THE SUBJECTS OF KING JAMES.
The letter written by Lady Fordingbridge, read in conjunction with
some other remarks made by other persons who have been introduced to
the reader's notice, may serve to inform him of the state of affairs
that led to the position in which things were at the period when this
narrative commences, namely, the month of May, 1746. A few other words
of additional explanation alone are necessary.
At the time when Cardinal Tencin (who looked forward to becoming the
successor of Fleury as Prime Minister of France, and who owed his
elevation to the purple as well as to the Primacy of France to the
influence of the old Pretender) persuaded Louis XV. to support the
claims of the Stuarts as his great-grandfather and predecessor had
done, Paris was, as is well known to all readers of history, full of
English, Scotch, and Irish Jacobites. These refugees from their own
countries were to be found in all capacities in that city, some
serving as the agents of the exiled Chevalier de St. George, who was
now resident at Rome, and others as correspondents between the
followers of the Stuarts in London, Rome, and Paris; also, some
resided there either from the fact that their presence would not be
tolerated in England or its dependencies, and some because, in their
staunch loyalty to the fallen House, they were not disposed to dwell
in a country which they considered was ruled over by usurpers. To this
class belonged the late Viscount Fordingbridge, a staunch Cheshire
nobleman, who had been out in the '15, had afterwards escaped from the
Isle of Skye, and had also had the good fortune to escape forfeiture
of his estates, owing to the fact that, though he had been out
himself, he had neither furnished men, arms, nor money, so far as was
known.
But also in Paris were still others who, loyal Jacobites as they were,
and followers of a ruined party, were yet obliged to earn their bread
in the best way they were able. Thus Doyle Fane, Kitty's father, an
Irish gentleman of good family who had himself seen service under
France and Austria, eked out a slender allowance--paid irregularly by
James Stuart--by lessons in swordsmanship, of which art he was an
expert master. Some, again, obtained commissions in French regiments,
many, indeed, being glad to serve as simple privates; while several
who were more fortunate--and among whom were Douglas Sholto and Bertie
Elphinston--obtained positions in the Garde du Roi or the
Mousquetaires, or other corps, and so waited in the hopes of a descent
on England in which they would be allowed to take part by resigning
temporarily their French commissions.
Of priests affecting Stuart principles there were also several, some,
as was the case with Archibald Sholto, being temporarily attached to
St. Omer, at which there was a large English seminary for the
education of young Catholics, but all of whom were frequently in
London and Paris, plotting always restlessly for the overthrow of the
present reigning House in England, and for the restoration of the
discarded one.
Fane's residence at this period, which was shortly before the
expedition of Charles Edward to recover, if possible, the throne of
England for his father, was a popular resort of many of the exiled
English, Scotch, and Irish, principally because, in the better classes
of men who were still young, the practice of the sword was unceasing,
and also, perhaps, because in the next house to his was a well-known
tavern, "Le Ph[oe]bus Anglais," kept by a Jacobite, and a great place
of assembly for all the fraternity. But for the younger men there was
an even greater attraction than either the advantages of continued
practice in swordsmanship or a cheap but good tavern--the attraction
of Kitty Fane's beauty.
Kitty kept her father's house for him, kept also his accounts, made
his fees go as long a way as possible, and his bottle last out as well
as could be the case when submitted so often to the constant demands
on it, and was admired and respected by all who came to the little
house in the Rue Trouse Vache. Besides her beauty, she was known to be
a girl who respected herself, and was consequently respected; and as
Doyle Fane was also known to be a gentleman by birth, and Kitty's
mother to have been a daughter of one of the oldest families in
Ireland, none ever dreamed of treating her in a manner other than
became a lady.
Of declared lovers she had two, one whom she disliked for reasons she
knew not why--at first; the other whom she adored. Simeon Larpent,
heir to the then dying Lord Fordingbridge, was one; Bertie Elphinston,
of the Regiment of Picardy, the other. With Larpent, however, the
reasons why she disliked him soon made themselves apparent. He was
crafty by nature, with a craft that had been much fostered at St. Omer
and Lisbon, where he was educated, and he was, she thought, lacking in
bravery. When other men were planning and devising as to how they
could find a place in that army which--under Count Saxe, to be
convoyed to England by De Roquefeuille--was then forming, he made no
attempt to become one of its number, giving as his reasons his
father's ill-health and his opinion that he could better serve the
Cause by remaining in France. Yet Bertie Elphinston had at the same
time a delicate mother residing at Passy, and Douglas Sholto was in
poor health at the moment; and still they were both going.
