de jure), by
proximity of blood, and by right of succession. We
declare to remit these rights to him in the most
explicit and solemn form. Such is our last will and
testamentary disposition, dictated word by word (de
verbo ad verbum). It is our will that it have
perpetual validity, and the best and most valid title
competent to us (to give it).

' Given at our residence in Frascati, on the fifteenth
day of July, 1802.

'HENRY ROI.'

The last extract quoted from the Cardinal's will
refers to the King of Sardinia, whose relationship with
the Stuarts has been already mentioned. Monsignor
Cesarini did not long survive his Eminence, dying at
Rome early in 1808, when his place as executor was
taken by a Mr. Tassoni, a gentleman in whom he had
the utmost confidence. Mr. Tassoni also received the
entire quantity of State papers and private documents
belonging to the Stuarts, amounting to over half a
million in number. A certain Dr. Robert Watson,
who, it is said, had been secretary to Lord George
Gordon during the riots of 1780, entered into negotia-
tions with Tassoni for the purchase of these, and the
bargain was already concluded when the Papal
Government intervened, on the ground that the papers
in question were too valuable for any subject to possess.

In 1817 Cardinal Consalvi, the Minister of State,

Cardinal Duke of York 119

*

presented them to the Prince Regent, afterwards
George IV., by whom they were in great part placed
in the royal library at Windsor.

In the September of 1803 Cardinal Albani, whose
abilities and attainments have been already noted,
and who since 1775 had filled the offices of Bishop
of Ostia and Dean of the Sacred College, died at his
episcopal residence, in the eighty-fourth year of his
age. By the decease of this illustrious Prince of the
Church, the deanship of the Cardinals and the See of
Ostia and Velletri devolved on the Duke of York, who
was in consequence formally translated to the superior
See on November 20. His Eminence, who had been
now Bishop of Frascati for over forty years, was much
grieved at the prospect of having to quit a town which
had become so dear to him by reason of long associa-
tions and the attachment of its inhabitants to his
person. He communicated his regret to the Holy
Father, and Pius VII., pleased at being able to show
a proof of his regard for the venerable Cardinal, at
once granted him a special privilege by which he
might retain the episcopal palace of Frascati, although
no longer Bishop of the town.

During the last four years of his life Cardinal York
spent nearly the whole of his time at Frascati, rarely
going to Rome, except when business of especial
necessity called him. His house, as has been before
mentioned, was ever open to such of his countrymen
as cared to avail themselves of his hospitality, while
his ample fortune was largely employed in succouring
those whom misfortune or folly had reduced to
extremity.

Throughout the two years immediately preceding

120 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

his death the Cardinal suffered very much from the
mild form of epilepsy known as petit mal, which
caused him long lapses of memory, and almost
debarred him from performing even the least arduous
of his episcopal duties. The administration of the
diocese during this time was attended to by his
coadjutor and Vicar-General.

To the very last his Eminence continued to take
the liveliest interest in the seminary at Frascati, of
which institution he might in truth be called the
second founder, and although it was no longer under
his jurisdiction, the Cardinal made over to it consider-
able sums of money as endowments in perpetuity.

About a year after his translation to the See of
Ostia, his Eminence lost his old and devoted friend,
Cardinal Stephen Borgia, whose letter to Sir John
Coxe-Hippisley had been instrumental in drawing
the attention of the Court of St. James's to the mis-
fortunes of His Royal Highness. This excellent
Cardinal died at Lyons on November 23, 1804, while
accompanying the Pope to Paris for the" coronation of
Napoleon as Emperor of the French.

The narrative of events has brought us now to the
closing scene in the life of Prince Henry Stuart.

Cardinal York was seized with his mortal sickness
towards the end of June, 1807. The fever — for such
was the complaint — gradually gained upon his aged
and enfeebled frame, so that, before the end of the
month his physicians assured him that his death was
near. From the first day of his illness his Eminence
caused an altar to be erected in his apartment, at
which his chaplain, Monsignor Cesarini, said Mass
every morning. The Pope, Pius VII., expressed the

Cardinal Duke of York 121

utmost concern for the critical condition of the
venerable Cardinal, and had himself informed by
frequent couriers of the progress of the disease. As
days passed by and the final dissolution was hourly
expected, the road between Rome and Frascati
became covered with carriages of prelates, princes,
and others, who came to make inquiries at the palace
gates concerning the condition of the dying Cardinal.
On the morning of July 13 the last agony com-
menced, and the entire household was summoned to
his Eminence's bedside. The Recommendation of a
Departing Soul and the other prayers proper for this
solemn occasion, were recited alternately by Cardinal
Doria, who had succeeded the Duke in the See of
Frascati, and Monsignor Cesarini. These devotions
were continued till the Duke breathed his last, early
in the afternoon.

The death of the Cardinal Duke of York occurred
on the anniversary of his translation to the See of
Frascati, when he had been a member of the Sacred
College sixty years and ten days. As he was at the tune
of his decease Vice- Chancellor of the Apostolic See,
the Holy Father gave orders that the lying in state
of the Cardinal should take place in the palace of the
Cancellaria, under the shadow of the mighty dome
beneath which the last princes of the ancient Stuart
line have found a final resting-place. In pursuance
of the Pontifical order, the body of the deceased was
taken to Rome on the evening of July 16. A large
number of coaches swelled the funeral cortege, and
the hearse was accompanied by a troop of cavalry.
In the great reception-hall of the Cancellaria a bed of
state was prepared, and the whole apartment was

122 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

transformed into a suitable mortuary chamber by
means of velvet hangings, hatchments and candelabra.
The body of the dead Cardinal was vested in the full
robes pertaining to his exalted rank as Prince of the
Church, and at the feet were placed the mitre and
crozier, together with the Cardinal's hat, and a coat-
of-arms emblazoned with the armorial bearings of
England. A company of the Swiss Guard kept watch
and ward round the catafalque, and the stream of
spectators who came to gaze upon all that was mortal
of the titular Henry IX. passed behind a strong
wooden barrier draped with black velvet. The lying
in state terminated on the evening of the nineteenth.

The last solemn rites accorded the Cardinal were in
every way worthy of one whose death brought to a
close a dynasty that had filled a throne for upwards of
four centuries. So dense was the crowd that thronged
St. Peter's that one might have thought all Rome had
gathered together to assist at the last sad offices.

Cardinal Doria, who now succeeded His Royal High-
ness as Dean of the Sacred College, pontificated, in
the presence of the Sovereign Pontiff, more than thirty
Cardinals, and a large number of Bishops and lesser
prelates. The foreign ambassadors in Rome occupied
their accustomed places, and the number of titled and
distinguished personages was unusually great. On
the same day another solemn Mass of requiem for the
repose of the Cardinal's soul was sung in the cathedral
at Frascati, which was filled to the very doors. The
celebrant was the dean, and the funeral oration was
pronounced by Father Marco Mastrofini, Professor of
Philosophy at the seminary.

