CHAP. XII. XII. 1722. THE Confusion and disaffection which followed the CHAP. South Sea Scheme were of course highly favourable to the views of the Jacobites and revived their drooping hopes, and still more were they cheered at the birth of an heir even though at a time when there was nothing to inherit. The prospect of this event was first communicated to them in the spring of 1720:-" it is the most acceptable news," writes Bishop Atterbury, "which can reach the "ears of a good Englishman."* Lord Oxford also was consulted as to the number and rank of the persons who should be invited as witnesses on this solemn occasion. + At length on the last day of the year the titular Queen of England, then residing at Rome, was delivered of a Prince, who received the names of Charles Edward Lewis Casimir, and became the hero of the enterprise of 1745. According to the fond fancy of the Jacobites, there appeared a * Letter to James, May 6. 1720. Appendix. XII. CHAP. star in the heavens at the moment of his birth* ; and, what is rather more certain, seven Cardinals were present by order of the Pope.† The Pretender's second son, Henry Benedict, Duke of York, and afterwards Cardinal, was not born till 1725. 1722. At this period the Jacobites seem really to have deluded themselves so far as to believe that the hearts of nearly the whole nation, even down to the rabble, were with them. Thus James is told by Lord Lansdowne :-"There were great rejoicings in London upon the Lord Mayor's day, "whose name happening to be Stuart, the people "made the streets ring with no other cry but A "Stuart! A Stuart! High Church and Stuart! 66 66 Every day produces some new evidence of their "inclination." To promote the favour of the multitude the Jacobites often made use of reasonings suited only to its capacity. Thus when the King's German mistresses were inveighed against, as they might justly be, it is gravely stated, amongst other grounds of complaint, that they are not sufficiently young and handsome! For instance, the letter of Decius in Mist's Journal, May 27. 1721, laments, that "we are ruined by trulls, nay, what "is more vexatious, by old ugly trulls, such as "could not find entertainment in the most hospit * See the Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 568., and the Medals of the Stuarts in exile, No. 53., in Sir H. Ellis' Catalogue. + St. Simon, Mem. vol. xviii. p. 338. A Te Deum was afterwards sung in the Pope's chapel, and in his presence. Lord Lansdowne to James, Nov. 17. 1721. Stuart Papers. XII. 1722. "able hundreds of Old Drury!" This letter was CHAP. warmly resented by the House of Commons on the motion of Lechmere, and Mr. Mist the printer was sentenced to fine and imprisonment; but his journal continued many years afterwards under the new and punning title of Fog's. The affairs of James in England were at this time managed by a Junta, or Council of five persons, namely, as it would seem, the Earls of Arran and Orrery, Lords North and Gower, and the Bishop of Rochester. Between them and James an active correspondence was carried on, for the most part in cipher or with cant names, and generally by the hands of non-jurors, Roman Catholic priests, and other trusty persons that were constantly passing to and fro. There were also communications with Lord Oxford, probably through Erasmus Lewis, his former Secretary, a man of fidelity and talent, but not much courage; at least I find his excessive caution a subject of good-humoured jest among his friends.* It appears that the Council of Five was often discordant and wrangling in its deliberations, and this in the opinion of James showed the necessity of a single head, by which means, he says, his business would certainly be done with much more harmony * "Lewis is in the country with Lord Bathurst, and has writ ❝me a most dreadful story of a mad dog that bit their hunts"man; since which accident, I am told he has shortened his "stirrups three bores; they were not long before!" Dr. Arbuthnot to Swift, December 11. 1718. XII. 1722. CHAP. and secrecy. He wrote to suggest that Lord Oxford should act as the chief*; but that nobleman had retired to the country, his irresolution had (if possible) increased, and his health was declining, and in fact he died in two years from this time. The old management therefore appears to have continued. Of the Five, Lord Arran had all the mediocrity of his brother, Ormond, without any of his reputation. Lord Gower was a man of sense and spirit, and great local influence: -- "no "man within my memory," writes Dr. King, "more esteemed and reverenced."+ Orrery was one of a family where genius had hitherto been a sort of heir-loom, and he had not degenerated. Parliamentary talents and military knowledge were centered in Lord North; he had served under Marlborough, and lost an arm at the battle of Blenheim, and, in the absence of Ormond, was acknowledged as the Jacobite General. was But by far the ablest of this Junta, and indeed not inferior in talent to any one of his contemporaries, was Francis Atterbury. Born in 1662, and educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, he distinguished himself at a very early age by a powerful defence of Luther, and on taking orders commanded universal attention by his eloquence and active temper. It was by him that the * James to Lord Lansdowne, April 13. 1722. Lansdowne about this time withdrew into France, where he remained for ten years. + Anecdotes of his own Time, p. xlv. XII. 1722. Lower House of Convocation was mainly guided CHAP. and governed; he was high in the confidence of Queen Anne's last ministers, and in 1713 was promoted by them to the Deanery of Westminster and Bishoprick of Rochester. Few men have attained a more complete mastery of the English language; and all his compositions are marked with peculiar force, elegance, and dignity of style. A fine person and a graceful delivery added lustre to his eloquence, both in the pulpit and in the House of Lords. His haughty and aspiring mind constantly impelled him into violent measures, which were well supported by his abilities, but which seemed in some degree alien from his sphere. It is well observed by Mirabeau, in speaking of the Duke of Brunswick, that one great sign of a well regulated character is not merely to be equal to its daily task, but to be satisfied with it, and not to step beyond it in search of fresh employment.* Atterbury, on the contrary, could never remain tranquil. He might be compared to the chivalrous Peterborough exclaiming to the Minister, "You must find 66 me work in the Old World or the New!"+ devotion to the Protestant faith was warm and His "Une marque d'un très bon esprit ce me semble, et d'un "caractère supérieur, c'est moins encore qu'il suffit au travail "de chaque jour que le travail de chaque jour lui suffit." Histoire Sécrète de Berlin, &c., vol. i. p. 30. ed. 1789. † See his letter to Swift, April 18. 1711. On the style of this striking letter Swift remarks in his Journal," He writes so "well, I have no mind to answer him; and so kind, that I must "answer him!" |