Pickle the Spy; Or, the Incognito of Prince Charles

s-His odd household-Voltaire-The Duke of Newcastle's resentment-Charles's view of Frederick's policy-His alleged avarice-Lady Montagu-His money-box-Goring and the Earl Marischal-Secret meetings-The la

e man'-Lady Primrose-Death of Mademoiselle Luci-November 10,

to the gallows as a bride. In 1751 the owner of the tower on Tweed was Lord Elibank; to all appearance a douce, learned Scots laird, the friend of David Hume, and a customer for the wines of Montesquieu's vineyards at La Brède. He had a younger brother, Alexander Murray, and the politics of the pair, says Horace Walpole, were of the sort which at once kept the party alive, and made it incapable of succeeding. Their measures were so taken that

k plot, which we sh

ould not beg the pardon of the House on his knees: he only kneeled to God, he said. He was released by the sheriffs at the close of the session, and was escorte

that he is upon all occasions ready to obey your commands, and to meet you when and where you please

d with intrigues for Prussian and Swedish help, and, finally, with a plan for a simultaneous rising in the Highla

ther, later Marshal Keith, was in the unlucky Glensheil expedition from Spain (1719). That endeavour failed, leaving hardly a trace, save the ghost of a foreign colonel which haunts the roadside of Glensheil. From that date the Earl was a cheery, contented, philosophic exile, with no high opinion of kings. Spain was often his abode, where he found, as he said, 'his old friend, the sun.' In 1744 he declined to accompany the Prince, in a herring-boat, to Scotland. In the Forty-five he did not cross the Channel, but, as we

p decidedly unfriendly as regarded his uncle of England. He sent the Earl Marischal as his ambassador to the Court of Versailles. This was precisely as if the United States were to send a banished Fenian as their Minister to Paris. The Earl was proscribed for treason in England, and, as we shall see, his house in Paris became

t of her to our Scot, who seems to have no great need of her. She is an excellent Mussalwoman: her master allows her perfect freedom of conscience. He has also a sort of Tartar Valet de chambre [Stepan was his name], who has t

rederick. 'Some big Prussian will box your ears,' said the Earl

ador at Versailles naturally offended England. The

r us from going on with our negotiations in the Empire, for the election of a King of the Romans, and to encourage the Jacobite party, that we may apprehend distu

rated. Hardwicke writes

what he did to M. Puysieux,'

's promotion and presence in Paris. Cha

d to hinder our friends from doing the thing by themselves, bambouseling them with hopes. . . . They mean to sell us a

mpliments to Dawkins, 'Jemmy Dawkins,' of whom we shall he

s, as a proof of Charles's avarice, that he took money f

to about 130 guines, and od Zequins or ducats.' These, with 'a big box of books,' were locked up in the house of the Comtesse de Vassé, Rue St. Dominique, Faubourg de St. Germain, in which street Montesquieu lived. The deposit was restored later to Charles by 'Madame La Grandemain,' 'sister' of Mademoiselle Luci. In truth, Charles, for a P

terlude: we return t

atever but your Lordship.' The Earl answers on the same day: 'If you yourself know any safe way for both of us, tell it me. There was a garden belonging to a Mousquetaire, famous for fruit, by Pique-price, beyond it some way. I could go there as out of curiosity to see the gar

honest man sent to lie abroad for his country,' an o

23, the Earl answers, 'One of my servants knows you since Vienna.' Goring, as we know, had been in the Austrian service. 'I will go to the Tuileries when it begins to grow dark, if it does not

et. Let us suppose that Goring and the Earl met. Goring's business was to ask if the Earl 'has leave to disclose the s

t to arrange. We read,

M. fro

Oct.

h orders to tell him [Lord M.] his place of residence,

e 18th. Oct

Lace Shop by Mr. Waters and shall be there as it grows dark, for a pretence of

Doreure rue du Route,

erl

Oct

. Would Waters's house be a good place? Would Md Talmont's, mine is not, neither can I go privately in a hackn

bassador of Prussia was in communication with him. What did

his papers. He sends a list of traffickers between England and the Prince, including Lochgarry, 'formerly in the King's service, and very well known; is now in Scotland.' 'The Young Pretender has travelled throug