When the last sad rites had been brought to a close

Cardinal Duke of York 123

at St. Peter's, the coffin was removed to the crypt and
interred with the other members of the Stuart family
in that hallowed spot which to the remotest times
must make every Englishman who visits the mighty
Basilica pause and reflect on the ashes it contains.
The body of Charles Edward had already been re-
moved from its temporary resting-place at Frascati,
and in close proximity to the mouldering dust of
James III. and Charles III. the body of Henry IX.
was now laid. Masses continued to be said for the
deceased, both at Rome and Frascati, for many days
after the interment, but no monument marked for
many years to come the place where rested in peace
the mortal remains of the three Kings of England by
the Grace of God but not by the will of man.

With the exception of benefactions to his servants,
and some donations to various charities, the bulk of
Cardinal York's large fortune went to found bursaries
for the education of students of the Scots College in
Rome, of which institution he is considered one of the
foremost benefactors.*

One more remark on the subject of the Cardinal's
testamentary dispositions may not be without interest.
When James II. fled from England in 1688 he carried
with him, amongst other hastily-collected treasures,
the crown and coronation-ring — insignia destined
never again to be worn by his descendants. As some
sort of acknowledgment of the bounty shown him by
the House of Hanover, the Cardinal on his death-bed

* Among the bequests of the Cardinal to the Scots College
was the original copy of the proclamation which Charles Edward
caused to be read from the town cross at Edinburgh in 1745,
proclaiming his father as James III. and himself Prince Regent.
It now hangs in the hall of the College.

124 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

entrusted these jewels, together with the badges of
the Garter and the orders of SS. George and Andrew,
worn by the same unfortunate monarch, to Monsignor
Cesarini, for transmission to England, as a personal
gift to the Prince of Wales. These sad mementoes
were duly forwarded by Cardinal Consalvi and suit-
ably acknowledged by the royal recipient.

The years sped on. An empire called into existence
by the sword vanished amidst the thunder of Waterloo,
and with the return of peace the Prince who directed
England's destinies had leisure to remember the
illustrious dead. A renowned sculptor was commis-
sioned to prepare a suitable monument to mark the
resting-place of the last of the Stuarts, and in 1819 the
great masterpiece of Canova, with its guardian genii,
was completed. Since that time what countless
strangers from these realms have mused before that
sculpture on the lives its stone commemorates, and
read its simple epitaph :

'JACOBO III.,

Jacob! II., Magnae Brit. Regis Filio,

KAROLO EDVARDO,
Et HENRICO, Decano Patrum Cardinalium,

Jacobi III. Filiis,
Begise Stirpis Stuardise Postremis,

Anno MDCCCIX.
" Beati Mortui qui in Domino moriuntur."

' To JAMES III.,
Son of James II., King of Great Britain,

And to CHARLES EDWARD,
And HENRY, Dean of the Cardinals,

The sons of James III.,
Last of the royal race of Stuart,

MDCCCIX.
" Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." '*

* See remarks on the Stuart monument, p. 129 (Appendix).

APPENDIX.

CARDINAL YORK'S villa passed after his death into
the hands of trustees, who let it as a residence to
visitors attracted by the historic interest of the house,
and the romantic beauty of the situation. In May,
1832, Sir Walter Scott, when seeking to recruit his
shattered health in Italy, visited the villa, and was
much pleased with all he saw and learned there of
the last of his country's ancient kings. Mr. Edward
Cheney, a Scotch gentleman, was at the time the
occupant of the property, which still contained several
interesting relics of the Stuart family, notably a
portrait of Charles I., busts of Cardinal York and his
father, the Old Chevalier ; also a painting of a fe" te
given by Cardinal York in the Piazza dei Santi
Apostoli shortly after his elevation to the purple, and
a small ivory head of Charles I. which had served as
the top of his Eminence's walking-stick. These and
other valuable souvenirs remained at the villa till the
early forties, when they were disposed of by auction.
We subjoin a list of articles which formerly belonged
to Cardinal York, together with the names of their
present owners :

1. Gold and tortoise-shell box, with a miniature of
Cardinal York. (Recently purchased by Her

126 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

Majesty the Queen from Mr. Frederick Litch-
field, of the Sinclair Galleries, Shaftesbury
Avenue.)

2. Cardinal York's mitre. (Captain Anstruther

Thompson.)

3. Case for mitre, with arms. (Captain Anstruther

Thompson.)

4. A scarlet biretta. (Captain Anstruther Thomp-

son.)

5. Speech of the Lord High Steward (Lord Cowper)

at the trial of the Lords Derwentwater, Wid-
drington, Nithsdale, Carnwarth, Kenmure and
Nairne. Printed by Jacob Tonson, London,
1715, fol. (Belonged to Cardinal York. Now
in the possession of Lord Braye.)

6. Snuff-box of gold and red enamel. (Lord Napier

and Ettrick.)

7. Bronze medal of Cardinal York. (Captain Ans-

truther Thompson.)

8. Silver trowel and case used by Cardinal York at

the Jubilee, on the walling up of the Porta
Sacra. (Lord Braye.)

9. Medal of Pius VII., belonged to Cardinal York.

(Lord Braye.)

10. Note-book of Cardinal York. (Lord Braye.)

11. Touch-pieces of James III. and Henry IX. (Cap-

tain Anstruther Thompson.)

12. Cardinal York's seal. (B. R. Townley Balfour,

Esq.)

13. Status Animarum Almse Urbis, Anni 1764. An

account of the parishes of Rome. MS. bound
in vellum, with Cardinal York's arms on the
cover. (The Misses Boyle.)

Appendix 127

14. Maps of the invasion of Scotland by Prince

Charles Edward in 1745. Printed by Juillot,
Geographer Royal to Louis XV. They after-
wards passed into the possession of Cardinal
York. (Lord Braye.)

15. I Principi di Scozia Alessandro e Matilde. A

drama by Count Giuseppe Sebastiani, dedicated
to Cardinal York, whose arms are on the
cover, 1780. (Lord Braye.)

16. Engraving of the Funeral Procession of King

James III. at Rome, 1766. (Lord Braye.)

17. A pair of spectacles and case of Cardinal York.

(Mrs. C. Markham.)

18. Diamond buckle given by Cardinal York to Sir

John Coxe-Hippisley. (Henry H. Almack,
Esq.)

19. Two gold keys, used by Cardinal York at the

Jubilee. (Lord Braye.)

20. Snuff-box of Cardinal York. (Lord Napier and

Ettrick.)

