[1340] “Letter from H—— G——, Esquire, one of the gentlemen of the bed-chamber to the young Chevalier, and the only person of his own retinue that attended him from Avignon, in his late journey through Germany and elsewhere, &c., to a particular friend. London, 1750.”
[1341] Klose’s Memoirs of Prince Charles, vol. ii. p. 199.
[1342] Charles alludes to this visit in a note dated 1st July, 1754, in his own hand-writing, among the Stuart Papers.
[1343] Stuart Papers.
[1344] See a curious memorandum, dated 3d May, 1750, among the Stuart Papers. From this document it is evident that Charles thought that the French ministry were bribed by the British government to withhold assistance from him.
[1345] King’s Political and Literary Anecdotes, p. 197:—“He came,” says Dr. King, “one evening to my lodgings and drank tea with me. My servant, after he was gone, said to me, ‘that he thought my new visitor very like Prince Charles.’ ‘Why,’ said I, ‘have you ever seen Prince Charles?’ ‘No, sir,’ replied the fellow, ‘but this gentleman, whoever he may be, exactly resembles the busts which are sold in Red Lion Street, and are said to be the busts of Prince Charles.’ The truth is, these busts were taken in plaster of Paris from his face. I never heard him,” adds the doctor—who, however, cannot be received as an altogether unbiassed reporter—“express any noble or benevolent sentiment, the certain indications of a great soul and a good heart; or discover any sorrow or compassion for the misfortunes of so many worthy men who had suffered in his cause. But the most odious part of his character was his love of money.... I have known this gentleman with 2000 Louis d’ors in his strong-box pretend he was in great distress, and borrow money from a lady in Paris who was not in affluent circumstances. His most faithful servants, who had closely attended him in all his difficulties, were ill rewarded. To this spirit of avarice may be added his insolent manner of treating his immediate dependants, very unbecoming a great prince, and a sure prognostic of what might be expected from him if ever he acquired the sovereign power.”
[1346] See the letter to Earl Marischal and the instructions to Goring, both dated 21st June, 1751, among the Stuart Papers.
[1347] Letter from Sir James Harrington, dated 6th August, 1751, among the Stuart Papers.
[1348] Letter, Mr. Donald Mackintosh to Secretary Edgar, dated from Civita Vecchia, 6th February, 1754.—Stuart Papers.
[1349] He is said on this occasion to have called without previous notice on Lady Primrose, and to have walked into the room, where she and others were playing cards, being announced by the servant under another name. After he left it was remarked how like he was to the prince’s portrait which hung in the very room into which he entered. He is said on this occasion to have used so little precaution that he went abroad undisguised in daylight, walking once through St. James’s, and taking a turn in Pall Mall. This story looks very like another version of his visit in 1750. See George Charles’s Transactions in Scotland, vol. ii. p. 470.