Germains. Albemarle had a spy present, who was told by Sullivan, the Prince's Irish friend, that Charles was expected at St. Germains by the New Year. The Earl Marischal would have kept St. Andrew's Day with them, but had to go to Versailles. Later we learn that no papers were found on D

his French servants at Avignon, and sold the coach in which Sheridan and Strafford were wont to take the air. Madame de Talmond was still jealous of Mademoiselle Luci. Money came in by mere driblets. 'Alexande

January 29, 1752, had 'advice that the Pretender's son is certainly in Si

nd again proposes to waylay and seize the papers of a certain Bishop Lascaris, as he passes through Austrian territory on his way to Rome. In Lithuania the Prince might safely have been left. He could do the Elector of Hanover no harm anywhere, except by s

s need of money. He has taken, at Ghent, 'a preti house, and room in it to lodge a friend,' and he invites Dormer to be his guest. The house was near the Place de l'Empereur, in 'La Rue des Varnsopele' (?). He asks Dormer to send 'two keces of Books:' indeed, literature was his most respectable consolation. Old Waters had died, and young Waters was requested to be careful of Charles's portrait by La Tour, of his 'marble bousto' by Lemoine, and of his 'silver sheald.' To Madame La Grandemain he writes in

Miss Walkinshaw to the Prince. The person who is in danger of losing the Prince's favour is clearly Gor

er, and obtained from her a promise to follow him 'wherever providence might lead him, if he failed in his attempt.' At a date not specified, her uncle, 'General Graeme,' obtained for her a nomination as chanoinesse in a chapitre noble of the Netherlands. But 'Prince Charles was then incognito in the Low Countries, and a person in his confidence [Sullivan, tradition says] warmly urged Miss Walkinshaw to go and join him, as she had promised, pointing out that in the dreadful state of his affairs, nothing could better soothe his regrets than the pres

ned, Miss Walkinshaw certainly joined Charles in the summer of 1752. 'Madame La Grandemain' and Goring were very prope

. St

e 6,

pleasure. What is passed I shall forget, provided you continue to do yr. Duty, so that there is nothing to be altered as to what was settled. Do not go to Lisle, but stay at Coutray for my farther

trant. Goring replies in the following very interesting le

m S

o go I sent it back. He says he has done what lays in his power, as Sullivan's letter testifies, that his desires to serve you were sincere, for which you abused him in a severe manner. Believe me, Sir, such commissions are for the worst of m

to all who will enter into yr. service to do such work, they will rather lose their service than consent. Do you believe Sir that Lrd. Marischal, Mr. Campbell, G. Kelly, and others would consent to do it? Why should you think me less virtuous? My family is as ancient, my honour as entire. . . . I from my heart am sorry you do not taste these reasons, and must submit to my bad fortune . . . f

e should be accused of a design to keep it. We have no other Messages to send, since you have forbid us

uffles, her gold snuff-box, and her double chin.' [141] The English Jacobites believed that Clementina was sent as a spy on Charles, communicating with her sister in London. In fact, Pickle was the spy, but Charles's refusal to desert his mistress broke up the party, and se

e to Stou

think it much better not to send ye French man over, for that will avoid any writing, and Macnamara can be sent, to whom one can say by word of mouth many things further. As I told you al

is after

o faithfully.' Goring was still (June 18) 'at Madame La Grandemain's.' 'The Lady' in this correspondence may be Miss Walkinshaw or may be Lady Primrose, probably the latter. Indeed, it is by no means absolutely certain that the errand which Goring considered

es. If she announced, when once in France, her desire to go to Charles as his mistress, Lady Primrose's position would be most painful, and Goring might well decline to convoy Miss Walkinshaw. But the political and the amatory plot are here inextricably entangled. As to the wickedness of the Elibank plot, if Goring hesitated over that, Forsyth, in his 'Letters from Italy,' tells a curious tale accepted by Lord Stanhope. Charles, on some occasion, went to England in disguise, and was introduced into a room fu

stery and romance, passes into the darkness from which she had scarcely emerged, carrying our regrets, for indeed she is the most sympathetic, of the women who, in these melancholy years, helped or hindered Prince Charles. 'As long as I have a Bit of Br

e, on November 10, 1752, sends his condolences, and this date is well worth remembering. For, according to Young Glengarry, in a letter to James cited later, November 10 was either the day appointed for the bursting of the