21. Gold episcopal ring, set with an amethyst, of

Cardinal York. (Rev. F. G. Lee, D.D.)

22. Amber flask of Cardinal York (B. R. Townley

Balfour, Esq.)

23. Silver medal of Cardinal York, with the legend,

' Non desideriis hominum sed voluntate Dei,
1788.' (Duke of Leinster.)

24. Copper medal of Cardinal York. (Duke of

Leinster.)

25. Two large pictures by Leone Ghezza, one repre-

senting the marriage of the Old Chevalier and
the Princess Maria Clementina by the Bishop
of Montifiasconi (Sebastian Bonaventura) , on

128 Life of Henry Benedict Stuart

September 1, 1719, and the other the baptism
of Prince Charles Edward by the same prelate,
on December 31, 1720, in the presence of the
Stuart Court, several Cardinals, prelates, and
the representatives of the British and native
nobility. (Both these fine historic paintings
belonged to Cardinal York, but are now in the
possession of the Earl of Northesk.)

26. Scent-bottle, with gold stopper, belonging to

Cardinal York. (B. R. Townley Balfour, Esq.)

27. Various miniature portraits of the Stuart family,

from Robert II., King of Scotland (died 1390),
to the Princess Louisa of Stolberg. (These
were collected by Cardinal York, and are now
in the possession of the Earl of Galloway.)

Some Portraits of Cardinal York.

1. The Cardinal when very young. Small life size,

three-quarters length figure in three-quarters
view to spectator's left ; eyes to front, right
hand on helmet, left on hip ; powdered hair,
steel breastplate, buff sleeves and gloves, blue
ribbon, badge of Thistle on the breast, ermine
cloak. Size, 48 in. by 38 in. Painted by T.
Blanchet. (In the possession of W. J. Hay,
Esq., of Duns.)

2. The Cardinal when a boy. Whole length, life

size, in court dress, with greyhound by his
side. (Belonging at present to the Earl of
Orford.)

3. Portrait of the Cardinal. Life size, three-quarter

length figure, view to left, holding an open
book with both hands, and turning towards the

Appendix 129

front as if to read aloud. Cardinal's cape
(mozetta), crown and mitre on cushion in
front. (Duke of Hamilton, K.T.")

4. Portrait of the Cardinal in cappa magna. Half-

length size, three-quarters view to right, hold-
ing paper in his hand. The same as the
picture now in the National Portrait Gallery,
of which a copy is given at the commencement
of this work. (Lord Braye.)

5, The same as preceding, except that by the side of

his Eminence appears a crown resting on a
marble table. (Now belonging to Blair's
College, Aberdeen.)

REMARKS ON THE STUART MONUMENT.

Though generally attributed to the munificence of
George IV., the monument to the Stuarts in St.
Peter's, at Rome, was erected almost entirely at the
expense of Pius VII., since the contribution of the
Prince Regent amounted to only fifty guineas.

The remains of those whom this fine piece of
sculpture commemorates do not lie immediately
beneath, but under the dome, in that part of the vast
Basilica called the ' Grotte Vecchie.' There, in the
first aisle, on the left of the entrance, against the wall,
is a plain marble slab announcing the fact that ' here
is the actual resting-place of James III., Charles III.,
and Henry IX., Kings of England.' Just opposite is
the monument to Queen Maria Clementina, consisting
of a porphyry pyramid by Filippo Barigioni and Pietro
Bracci, erected by the Fabric of St. Peter's at a cost
of 18,000 scudi. — Notes and Queries, February 25,
1854.

9

130 Appendix

REFERENCES.

The following are the principal sources of informa-
tion from which the present work has been compiled :

1. ' Female Fortitude Exemplified,' a narrative of

the elopement of the Princess Clementina,
published in London in 1722.

2. 'An Account of the Funeral Ceremonies per-

formed at Rome in honour of the Princess
Clementina Sobieski.' (A contemporary publi-
cation translated from the Roman Journal for
January 29, 1735.)

3. Professor Ewald's * Life and Times of Prince

Charles Stuart ' (Chatto and Windus).

4. ' Scottish Soldiers of Fortune,' by James Grant.

5. The Letters of the poet Gray.

6. * An Incident in the History of the Stuarts,' by

Father John Morriss, S.J. (In the Month,
August, 1887.)

7. ' History of the Rebellion of 1745-46,' by W. and

R. Chambers.

8. « Tales of a Grandfather,' by Sir Walter Scott.

9. Lord Mahon's ' History of England.'

10. Diary of Cardinal York, in the Library of Stony-

hurst College, Lancashire.

11. Notes and Queries for the years 1849-56.

12. Historical MSS. Commission Reports, 1872 to

1884.

13. 'Memoirs of the Jacobites,' by Mrs. Thompson

(London, 1846).

14. ' Italy,' a descriptive work by Joseph Forsyth

(London, 1812).

Appendix 181

15. ' Six Months in Italy,' by George Stillman Hil-

lard (London, 1853).

16. Letters of Sir Horace Mann, British Envoy at the

Ducal Court of Tuscany from 1763 to 1784.

17. Various letters of Cardinal York written between

1767 and 1800.

18. ' Records of the English Province ' (vols. vii., xii.),

by Brother Foley, S.J.

19. ' West Grinstead et les Caryll/ by M. Max de Tren-

quale"on (London : Burns and Gates ; Paris :
Chez Monsieur Torre1, 51, Rue Sainte Anne).

20. ' Pontificate of Clement XIV.,' by Fr. Augustine

Theiner (Paris : Didot Frferes, 1852).

21. 'Life of St. Paul of the Cross/ by the Hon. and

Rev. Father Ignatius Spencer, of the Passionist
Congregation (London, 1860).

22. ' Tales of the Century,' by Charles Edward and

John Sobieski Stuart — ' the sham Stuarts '
(London, 1846).

23. ' Life of Hercules, Cardinal Consalvi ' (Paris, 1864).

24. ' The Captive of Valence ' (London, 1802).

25. ' Life and Times of Valentine,, Lord Cloncurry '

(published 1849).

26. The descriptive catalogue of the Stuart Exhibition

at the New Gallery, Regent Street, London,
1888-89.

9—2

INDEX.

A.

ABBEYS, French, of Cardinal York, 41

Acquaviva, Cardinal, 25

Act, Royal Marriage, 142

Adrianople, See of. See Lercari.

Aix-la-Chapelle, Treaty of, 40

Albaui, Cardinal, 49

Albano, Lake, 55

Albano, Palazzo, 24

Albany, Count of. See Stuart, Charles Edward.

Albany, Louisa Countess of, 68, 69, 76, 77, 82

Albany, Peerage of, 56

Alberoni, Cardinal, the younger, 52

Alcudia, Duke of. See Godoy.