Moreover, Simeon Larpent's admiration was distasteful to her. He had
then but recently come back to Paris from Lisbon, from which he
brought no particular good character, while he appeared by his
conversation and mode of life to have contracted many extremely bad
habits. In the Paris of those days the practice and admiration of
morality stood at a terribly low point, yet Simeon Larpent seemed more
depraved than most young men were in that city even. In a morose and
sullen fashion he revelled in all the iniquities that prevailed during
the middle of Louis XV's reign, and his name became noted in English
circles as that of a man unscrupulous and abandoned, as well as shifty
and cunning. Moreover, even his Jacobitism was looked upon with
doubtful eyes, and not a few were heard to say that the hour which
witnessed his father's death would also see him an avowed Hanoverian.
That such would have been the case was certain, had not, however, the
old lord's death taken place at the very moment when Charles Edward
made the last Stuart bid for restoration in England. But at such a
time it was impossible that the new peer could approach the English
king. Had he done so it would have been more than his life was worth.
At the best, he would have been forced into a duel with some
infuriated Jacobite; at the worst, his body would have been found in
the Seine, stabbed to the heart.
Meanwhile those events which Lady Fordingbridge had spoken of in her
letter to Bertie Elphinston had taken place; nothing was heard by her
either of her lover or the Sholtos, and she became the wife of
Fordingbridge. For a month he revelled in the possession of the
beautiful woman he had coveted since first he set eyes on her; then
she found out the truth and his lordship had no longer a wife except
in name. She had one interview with him--alone--and after that had
taken place she never willingly spoke to him again. Her pride forbade
her to separate from him, but with the exception that the same roof
sheltered and the same walls enclosed them, they might as well have
dwelt in different streets. Against all his protestations, his vows,
his declarations that love, and love alone, had forced him to play the
part he had, she turned a deaf ear; she would not even open her lips
if possible, to show that she had heard his words. She had come to
hate and despise him--as she told him in that one interview--and her
every action afterwards testified that she had spoken the truth.
And now, when the married life of Lord and Lady Fordingbridge had
arrived at this pass, the time was also come when scores of Jacobites,
militant, priestly, or passive as they might be, poured into England.
For Charles Edward had landed at Moidart, Tullibardine had displayed
at Glenfinnen the white, blue, and red silk standard of the prince,
the march southward had begun. Following on this news--all of which
reached Paris with extraordinary rapidity--came the intelligence of
the Battle of Preston, the capture of Edinburgh, Charles's
installation at Holyrood, the rout of Cope's army, the march into
England, and the determination of George II. to take the field in
person against the invader. And among those who received their orders
to at once proceed to England was Lord Fordingbridge, such orders
coming from out the mouth of the restless Father Sholto.
"But," exclaimed his lordship, "I have no desire to proceed to
England. My unhappy married life--for such it has become--will be no
better there than here. And in France, at least, matrimonial disputes
are not regarded."
"Your desire," said the priest, "is of no concern. I tell you what is
required of you--there is nothing left for you but to conform. We wish
a goodly number of adherents to the Stuart cause--indeed, all whom it
is possible to obtain--to be in London when the prince and his army
arrive, as it is now an almost foregone conclusion they will do. You
must, therefore, be there. Only, since you are of a calculating--not
to say timorous--nature, and as no Jacobite nobleman will be permitted
to enter England until the prince is in London, you will travel with
papers describing you as a nobleman who has given in his adherence to
the House of Hanover. I shall go with you--it is necessary that I keep
you under my eyes as much as possible; also it is fitting that I
should be in London. In either case my services will be required,
whether we are successful or not."
In this way, therefore, his lordship returned to England in company
with his wife and his wife's father as well as the Jesuit. Only, he
made several reservations in his own mind as to how he would manage
his own political affairs, as to how, indeed, he would trim his sails.
"For," said he to himself, "whether I become Hanoverian or remain
Jacobite will depend vastly on which side wins. Once in England I
shake off this accursed hold which Sholto and all the other priests of
St. Omer have on me; nay, if Hanover comes up uppermost, Sholto
himself shall be laid by the heels. There will be a pretty sweep made
of the Jesuits if Charles gets beaten. If he drives out George, why,
then--ah! well, time enough to ponder."
The events of three months soon showed to which side victory was
ultimately to belong. Cumberland destroyed the Scotch army, Charles
Edward was in hiding in the land he had entered attended by such
bright hopes and prospects; all who had fought on his side were either
dead, in prison, or fled. And Simeon Larpent, Viscount Fordingbridge,
was--quite with the consent for the time being of Archibald Sholto--an
avowed Hanoverian and received into favour by the Hanoverian king,
though with a strong watch kept on all his actions by that king's
Ministers.