Alfieri, Vittorio, poet, 82

Alford, Lord. See Graham.

Allied Powers and the Papacy, 95, 96, 110

Allocution of Benedict XIV. to the Cardinals, 33

Almack, H., Esq., and Stuart relics, 127

Altieri, Order of, and Prince Charles, 54

Amasia, Archbishop of. See Gamberucci.

America, Highlanders emigrate to, 71

Ancona, Battle of, 116

Andrew, St., Order of, 124

Angelo, St., Castle of, 14, 43

Antoine, St., Chateau de, 30

Apoplexy, Prince Charles subject to, 83

Apostoli, Sti., Church of the, 14, 28, 45

Apostolico, Palazzo, 44

Arcangelo, birthplace of Clement XIV., 65

Archpriest of St. Peter's. See Cardinal York.

Atheism in France, 59

Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, 15

Augustus, King of Poland, 19

Index 183

Austria and Pius VI., 78, 79

Austria defended by John Sobieski, 13

Austrian Succession, War of, 23

Aylesbury, Earl of, 68

Aymon-Boche, Cardinal, 70

Azpuru, Monsignor, bearer of the Veto, 63

B.

Balfour, Townley B. B., Esq., and Stuart relics, 126, 127

Baptism of Cardinal York, 14

Baptism of Prince Charles (picture of), 127

Barigioni, Filippo, 129

Basseville, killed at Borne, 95

Bastille, Prince Charles in the, 41 ; taken, 109

Batoni, Pompeo, painter. See Frontispiece.

Bavaria opposes Maria Theresa, 23

Beaufort, Cardinal, 83

Belgium revolts against Joseph II., 80

BelHsoni, Cardinal, 110

Benedict XIII., Pope, baptizes Prince Henry, 14 ; visits Queen

Clementina, 14

Benedict XIV., 41 ; religious toleration encouraged by, 42
Benevolence of Cardinal York, 67
Berkeley, Bev. Dr., tutor of the Stuart Princes, 17
Berwick, Due de (Fitzjames), 82
Biretta of Cardinal York, 126
Bishoprics, Irish, and the Propaganda, 54
Bishops, Austrian, resist Joseph II., 78
Bishops, French, defend the Jesuits, 59
Blair's College, Aberdeen, 129
Bologna, Cardinal York at, 44
Bonaparte. See Napoleon.
Borghese, Cardinal, 44
Borgia, Cardinal, 101, 120
Borromeo, St. Charles, 33
Bouillon, Duo de, 36
Boyle, the Misses, and Stuart relics, 126
Bracci, Pietro, 129
Bracciano family and Joseph II., 62
Brancadoro, Monsignor, 90
Braye, Lord, and Stuart relics, 76, 126, 127, 129
British colleges in Borne, Bectors of exiled, 55
British officers and Pius VI., 96
Broughton, Murray of. See Murray.
Bruce, Bobert, ancestor of the Stuarts, 28, 101
Brutus, name of, invoked, 98
Buckle diamond of Cardinal York, 127
Bulls, Papal, forbidden in Austria, 78 ; disregarded in France, 60

134 Index

C.

Calabria, earthquake in, 83

Camerlengo, office of, 41

Cameron of Lochiel, 27

Campitelli. See Santa Maria in Carnpitelli.

Cancellaria, Palace of the, 77, 121

Canova's monument to the Stuarts, 124

Cappa magna of Cardinals, 33, 61, note

Capraola, 25

Caraccioli, Cardinal, 61

Cardinalate, Prince Henry raised to the, 28

Cardinals, origin of, 35 ; robes of, 61 ; titles of, 35

Carlisle taken by Prince Charles, 27

Carnival at Florence, 76

Carnwarth, Lord, 126

Caryll of West Grinstead, Mr., 76, 80, 90

Cataldi, Signer, lawyer of Cardinal York, 89, 117

Cato's name invoked, 98

Cavalchini, Cardinal, 61

Cavo, Mount, Passionist monastery on, 74

Cervini, Monsignor, Patriarch of Jerusalem, 22

Cesarini, Monsignor, 91, 117, 120, 124

Cesi, Cardinal, founds seminary of Frascati, 48

Chalice, gold, presented by Cardinal York, 39

Charles I. of England, 85, 92, 125.

Charles III. See Stuart, Charles Edward.

Charles V., Emperor, 61

Charles VI., Emperor, 23

Charles X. (Cardinal de Bourbon), 88

Charles Edward. See Stuart, Charles Edward.

Charles, King, dog, 113

Cheney, Mr. Edward, and Cardinal York's Villa, 125

Chiaramonti. See Pius VII.

Cisterna, 24

Clans, Highland, join Prince Charles, 27 ; victorious, 27 ;

routed at Culloden, 28

Clayton-Brown, General, and Pius VI., 96, note
Clement VI., Pope, 29
Clement XII., Pope, 20
Clement XIII., Pope, elected, 43 ; refuses to acknowledge Prince

Charles as King, 53 ; supports the Jesuits, 63 ; sudden

death of, 60 ; monument to, 60
Clement XIV. (Ganganelli), Pope, elected, 64; character and

learning, 65 ; receives the Duke of Gloucester, 70 ; and the

Jesuits, 71 ; death, 72
Clement, St., Cardinal, 22
Clementina, Queen, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20j
Clifton, skirmish at, 27

Index 185

Cloncurry, Lord, and Cardinal York, 111, 112

College, Apostolic, choir of the, 52

Conclave, 43, 60, 73, 110

Confirmation administered by Cardinal York at Frascati, 47

Confirmationis Litterae read at Frascati, 45

Consalvi, Cardinal, 49, 89, 91, 92, 110, 118

Consistory, 34

Constance, Bishop of, 22

Conti, Cardinal, 61

Cordara, S.J., Father, 24

Corfu, Cardinal York at, 99

Corinth, Cardinal York made Archbishop of, 43

Coronation ring of James II., bequeathed by Cardinal York to

the Prince Regent, 123

Corri Domenico, musician, and Prince Charles, 84
Corsini, Cardinal, 61
Cortona, Etruscan Academy of, 101
Coutts, Messrs., bankers, 105
Cross, gold, given to Pius VI. by Joseph II., 79
Crown Jewels of James II., bequeathed to Prince Regent, 123,

124

Culloden, Battle of, 28
Cumberland, William Duke of, 27
Cypress wine, Prince Charles's liking for, 76
Gyrene, Bishop of, 22

D.

D'Aguillon, French Minister, and Prince Charles, 68

D'Aragona, Donna, 21

Darnley, Lord, 57

D'Aubeterre, M., French ambassador in Rome, 54

Deanship of the Sacred College and Cardinal York, 119

Death, effigies of, 52

Death of Cardinal York, 121

.. James III., 51

„ Prince Charles, 85, 86

,, Queen Clementina, 19
De Bourbon, Cardinal (Charles X.), 88
Decrees, French, against Jesuits, 59
Derby, Prince Charles at, 27
Derwentwater, the Earl of, 13, 126
Dettingen, Battle of, 23
Directory, French, and Papal States, 95, 97
Dissensions in Prince Charles's camp, 27

„ in the Stuart household, 15, 16

Dog, King Charles, pet of Cardinal York, 113

„ „ „ belief concerning, 118

Domestic life of Cardinal York, 111, et seq.

186 Index

Dominic, St., Order of, and Queen Clementina, 21

Dominican nuns, or Bianchetti, 76

Dominus ac Eedemptor noster, Brief, 71

Doria, Cardinal, 121

Douglas peerage case, 103

Dramatic performances at Frascati, 112

Drunkenness, Cardinal York on, 56

Dundas, Mr. See Melville, Lord.

Duns Scotus, Ganganelli lectures on, 65

Duphot, General, riot in Rome by, 97 ; shot, 97

E.

Edinburgh, Prince Charles in, 27, 123, note
Education of Prince Charles and Henry, 16, 17
Elliot, Gilbert. See Minto, Lord.
Elopement of Princess Clementina Sobieski, 13
Emanuel of Sardinia and the Stuart Claims, 89, 118
England, Society for the conversion of, 40
English College in Eome, 21 et passim.
English goods esteemed in Italy, 112
English visitors in Eome, 42, 43
Epitaph on the Stuart monument, 124, 129
Erskine, Cardinal, 50,
Etruscan Academy, 101
Evil, Bong's, or scrofula, 115
,, ,, touching for the, 84, 115

F.

Fabre, Xavier, painter, marries Countess of Albany, 82

Falkirk, Prince Charles's victory at, 27

Families, poor, relieved by Cardinal York, 57

Fenelon, Archbishop, converts the Chevalier Eamsay, 17

Fitzgerald, Mr., lines on Cardinal York by, 109

FitzJames, Due de, 68, 82

Flask, amber, of Cardinal .York, 127

Flodden-field, Battle of, 56

Florence, Prince Charles at, 75, 76, 83

„ Countess of Albany at, 82
Fogliano, Lake, 26

Forsyth, Mr., and Cardinal York, 112, et seq.
Fox, Charles James, 84

Franciscan Fathers, Irish, prepare Prince Charles for death, 85
Frascati, Cardinal York translated to, 45 ; described, 45

,, funeral of Prince Charles at, 86 ; Cardinal York flees
from, 99 ; returns to, 110, 111

,, seminary at. See Seminary.

Index 187

Frederick the Great seizes Silesia, 23; consults Benedict XIV.,

42

French Revolution. See Revolution.
French troops enter Rome, 97
Funerals. See Obsequies.

G.

Galloway, Earl of, and Stuart relics, 128

Galloway, S.J., Father, 67

Gamberucci, Monsignor, Archbishop of Amasia, 21

Gandolfi, Castel, 24, 72

Ganganelli. See Clement XIV.

Gardes Fran9ais seize Prince Charles, 41

Gaunt, John of, 83

Gaydon, Major, 13

Genoa, Prince Charles at, 25

George, St., Order of, 124

George I., 12 ; II., 27 ; III., 55, 104, 108; IV., 124

Georgio, San, Church of, at Venice, 110

Gerden-Stolberg, Louisa of. See Albany, Countess of.

,, ,, Prince Gustavus of, 68

German College, Rome, 49
Ghezza, Leone, painter, 127
Ghost, Holy, Mass of the, 60
Glenaladale. See Macdonald of Glenaladale.
Godoy, Manuel de, 94
Gordon, Admiral, 18 ; Lord George, 118
Graham, Mr. (Lord Alford), 51
Gray, Thomas, poet, 19

Greathead, Mr., interviews Prince Charles, 84
Gregorian chant, 49

Grossart attempts life of Prince Charles, 84
Guadagni, Cardinal, 44
Guidobono-Cavalchini, Cardinal, 65
Gunn, Rev. Mr., officiates at the marriage of the Duke of Sussex

in Rome, 114
Gustavus of Sweden, King, 81

H.

Hamilton, the Duke of, and portrait of Cardinal York, 129

Hamilton, Sir William, envoy at Naples, 57

Hannibal, 96

Hawkins, S. J., Father, 67

Hawley, General, routed at Falkirk, 27

Hay, Bishop, assists the crofters of South Uist, 70

Hay, Colonel (Inverness), 15, 16, 18

Head, Captain, and Pius VI., 96, note

Henrietta Maria, Queen, 92

138 Index

Henry Benedict. See York, Cardinal.

Henry III., of France, 88

Henry IV., of France, 88, 92

Henry IX. See York, Cardinal.

Heton, General (Seton ?), 107

Hierarchy, Austrian, protests against Joseph II., 78

Hieropolis, Archbishop of, 22

Hillard-Stillman, Mr., traveller, 46

Hippesley-Coxe, Sir John, 101, et seq.

Hochkirchen, battle of, 18

Holyrood, Prince Charles at, 27

I.

Income of Cardinal York, 41, 57, 102, 103, 104, 111

Indian curios collected by Cardinal Borgia, 101

Intemperate habits of Prince Charles, 55, 76

Inverness, Earl of. See Hay, Colonel.

Inverness, Prince Charles retreats to, 27

Irish College, Borne, 21, et passim.

Irish Sees, nomination to, transferred to the Propaganda, 54

Isaias quoted, 35

J.

James II., King, 12, 53, 57, 68, 123

James III. (James Francis Stuart), 12, 19, 21, 28, 36, 44, 51, 52,

89, 123

James V., King of Scotland, 56
James's, Court of St., and the Papacy, 53
Jerusalem, Patriarch of. See Cervini.
Jesuits at Frascati, 49, 72

„ in France, 59 ; and Voltaire, 59

„ in the eighteenth century, 59

„ in Spain and Portugal, 60

„ suppression of, 71 ; restored, 72, note
Jewels of Cardinal York, 116, 123
Joseph II. of Austria, 61, 62, 63, 73, 79, 80
Jubilee in Borne, 75
Jupiter Latialis, temple of, destroyed by Cardinal York, 74

K.

Kaunitz-Bittburg, Count. See Bittburg.

Keith, George. See Marischal, Lord.

Keith, James, Prussian General, 18, 38

Kenmure, Lord, 126, 158

Keys, gold, used by Cardinal York, 127

King, title of, refused Prince Charles by the Pope, 53

' King's Evil.' See ' Evil, King's.'

Index 139

L.

Lanti, Cardinal, 61

Lebanon, Mount, Christians of, and Clement XTV., 66
Lee, Rev. Frederick George, and Stuart relics, 160
Legouz, Abbe", tutor of Princes Charles and Henry, 17
Leinster, the Duke of, and Stuart relics, 127
Leonard, St., of Port Maurice, 20
Leonardi, Blessed Father, 35
Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany, 61, 76
Leprotti, Signer, Papal physician, 21
Lercari, Monsignor, 44
Lestock, Admiral, 29

Letter, forged, of Prince Charles to his brother, 37
Leuthen, Battle of, 68
Literary Fund banquet, 108
Loch-na-Nuagh, 27, 29
Louis XIV., King, 12
Louis XV. and Cardinal York, 31, 41
Louis XVI., execution of, 92
Louisa. See Albany, Countess of.
Lucullus, Roman General, 48
Ludwig of Bavaria, Prince, 89
Lumsden, Mr., 57
Luxembourg, Cardinal de, 33

M.

M'Connick, James and Francis, Fathers, 85
Macdonald of Boisdale, 70

,, of Glenaladale, 71

Macerata, Prince Charles's marriage at, 69
Mack, General, 99

Malta, Prior of the Order of, and Prince Charles, 54
Manchester, Prince Charles at, 27
Manifesto of Cardinal York, 89
Mann, Sir Horace, 181

Maps of Scotland used by Prince Charles, 127
Mar, Earl of, 15
Marciana, Bishop of, 22
Marefoschi-Campagnoni, Cardinal, 67, 69
Maria Santa ad Martyres, 110

,, „ in Cainpitclli, 35, 44, 50

„ „ in Trastevere, 45

Marie Antoinette and Countess of Albany, 82
Marischal, Lord (Keith), 18
Markham, Mrs., and Stuart relics, 127
Marriage of Prince Charles, 68, 69
Marriages in Austria degraded to a civil contract, 78
Martorelli, Monsignor, 66

140 Index

Mary of Modena, Queen, 12, 109

Medals of Cardinal York, 73, 87, 88

Medals of Pius VII., 126

Melville, Lord (Dundas), 104

Mendicant Friars at Queen Clementina's funeral, 21

Messina, Cardinal York at, 99

Messina, Princess, and Lord Cloncurry, 112

Messina, town of, destroyed by earthquake, 83

Migazi, Cardinal, legate a latere at Vienna, 79

Minto, Lord (Elliot), 104

Missa Cantata, Cardinal York's first, 39

Modena, Queen Mary of, 12, 109

Montalto, Villa, 48

Montgomery, Mr., 57

Montpellier, Stuart relics at, 82

Morlaix, Prince Charles at, 30

Mother of God, Congregation of, 35

Murray, Lady Augusta, marries the Duke of Sussex in Borne,

114

Murray, Lord, 15
Murray, of Broughton, Mr., 38

Museum, South Kensington, picture of Pius VI. in, 96, note.
Museums founded by Pius VI., 81
Music, Prince Charles's love of, 84
Muti Savorelli palace, 12 ; villa, 46, et passim.

N.

Napier, Lord, and Stuart relics, 127

Naples, Cardinal York's flight to, 99

Napoleon Bonaparte, 50, 96, 120

Neapolitan monastic revenues applied to relieve distressed

Calabrians, 83
Negroni, Cardinal, 50, 67
Neri, St. Philip, 89
Nithsdale, Lord, 93, 126
Nobles, Austrian, escort Pius VI., 79
Northesk, Earl of, and Stuart portraits, 14, 128
Note-book of Cardinal York, 126

O.

Oakeley, Mr. Charles, 104, 106

Obsequies of Cardinal York, 121, 122
„ Charles Edward, 86, 87
„ James III., 51, 52 ; picture of the, 159
„ Queen Clementina, 21, 22

Officers, British, and Pius VI., 96, note

Opera, Prince Charles Edward at the, 76

Index 141

Orders, religious, suppressed in Austria, 78
Orford, Earl of, and Stuart relics, 128
Orleans, Henrietta, Duchess of, 89
Orsini, Cardinal, receives Charles as King, 54

,, ,, and Joseph II., 61 ; limits the veto, 63

Ostia and Velletri, See of, Cardinal York translated to the, 119
O'Toole, Major, assists the Princess Clementina to elope, 13
Oxburgh Hall, Lancashire, 67

P.

Palace, Stuart, in Rome, 12, et passim

Pallavicini, Cardinal, 66

Panza, Sancho, represented, 112

Paolucci, Cardinal, 45

Papers, Stuart, their disposal, 118, 119

Paris, Cardinal York at, 29

„ Prince Charles at, 23, 31, 41, 68
Passionist Order, 73, 74
Paul of the Cross, St., 73, 74
Penal Laws abolished in England, 89
Pension assigned Cardinal York by George III., 104, 109
Perelli, Cardinal, 61
Peter's, St., Church of, 22, el passim,
Pious Schools, Congregation of, 44
Pisani, Cardinal, 67
Pistols used by Prince Charles, 84
Pius VI. elected, 73 ; goes to Vienna, 79 ; pacifies Belgium, 80 ;

appoints Monsiguor Brancadoro to the Vicariate of St.

Peter's, 90, 91 ; panegyric of, on Louis XVI., 92; receives

British officers, 96, note ; placed under contribution by the

French, 96 ; taken prisoner by them, 98 ; dies at Valence,

109

Pius VII. elected at Venice, 110
Pius IX. canonizes B. Leonard of Port Maurice, 20 ; advice to

the Jesuits, 72

Planetas presented by Cardinal York, 47
Poland, crown of, and Prince Henry (Cardinal York), 19
Pole, Cardinal, 33
Port Maurice, St. Leonard of, 20
Porta Sacra, walling up of the, 75, 76
Portraits of Cardinal York, 128
Portugal and the Jesuits, 60

„ „ Papacy, 66

Preston Pans, Battle of, 27
Pretender, the Old. See James III.

„ the Young. See Stuart, Charles Edward.
Protestants, three thousand, join the Catholic Church, 80

142 Index

Prussia, King Frederick of, seizes Silesia, 15; consults Bene-
dict XTV., 42

R.

Ramsay, the Chevalier, 17

Rebellion of 1715, 12 ; of 1745, 27, 28

Receptions given by Cardinal York, 34

Rectors of British colleges receive Prince Charles as King, 54

Reggio destroyed by an earthquake, 83

Relics of Cardinal York, 125

Religious Orders, superiors of, congratulate Cardinal York, 32

Religious Orders suppressed in Austria, 78

Republic, Roman, established, 97

Revolution in France, 92 ; in Rome, 97

Rezzonico, Cardinal, 61

Rialto, Venice, Cardinal York lodges near, 100

Ricci, S.J., Father, 72

Ring, episcopal, of Cardinal York, 127

Ring of the Fisherman, 43

Rings, sapphire, worn by Cardinals, 34, 62

Rittburg-Kaunitz, Count, ambassador to Rome, 63

Riviera, Cardinal, 41

Robert II. of Scotland and the peerage of Albany, 56

Robes of Cardinals, 61, note

Rosary, jewelled, given to Prince Charles by the Pope, 58

Roscoff, Prince Charles lands at, 30

Rota, auditorship of the, dispute concerning, 90

Royal Cardinals, English, 33

Ruby, large, sold by Cardinal York, 97

Ruffo, Cardinal, 34

S.

Sapphire rings worn by Cardinals, 34, 62 note
Savorelli Muti, Palace of, 12 et passim.
Scotland invaded by James III., 12

,, ,, by Prince Charles, 27

Scots College, Rome, 21, et passim.
Scott, Sir Walter, at Cardinal York's villa, 125
Scrofula, or King's Evil, 143
Seal of Cardinal York, 126
Second sight, 113

Seminaries, diocesan, suppressed in Austria, 78
Seminary at Frascati rebuilt by Cardinal York, 47, 48

,, „ course of studies in, 48

Senate, Roman, congratulate Cardinal York, 34
Senico, Battle of, 97
Seven Years' "War, the, 74
Shelburne, Lord, 57
Sheridan, Sir Thomas, 17, 25

Index 143

Shield, gold, presented to John Sobieslu, 53

Silesia seized by Frederick the Great, 28

' Siren of Borne,' The (Cardinal Consalvi), 49

Sistine Chapel, 33 et passim.

Snuff-box used by Cardinal York, 126

Sobieski, King John, 13, 53, 67
„ Prince James, 19

Southesk, Lady, 16

Spectacles used by Cardinal York, 127

Speech of Lord Cowper at the trial of the Jacobite lords, 126

Spinola, Cardinal, 62

Sport, Prince Charles's love of, 55

Stafford, Mr., 25

Steffanucci, S.J., Father, Cardinal York's Vicar-General, 47, 49

Stewart, Mr. Andrew, 103, 107

Stewart, Mr. Archibald, 103

Stolberg. See Gerden, and Albany, Countess oft

Strozzi, the Duchess, 21

Stuart, Prince Charles Edward, birth, 14 ; education, 17 ; at
his mother's funeral, 22 ; leaves Eome, 25 ; in France, 26 ;
lands in Scotland, 26 ; campaign in Great Britain, 27 ;
defeated at Culloden, 28 ; in France, 29 ; at Versailles, 31 ;
estrangement with his brother, 36 ; expelled from France,
41 ; refused title of King by the Pope, 53 ; received as King
by Roman society, 54 ; intemperate habits of, 55 ; violence
at Albano, 55 ; styled Count of Albany, 56 ; pensioned by
Cardinal York, 57 ; visits Clement XJIL, 58 ; receives
present from the Pope, 58 ; marriage negotiations, 68 ; goes
to Paris, 68 ; married at Macerata, 69 ; wishes to attend
Jubilee, 75 ; retires to Florence, 75 ; his behaviour there,
76 ; deserted by his consort, 76 ; separation from his Countess,
81 ; taken ill at Florence, 82 ; settles in Eome, 84 ; his
evenings with Corn the musician, 84; taken ill, 84; at
Albano, 84 ; interview with Mr. Greathead, 84 ; last ill-
ness and death, 85, ; funeral, 86, 87 ; meets Gustavus of
Sweden, 81

Stuart, Henry Benedict. See York, Cardinal.

Stuart, James Francis. See James III.

Sussex, the Duke of, 87, 88, 114

Swiss Guard, the Papal, 21, 43, 122

Synod at Frascati, 47

T.

Table service of Cardinal York, 113

' Tales of the Century,' 85, note

Tassoni, Signor, 118

Tencin, Cardinal, assists Prince Charles, 23

Term, Austrians defeated at, 99

144 Index

Thompson, Anstruther, Captain, and Stuart relics, 125

Times, The, on Cardinal York, 100

' Titles ' of Cardinals, 35 ; of Cardinal York, 35

Toleration, religious, encouraged by Pope Benedict XIV., 42

Tomb of Stuarts, 124, 129, Appendix

Tonsure, Prince Henry receives the, 32

Tortoiseshell box of Cardinal York, 128

' Touching ' for the King's Evil, 84, 114, 115

Touch-pieces, 115, 126

Traquair, Earl of, 93, 94

Trastevere, St. Cecilia in convent of, 16

Trastevere, Santa Maria in. See Santa Maria in Trastevere.

' Tree of Liberty ' planted in Rome, 97

Trent, Council of, and ecclesiastical discipline, 48

Tropea destroyed by earthquake, 83

Trowel, silver, used by Cardinal York, 75, 76, 126

Tuscany, Leopold of, 61, 76

Tusculum. See Frascati.

U.

Uist, South, the crofters of, 70, 71
Ursuline Convent, Countess of Albany retires to the, 76
„ ,, Queen Clementina at the, 16

V.

Valence, Pius VI. dies at, 109
Valenti, Cardinal, 38
Van Lint, painter, 12
Vaubois, General, invades Rome, 96
Vecino, Campo, tree of liberty planted on the, 97
Velletri. See Ostia and Velletri.
Venice, Cardinal York at, 99 et aeq.
Venice, Conclave at, 109, 110
Venice, Republic of, and Clement XIV., 66
Venture, an impostor, 80
Versailles, Prince Charles at, 31
Verses on Cardinal York, 109
Veto, the, and the Conclave, 60, 63
Vicariate of St. Peter's, contest about, 89, 90, 91
Vice-Chancellorship of the Holy See. See York, Cardinal.
Victoria, H.M. Queen, and Cardinal York's relics, 88, 125
Vienna, Pius VI. at, 79

Villa, Cardinal York's, described, 46 ; pillaged, 98, 99 ; subse-
quent history, 125
Violet robes of Cardinals, 21, 61
Vittoria Via, Ursuline Convent in the, 77
Voltaire and Christianity, 59

Index 145

W.

Watson, Dr. Robert, and the Stuart papers, 118
Wedding present given by Cardinal York, 69
Widdrington, Lord, trial of, 126
Will of Cardinal York, 91, 117

Wiseman, Cardinal, anecdotes of Cardinal York by, 116
Wogan, Mr. Charles, brings the Princess Clementina Sobieski to
Bologna, 13

Y.

York, Henry Benedict Stuart, Cardinal, birth, 14 ; baptism, 14 ;
education, 17 ; early character, 17, 18 ; attends mother's
funeral, 22 ; at Cisterna, 25 ; goes to Paris, 29 ; assists his
brother to escape, 29 ; meets his brother, 30 ; letter to
James III., 30; leaves Paris for Rome, 32; enters the
Church, 32 ; created Cardinal, 32 ; his honours and bene-
fices, 34, 39 ; takes Holy Orders, 38 ; sings first Missa
Ca/ntata, 39 ; and High Mass, 39 ; made Archpriest of St.
Peter's, 39 ; presents gold chalice to, 39 ; receives two
abbeys from Louis XV., 41 ; made Camerlengo, 41 ; created
Archbishop of Corinth, 43 ; estrangement with his father,
44 ; goes to Bologna, 44 ; translated to Frascati, 45 ; takes
possession of his See, 46 ; charity to the poor, 46 ; convokes
Synod, 47 ; rebuilds seminary, 48 ; patronizes Consalvi, 49 ;
and Erskine, 50 ; attends father's affairs, 51 ; attends at
father's death-bed, 51 ; advocates his brother's claims, 54 ;
receives his brother as King, 54 ; endeavours to reform his
brother, 55 ; letter on Prince Charles, 55 ; advises Charles
to renounce title of King, 56 ; benevolence to the poor, 57 ;
introduces his brother to the Pope, 58 ; his policy in the
Conclave, 61 ; visited by Joseph II., 62 ; oration to
Clement XIV., 66; created Vice-Chancellor, 66; attitude
towards the Jesuits, 67 ; receives his brother and consort in
Rome, 69 ; his present to the latter, 69 ; assists the crofters,
71 ; medals issued by him during the Conclave, 73 ; case of
Father Paul of the Cross, 74 ; builds Passionist monastery,
74 ; present ab the walling up of the Porta Sacra, 75 ; his
brother's conduct, 76 ; letter to the Countess of Albany, 77 ;
assists in governing Rome, 78 ; orders concerning Venture,
80 ; receives the King of Sweden, 81 ; stops at Sienna, 83 ;
attends his brother, 83 ; succours the Calabrians, 83 ; in-
structs the Franciscan Fathers to attend his dying brother,
85 ; pontificates at his brother's funeral, 86 ; formal claim to
the British throne, 87 ; announces abolition of penal laws
to the Pope, 89 ; disposes of the Vicariate of St. Peter's,
89, 91 ; draws up will, 91 ; Mass for Louis XVI., 92 ; corre-
sponds with the Earl of Traquair, 93, 94 ; sells large ruby

146 Index

to assist Papal treasury, 97 ; villa pillaged, 98 ; flees to
Naples, 99 ; to Messina, 99 ; to Corfu, 99 ; arrives in
Venice, 99 ; the Times on his misfortunes, 100 ; Cardinal
Borgia makes his case known, 101 ; Cardinal York's
pecuniary losses, 102; pensioned by George III., 104;
letters to Sir John Coxe-Hippesley, 104 et seq. ; verses on
Cardinal York, 109 ; his claim on the British Government,
109 ; at the Conclave in Venice, 110 ; returns to Prascati,
110 ; private life of Cardinal York, 111, et seq. ; friendship
with Lord Cloncurry, 111 ; and Mr. Forsyth, 112, 113 ;
with Augustus, Duke of Sussex, 114 ; touches for King's
Evil, 114, 115 ; renews will, 117 ; translated to Ostia, 119 ;
his benevolence, 119 ; last illness, 120 ; death, 121 ; lying
in state, 121, 122 ; funeral, 122 ; villa and relics sold, 125 ;
list of personal property of Cardinal York, 125 et seq.
portraits of, 128, 129

Z.

Zondari, Monsignor, promoted to the Archbishopric of Sienna,

89
Zuchetto, or skull-cap, of Cardinals and Prelates, 62, note

THE END.

R. & T. WA8HBOURNE, PRINTERS, 18, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.

LORD NELSON AND CARDINAL YORK.

SIR, — With reference to the above the following may be of interest.
The Battle of the Nile was fought on August 1-2, 1/98, and the news
of the victory arrived in Naples a few weeks later. As our Minister to
the Neapolitan Court, Sir William Hamilton, husband of "Nelson's
Enchantress," was on his way to announce the news to the King, he met
the Cardinal Duke of York out driving and introduced himself as
follows : "I beg pardon of your Eminence for stopping your carriage,
but I am sure will be glad to hear the good news which I have to com-
municate." The Cardinal : " Pray, Sir, to whom have I the honour of
speaking?" "To Sir William Hamilton." The Cardinal, much
pleased, ihen heard the account of Nelson's triumph. He charged
Captain Capel, who was about to proceed with dispatches to England,
to inform his countrymen " that no man rejoices more sincerely than I
do in the success and glory of the British Navy."

Nelson made his triumphal entry into Naples on September 22, when
the whole Court and population came forth to welcome " the saviour of
Italy." As the Cardinal did not go to Venice till about May, 1799, he
was undoubtedly among the noble personages who personally congra-
tulated the illustrious hero. When the Duke of Sussex, son of George
III., was at Rome in 1793, Cardinal York, who conceived a great esteem
for him, presented the Duke with a cavalry sword which had been
carried by his brother, Prince Charles Edward, during the rebellion of
1745-6. The Duke afterwards wore this sword when in command of
the " Loyal North Britons." It may well be that the last of the Stuarts
bestowed a similar mark of favour on the Victor of the Nile, though
Southey, whose well-known " Life " is rather circumstantial, makes no
mention of the Cardinal and Nelson having ever met — a somewhat
unfortunate omission, if the contrary were the case.

Whilst engaged in researches for the short Memoir of Cardinal York
which I published some years ago, I could find no assertion or even
suggestion that his Royal Highness was ever on board the British Fleet,
though the Mediterranean Squadron did receive positive orders to
rescue Pope Pius VI., the reigning Pontiff, from the hands of the
French. When the advance of the invaders compelled the Cardinal to
fly from Naples, he appears to have journeyed to Venice in a Greek
merchantman.

Considering Lord Nelson's long sojourn in Naples, a stay extending
to some twenty months, it is in every way likely that he must have met
his titular Sovereign at the Court and in general society many times.
The recent victory was regarded as a direct intervention of Providence
by all classes of the population ; and showers of presents on Nelson
were the order of the day. Such being the case, is it not strongly pro-
bable that the de jure Henry IX. showed his sense of appreciation of
the great event, by bestowing on the illustrious Admiral the silver-
mounted dirk associated with his own unfortunate brother, and the
memories of the '45 ? Apologising for thus trespassing on your space,
I am yours faithfully,

BERNARD W. KELLY.

St, Anthony's, North Cheam.